SUMMER THEATER 2009: WILLIAMSTOWN

Interesting plays, great actors and directors, and a pleasant town make the Williamstown Theater Festival a joyous place to visit in the summer. Note: Pick your hotel reservations carefully. (They vary in quality from very nice to not so much.)

Marion Seldes, Mary Beth Hurt, the brothers Corddry, some world premieres, and revivals of some classic modern plays are highlights of the season.


Here's the schedule in brief:

Jul 01 - 12 - CHILDREN - Main Stage
Jul 08 - 19 - KNICKERBOCKER - Nikos Stage
Jul 15 - 26 - TRUE WEST - Main Stage
Jul 22 - Aug 02 - WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF THUNDER? - Nikos Stage
Jul 29 - Aug 09 - THE TORCH-BEARERS - Main Stage
Aug 05 - 16 - CAROLINE IN JERSEY - Nikos Stage
Aug 12 - 23 - QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS - Main Stage


Here's a little more detail:

Jul 01 - 12 - CHILDREN - Main Stage

A.R. Gurney (Playwright) John Tillinger (Director)

In a large summer home on an island off the coast of Massachusetts, an estranged brother’s return and a mother’s impending marriage recall painful memories of their father’s death, and seething arguments reignite one family’s struggle with its tragic past and uncertain future.


Jul 08 - 19 - KNICKERBOCKER - Nikos Stage

(World-Premiere) Jonathan Marc Sherman (Playwright) Nicholas Martin (Director)

"Are you ready?" The question looms over Jerry as the months tick by and... As the birth date creeps ever nearer, will the advice, encouragement and warnings of friends and family make Jerry more or less ready? The awe and terror of becoming a new parent shines through Sherman’s newest play as he examines whether one can ever truly be ready for parenthood.


Jul 15 - 26 - TRUE WEST - Main Stage

Sam Shepard (Playwright) Daniel Goldstein (Director) with brothers Nate & Rob Corddry

Squabbling siblings in this modern classic -- an explosive exploration of family rivalry as two very different brothers attempt to sell Hollywood their version of the great American Western


Jul 22 - Aug 02 - WHAT IS THE CAUSE OF THUNDER? - Nikos Stage

(World-Premiere) Noah Haidle (Playwright) Justin Waldman (Director)

After 27 years on the same soap opera, Ada is starting to confuse her art and her life. But after so many years of acting, her art is her life. The hilarity of day-time drama alongside the harsher, but often equally funny, realities of life.


Jul 29 - Aug 09 - THE TORCH-BEARERS - Main Stage

George Kelly (Playwright) Dylan Baker (Director & adaptation)with Marion Seldes and Becky Ann Baker.

1920s farce in which a troupe of amateur actors rehearse and perform a show-stopping new play — or try to with all their might.


Aug 05 - 16 - CAROLINE IN JERSEY - Nikos Stage

(World-Premiere) Melinda Lopez (Playwright) Amanda Charlton (Director)

Caroline is down and out in New Jersey. She’s having a nervous breakdown, her career as an actress is tragically dwindling, and a peculiar stranger has made his presence known in her new apartment. One woman’s whole-hearted attempt to accept the past and take hold of the future. "Funny & touching"


Aug 12 - 23 - QUARTERMAINE'S TERMS - Main Stage

Simon Gray (Playwright) Maria Aitken (Director) Mary Beth Hurt, Simon Jones and Jefferson Mays

Academics at a school (not the University) in Cambridge England. (Quartermaine is a teacher's name. "Terms" is a pun.)