FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR In the spring, a playwright and I planned to catch up over coffee. The meeting began by me asking him what he was working on and then a long, nearly eternal silence. He closed his eyes and seemed to travel far away. I stirred my coffee… I checked my phone... stirred again. The silence was broken when he launched into a seemingly spontaneous, almost hysterical monologue about the difficulty of writing, right now… “How can anyone write anything? How do you write in response to this moment in our culture? Do you attack it, dead-on? Do you write in allegory? Do you avoid it and hope that what comes out deals with the political landscape in some accidental way? Or, do you just leave it to audiences to make sense of what you’ve written? And, regardless of what you write, how do you even think about an audience? Do they want to confront what is happening around them? Do they want to run from it? Do they want to laugh? Would it just be better to give them permission to cry? Can a play mean anything right now? Can it reach audiences? Can it transform them? Are we having any impact by making theatre? Does any of this even matter?” Ok, not the relaxing, casual coffee date I’d hoped for, certainly. My response was simple: come to Williamstown Theatre Festival. Jen Silverman, Sarah Ruhl, Tim Prager, Geoff Morrow, Jason Kim, Harrison David Rivers, Halley Feiffer and Anna Ziegler are the living playwrights and composers who answer these questions with the work on our stages. Through humor and song, conflict and language, style and substance, nuance and theatricality, these artists bravely dramatize a diverse range of the human experience right now. And, as they probe and explore, craft and create, they lay bare who we are and who we might become as people, as families, as citizens, as a society. Before, during and after times of political and cultural upheaval, the theatre has been a place that brings people together to listen, to feel, to think and to be changed. We rely on plays – and scores of gifted human beings who work on them in front of us and invisible to us – to help us experience being alive. Six of the seven plays you will see on our Main Stage and Nikos Stage are new or world premiere plays – they weren’t written in response to recent events… they were written, over the past year or two, concurrent with vibes, intellectual evolution, cultural shift and political developments of the same period in our country. Whether you come to make sense of moment we are living in, to confront it, to escape from it, to laugh or to cry, together – alongside our directors, actors, designers, technicians, craftspeople, interns, non-Equity actors and apprentices – we have the power to transform and shape the world ahead of us. Thank you Williamstown, Williams College, Trustees, donors, friends and loyal audience for making Williamstown Theatre Festival vital, right now. It’s what we all need. SINCERELY, MANDY GREENFIELD | ARTISTIC DIRECTOR FROM THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES BOARD OF TRUSTEES Matthew C. Harris CHAIRMAN Ira Lapidus PAST CHAIR On behalf of the Board of Trustees, “A theatre focused on making new, relevant Joe Finnegan VICE CHAIR welcome to the 63rd season of the work that connects with and contributes Barbara McLucas VICE CHAIR Williamstown Theatre Festival. Three to the larger, cultural conversation.” Donald B. Elitzer TREASURER seasons ago, when Mandy Greenfield took Jeffrey Johnson SECRETARY the helm of the Festival, she promised in This season, like the two previous, is an Alicia B. Adams Gary S. Levine her letter to you – here in this program – absolutely glowing representation of this William Bowden Rhon Manigault-Bryant to produce work that would reinforce and ethos, and the Board and I couldn’t be Kate Burton Elliott Masie add to the words regularly used to describe prouder of the important and challenging Rebecca Gold Cellana James Naughton WTF. In addition to being a “magical” work Mandy and her team have done and Laurence D. Cherkis Paul Neely and “prestigious” “summer camp for continue to do to shape the vision for the Wade Davis Katherine Kollath Peabody serious theatre makers,” an “engine of the Festival at the start of its next 63 seasons. Adam Falk Annie Pell local economy,” and a “regional theatre Tom Fontana Hon. Susan Phillips Read with broad, national impact,” WTF, under Great art requires great audiences and James Giddens Olivia Sabine her artistic direction, would become: supportive patrons – and Williamstown Fredda Harris Caren Pasquale Seckler Amy Holzapfel Katie Hazlett Schmidt has the best of both! Thank you to everyone Todd Jick Bradley Svrluga “A theatre equally committed to living who buys a ticket, takes a friend, makes Kristen Johanson Alex Volckhausen playwrights as it has always been to actors, a donation, and spreads the word about Valerie P. Kennedy directors, designers, stage managers and to Williamstown Theatre Festival. We look the incubation of up-and-coming talent.” forward to welcoming you this summer! TRUSTEES EMERITI Charles E. Balis Douglas Daft William S. Reed “An inclusive theatre interested in a broad SINCERELY, Stephen Birrell Blythe Danner Jid Sprague Marge Champion Joan B. Hunter Fred A. Windover range of stories, told by a diverse range Michele Moeller Jean Kennedy Smith Joanne Woodward of artists.” Chandler Gwyneth Paltrow MATT HARRIS | CHAIR WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL 2017 1 YEAR-ROUND STAFF Mandy Greenfield ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Laura Savia ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Josh Martinez-Nelson DIRECTOR OF DEVELOPMENT & COMMUNICATIONS Brandon Kahn PRODUCING MANAGER Eric Nottke DIRECTOR OF PRODUCTION & OPERATIONS Zachary Krohn ASSOCIATE GENERAL MANAGER Amy Russell DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Antonello Di Benedetto DIRECTOR OF AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT Jason McDowell-Green DIRECTOR OF THE PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PROGRAM Kate Hyde COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER Aileen Lambert ASSISTANT TO THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Grace Singleton DEVELOPMENT & SPECIAL EVENTS COORDINATOR 6 WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL 2017 SEASONAL STAFF ARTISTIC/PRODUCING/BUSINESS [L to R]: Catherine Woodard, Taylor Mitchum, Vanessa Lopez, Andrew Lieberman DEVELOPMENT CABARET [TOP TO BOT- BOX OFFICE [L To R]: Ryan Rudewicz, Megan Anthony, Jessica Daly, Perri [L to R] Mishari Zambrano, Joy Liebman TOM: Catherine Wilson, Edwards, Reecca Chism, Emma Whittum, Paige Ward, Vee Butler [Top] Antonello Di Cody Owen Stine Benedetto HOUSE MANAGEMENT [L to R]: Andrew Elk, AnnaMaria Sebastino, COMPANY MANAGEMENT [L to R]: Ben Otten, Devon Levy, Emily Burke Bryce Payne, Abby Weston, Ben Gates-Utter, Samantha Coleman, Mia Dedear, Alyssa Fox, Rob Cassie WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL 2017 7 SEASONAL STAFF LITERARY/COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT PRINT & GRAPHICS/PUBLICITY/ [L to R]: Hayley Sherwood, Penny Pun, Dylan Pickus SOCIAL MEDIA [L to R]: Taylor Edelle Stuart, J. Maria Dalmasso, Aimee Ambriz, Daniel Rader, Emily Blazek, Kelly Myslinski PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT [L to R]: Carol Almonte, Justin PROPERTIES [L to R]: BACK: Brendan Latran, Olive Barrett, Jenn Bobo, Bell, Hannah Cava, Benjamin King, AJ Orth, Marcela Spamer, Shelby Stark, Ryan Ross, Ryan Marissa Picciuto, Sophie Delaney, Kristen Nuhn, Mitchell Krieger FRONT: Mikeala Hogan, Dent, Walker White Christine Bagwell Goldman, Kate Reinlib, Mackenzie Cunningham COSTUMES [L to R]: BACK: Jelena Antanasijevic, Molly Goldberg, Kelsey Loo- STAGE MANAGEMENT [L to R]: BACK: Seth Betzler, Jessica Fleis- ney, Suzie Knowles, Harold Horsley, Sydney Gallas, Taylor Steck, Dara Affholter, Raul Luna, chman, Kyle Birdsall, Nic Steffes, Emma Lacometta FRONT: Brendan O’Hara, Claire Murphy, Anne Stebbins, Olivia Hern, Charles Barnett IV, Mitchel Wolf, Naomi Reisner, Andrealisse Kailie White, Logan Pratt, Megan Jones, Aliyah Nissim, Hannah Mitchell, Taylor Kiechlin, Lopez, Kathryn McGaughey FRONT: Jason Lewis, Rachel Gregory, Nicole Slaven, Jillian Co- Hudson Kahn, Samantha Lewis ratti, Raphael Regan, Jessica Cronin, Anna Blazer [Not Pictured]: Jessica Cronin, Celeste Jenning 10 WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL 2017 SEASONAL STAFF LIGHTING & ELECTRICS [L to R]: FRONT: Connor Greene, Paul SCENIC [CARPENTRY] [L to R]: FRONT: Mark Barbadoro Rogalus, Vaillancourt, Charlotte McPherson, Elanor Eberhardt, Jasmine Lesane, Eric Haufschild, Evan Leigh, Jen Seleznow, Kevin Belcher, Alexandra McNamara MIDDLE: Rowen Harder, Natali Arco, Noah Parsons, Tamara Harris, Valerie Insardi, Ellen Reid, Doug Del Pizzo Justin Tomer, Kathryn Sheaffer, LT Gourzong, Rachel Fitzgerald, Nola Werlinich, Dani BACK: Aaron Tacy, Blaine O’Donnell, Savannah Bell, Janak Jha, Brandon Bagwell, Nic P. Christo- Mader, Matteo Lanzarotta, Stephen Hnosko TOP: John Winter, Rory Schall, Ben Wagner, pher, Wilburn Bonnell, Cheyenne Sykes, Megan Seibel, David Shocket, Baxter Pitt, Adam Lansing Jacob DeSousa, Tyler Metteer [Not Pictured]: Amanda Giacalone, Joel Behrman, Paul Passaro SCENIC [DESIGN & PAINT] [L to R]: Lawrence E. Moten III, Anton Volovsek, Theron Wineinger, Lizzie Tredinnick, Riva Fairhall, Lydia Milich, Saskia Martinez, Jessie Mahon, Alexander Woodward, Julie Solomon, Julia Buerkle, Rachel Mill- er, Kaitlyn Peterson, Craig Horning, Cameron Casey, Joe Burt FRONT: Jamie Phanekham, Samantha Galvao, Susannah Hyde, Elizabeth Distante NON EQUITY COMPANY [L to R]: Keshav Moodliar, Will Adams, SOUND [L to R]: Z. Worthington, Thomas Ford, Dan Miele, Maggie Burke, Sean Hiram Delgado, Ryan J. Haddad, Brendan Dalton, Jacob Mundell, Jessy Yates, Katasha K. Tingle, Kyle Fossé, Ethan Zeitman, Jessica Bae, Valentine Monfeuga, Terrence Dowdye Acosta, Gabby Beans, Chantal