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.)
Showing posts with label Nicholas Martin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nicholas Martin. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Saturday, April 11, 2009
WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM
The Public Theater will extend Christopher Durang’s WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM, directed by Nicholas Martin, through Sunday, May 3.
This is an extremely funny play. The acting and directing are matched perfectly to the script, which is hilarious. The set design is rich and attractive and, even better, gets its own punch line!
Our young ingenue wakes up to discover she is in bed with a guy she does not remember. But he looks and acts like he might be a terrorist. In this topical metaphor, he may not be the only one, if he is at all...
There are many clever inventions, including time sequences at the mercy of the actors; and this witty, entertaining and stimulating play grows in the mind from the starting moment to the closing curtain and then out of the theater... and it still grows when reflecting on it after.
"The additional week of performances will include a special performance Monday, April 27 at 8 p.m., in part to accommodate extremely high demand from within the theater industry. There will be no performance Tuesday, April 28. The remainder of the week will follow the standard performance schedule: Wednesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
“The enormous response to WHY TORTURE IS WRONG… shows that Chris Durang has captured our moment perfectly,” said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. “We’re delighted there’s such an appetite for this wonderful production.”
"WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM tells the story of a young woman suddenly in crisis: Is her new husband, whom she married when drunk, a terrorist? Or just crazy? Or both? Is her father’s hobby of butterfly collecting really a cover for his involvement in a shadow government? Why does her mother enjoy going to the theater so much? Does she seek mental escape, or is she insane? Honing in on our private terrors both at home and abroad, Durang oddly relieves our fears in this black comedy for an era of yellow, orange, and red alerts.
"The cast of WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM features Amir Arison (Queens Boulevard at Signature), David Aaron Baker (A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway), Laura Benanti (2008 Tony winner for Gypsy on Broadway), Audrie Neenan (Oklahoma! on Broadway), Kristine Nielsen (Obie winner for Durang’s Betty’s Summer Vacation at Playwrights Horizons), John Pankow (“Mad About You”), and Richard Poe (Cry-Baby on Broadway).
"WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM features scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Gabriel Berry, lighting design by Ben Stanton, original music by Mark Bennett, and sound design by Drew Levy.
"CHRISTOPHER DURANG (Playwright) returns to The Public after writing and starring in the acclaimed 1985 production of The Marriage of Bette and Boo. His works have been staged on and off-Broadway and include Sex and Longing, A History of the American Film (Tony nomination), Miss Witherspoon, Adrift In Macao, Betty’s Summer Vacation, Durang Durang, Beyond Therapy, Baby with the Bathwater, The Actor's Nightmare, Laughing Wild, and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You (Obie Award). Also an actor, he shared in an Ensemble Acting Obie for Bette and Boo, and performed Laughing Wild both in New York and in L.A. At Manhattan Theatre Club, he sang and tried to dance in the Sondheim revue Putting It Together with Julie Andrews. With Marsha Norman, he is co-chair of the Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School. A book called 27 Short Plays was recently published by Smith and Kraus. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
"NICHOLAS MARTIN (Director) is the artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival and former artistic director of Huntington Theatre Company. He has directed the New York productions of Saturn Returns (Lincoln Center Theater), The New Century (LCT), Observe The Sons Of Ulster… (LCT), Chaucer in Rome, The Time of the Cuckoo (LCT), Fully Committed (Vineyard Theatre), Bosoms and Neglect (Signature Theatre), Sophistry, Betty's Summer Vacation (Playwrights Horizons; Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination), You Never Can Tell, The Rehearsal (Roundabout Theatre Company), Full Gallop, Overtime (Manhattan Theatre Club), Oblivion Postponed (Second Stage), and It Changes Every Year (Malaparte). His many regional credits include the Globe Theatre and the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London productions of Full Gallop. Mr. Martin is a 1998 recipient of the TCG National Artist Residency Grant with Williamstown, where he has directed The Royal Family, Dead End, Dreading Thekla, The Matchmaker, Evolution, Camino Real."
This is an extremely funny play. The acting and directing are matched perfectly to the script, which is hilarious. The set design is rich and attractive and, even better, gets its own punch line!
Our young ingenue wakes up to discover she is in bed with a guy she does not remember. But he looks and acts like he might be a terrorist. In this topical metaphor, he may not be the only one, if he is at all...
There are many clever inventions, including time sequences at the mercy of the actors; and this witty, entertaining and stimulating play grows in the mind from the starting moment to the closing curtain and then out of the theater... and it still grows when reflecting on it after.
"The additional week of performances will include a special performance Monday, April 27 at 8 p.m., in part to accommodate extremely high demand from within the theater industry. There will be no performance Tuesday, April 28. The remainder of the week will follow the standard performance schedule: Wednesday through Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
“The enormous response to WHY TORTURE IS WRONG… shows that Chris Durang has captured our moment perfectly,” said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. “We’re delighted there’s such an appetite for this wonderful production.”
"WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM tells the story of a young woman suddenly in crisis: Is her new husband, whom she married when drunk, a terrorist? Or just crazy? Or both? Is her father’s hobby of butterfly collecting really a cover for his involvement in a shadow government? Why does her mother enjoy going to the theater so much? Does she seek mental escape, or is she insane? Honing in on our private terrors both at home and abroad, Durang oddly relieves our fears in this black comedy for an era of yellow, orange, and red alerts.
"The cast of WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM features Amir Arison (Queens Boulevard at Signature), David Aaron Baker (A Raisin in the Sun on Broadway), Laura Benanti (2008 Tony winner for Gypsy on Broadway), Audrie Neenan (Oklahoma! on Broadway), Kristine Nielsen (Obie winner for Durang’s Betty’s Summer Vacation at Playwrights Horizons), John Pankow (“Mad About You”), and Richard Poe (Cry-Baby on Broadway).
"WHY TORTURE IS WRONG, AND THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM features scenic design by David Korins, costume design by Gabriel Berry, lighting design by Ben Stanton, original music by Mark Bennett, and sound design by Drew Levy.
"CHRISTOPHER DURANG (Playwright) returns to The Public after writing and starring in the acclaimed 1985 production of The Marriage of Bette and Boo. His works have been staged on and off-Broadway and include Sex and Longing, A History of the American Film (Tony nomination), Miss Witherspoon, Adrift In Macao, Betty’s Summer Vacation, Durang Durang, Beyond Therapy, Baby with the Bathwater, The Actor's Nightmare, Laughing Wild, and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You (Obie Award). Also an actor, he shared in an Ensemble Acting Obie for Bette and Boo, and performed Laughing Wild both in New York and in L.A. At Manhattan Theatre Club, he sang and tried to dance in the Sondheim revue Putting It Together with Julie Andrews. With Marsha Norman, he is co-chair of the Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School. A book called 27 Short Plays was recently published by Smith and Kraus. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild.
"NICHOLAS MARTIN (Director) is the artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival and former artistic director of Huntington Theatre Company. He has directed the New York productions of Saturn Returns (Lincoln Center Theater), The New Century (LCT), Observe The Sons Of Ulster… (LCT), Chaucer in Rome, The Time of the Cuckoo (LCT), Fully Committed (Vineyard Theatre), Bosoms and Neglect (Signature Theatre), Sophistry, Betty's Summer Vacation (Playwrights Horizons; Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination), You Never Can Tell, The Rehearsal (Roundabout Theatre Company), Full Gallop, Overtime (Manhattan Theatre Club), Oblivion Postponed (Second Stage), and It Changes Every Year (Malaparte). His many regional credits include the Globe Theatre and the Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London productions of Full Gallop. Mr. Martin is a 1998 recipient of the TCG National Artist Residency Grant with Williamstown, where he has directed The Royal Family, Dead End, Dreading Thekla, The Matchmaker, Evolution, Camino Real."
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