Williamstown Theatre Festival is more than the work you see on our stages each summer in Williamstown. In addition to producing a full season of theatre and events in only eight weeks, Williamstown Theatre Festival runs professional training, play development, and community immersive theatre programs year-round. Click below to learn more about each of these programs.
L. ARNOLD WEISSBERGER AWARD
Each spring, Williamstown Theatre Festival administers the L. Arnold Weissberger Award on behalf of WTF Trustee Emeritus Fredda Harris and the Anna L. Weissberger Foundation. Championed for the Festival in 1998 by Fredda’s late husband and former WTF Trustee Jay Harris, the award honors noted theatrical attorney and avid theatre supporter L. Arnold Weissberger, this $10,000 award recognizes excellence in playwriting. Additionally, the award carries a $10,000 commission, named for long-time Festival trustee, the late Jay Harris. The award also provides the playwright with the option for publication of the winning play by Concord Theatricals.
Nomination is by invitation only, and the winner is selected by a panel of theatre professionals. Eligible scripts must be full-length, unpublished, unproduced, and not optioned for production during the season in which it is being considered. Musicals, screenplays, or children’s plays are not considered. For more information, contact weissberger@wtfestival.org.
We recently announced Beth Hyland as the recipient of the 2024 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award & Jay Harris Commission for her play SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA. We are grateful to our judges for the 2024 Award: WTF artists Jennifer Chang and Lee Sunday Evans and Williams College faculty Karen Shepard, and look forward to presenting a reading of the play as part of our 2024 season this summer! Other recent recipients of the award include Clarence Coo for his play Chapters of a Floating Life, Mike Lew for his play tiny father (2022), John J. Caswell, Jr. for Wet Brain (2021), and Sanaz Toossi for English (2020).
Read more about the 2024 Weissberger Award here.
WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL L. ARNOLD WEISSBERGER AWARD RECIPIENTS
Since 1998, the L. Arnold Weissberger Award has recognized the following new plays and emerging playwrights:
2024 – SYLVIA SYLVIA SYLVIA by Beth Hyland
2023 – CHAPTERS OF A FLOATING LIFE by Clarence Coo
2022 – TINY FATHER by Mike Lew
2021 – WET BRAIN by John J. Caswell, Jr.
2020 – ENGLISH by Sanaz Toossi (winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in Drama)
2019 – CINCHED/STRAPPED by Selina Fillinger
2018 – SELLING KABUL by Sylvia Khoury (finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama)
2017 – NOURA by Heather Raffo
2016 – HANNAH AND THE DREAD GAZEBO by Jiehae Park
2014 – KILL FLOOR by Abe Koogler
2013 – FIVE MILE LAKE by Rachel Bonds
2012 – PARADISE BLUE by Dominique Morisseau
2011 – THE BODY OF AN AMERICAN by Dan O’Brien
2010 – CHOIR BOY by Tarell Alvin McCraney
2009 – THE SUBSTANCE OF BLISS by Tony Glazer
2008 – SENSE OF AN ENDING by Ken Urban
2007 – THE GOOD NEGRO by Tracey Scott Wilson
2006 – TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION by Etan Frankel
2005 – SAID SAID by Kenneth Lin
2004 – BFE by Julia Cho
2003 – ARRANGEMENTS by Ken Weitzman
2002 – MOTHERHOUSE by Victor Lodato
2001 – THE BRIDEGROOM OF BLOWING ROCK by Catherine Trieschmann
2000 – JUMP SLASH CUT by Neena Beber
1999 – INTO THE FIRE by Deborah Brevoort
1998 – INFRARED by Mac Wellman
Community Works
COMMUNITY WORKS is Williamstown Theatre Festival’s year-round community-engaged theatre program that brings together hundreds of Berkshire area residents from all walks of life. These diverse constituencies are connected with professional theatre artists and with each other through workshops, rehearsals, and a professional-caliber production on the Main Stage at the Festival, presented free of charge for more than 2,000 locals.
Learn more: Community WorksNew Play and Musical Development Initiative
Williamstown Theatre Festival’s robust and growing New Play and Musical Development Initiative provides support and professional opportunities to playwrights, composers, and other generative artists, with summer residencies and year-round opportunities for development and collaboration in New York City and at the Festival.
Learn more: New Play and Musical Development InitiativeProfessional Training Program
Williamstown Theatre Festival is distinct among our nation’s theatres for consistently devoting as much energy – and significant resources – to training and mentorship as we do to producing. For 60 years, the Festival has offered students and early-career professionals unparalleled opportunities to develop their skills in an environment that promotes mutual inspiration and respect between novices and established artists.
Learn more: Professional Training Program
Find Us
By Phone: (413) 458-3200
By Email: wtfinfo@wtfestival.org
By Snail Mail: PO Box 517
Williamstown, MA 01267