WILLIAMSTOWN, MASS.: Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced its 2021 season and a return to live performances with three outdoor socially distanced world premieres.
“This summer, the conditions for our audiences, administrators, and artists will be safe, but the theatre we make will be anything but,” said artistic director Mandy Greenfield in a statement. “Join us for the kind of work you know and love—bold, impactful world premiere plays and musicals—produced in a way that transforms the town of Williamstown itself into our stage. The 2021 Williamstown Theatre Festival season—made outside on Main Street, Around Town, and at the Clark—will reconnect you with the power, beauty, and unique thrill of live theatre.”
The season will open with the world premiere of Outside on Main: Nine Solo Plays by Black Playwrights (July 6-25), a series of three shows centering and celebrating Black artists and voices, guest-curated by Robert O’Hara. All nine plays will be world premieres, with each performance consisting of three 30-minute plays. Playwrights include Ngozi Anyanwu, France-Luce Benson, J. Nicole Brooks, Guadalís Del Carmen, Terry Guest, Ike Holter, Zora Howard, NSangou Njikam, and Charly Evon Simpson. Directors will include Wardell Julius Clark, Candis C. Jones, and Awoye Timpo, and performances will take place on the front lawn of the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance.
Next up will be the world premiere musical Row (July 13-Aug. 8), inspired by A Pearl in the Storm by Tori Murden McClure, with book by Daniel Goldstein and music and lyrics by Dawn Landes. Performed at the world-renowned Clark Art Institute, this musical will transform the Clark’s serene reflecting pool into a stage as Row interrogates the resilience, fear, and ambition of a woman aiming to be the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Tyne Rafaeli will direct and Grace McLean will star.
The season will conclude with the world premiere of Alien/Nation (July 20-Aug. 8), a new immersive theatrical experience from director Michael Arden and the company of the Forest of Arden. Alien/Nation takes audiences on a surprising and revealing journey through Williamstown.
Founded in 1955, Williamstown Theatre Festival brings directors, designers, playwrights, and performers to the Berkshires each summer to develop new works and produce classic plays.
