Award-winning comedian Hasan Minhaj showcases and prepares new material for his latest work-in-progress. Hasan is one of the most in-demand comedians on screen and stage today. Earlier this year, he was the host of The Daily Show, and he is also the host and creator of Netflix’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning weekly comedy show Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, and the Netflix comedy specials Hasan Minhaj: Homecoming King and The King’s Jester.
Wednesday, July 12 at 8PM
Thursday, July 13 at 3PM & 8PM
Friday, July 14 at 8PM
Saturday, July 15 at 3PM & 8PM
Tickets will go on sale to the public at noon on Tuesday, May 2. Donors at the $250 level and above will receive advance access to tickets prior to the public as a benefit of support. Eligible donors will be notified by email when the advance access period begins. Consider making a donation today!
On Sunday, July 16 at 3PM, for one performance only, Broadway legend and Tony Award winner Laura Benanti graces the Main Stage to share songs from her illustrious career. A long-time friend of the Festival, Laura also starred as Perdita in the WTF production of The Winter’s Tale (2001) and last performed for WTF audiences at the 2020 Gala. A star on stage and screen, Laura’s career spans over two decades since she took Broadway by storm at the age of 18. Laura has earned two Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards, and garnered five Tony Award nominations.
Join us at The Williams Inn after the benefit concert for a celebratory toast to kick off the season!
Proceeds from Laura Benanti in Concert benefit Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Tickets will go on sale to the public at noon on Tuesday, May 2. Donors at the $250 level and above will receive advance access to tickets prior to the public as a benefit of support. Eligible donors will be notified by email when the advance access period begins. Consider making a donation today!
The WTF Cabaret returns to Williamstown this summer! Intimate, casual, and always surprising, these exhilarating evenings feature performances by Festival artists you know and love! No two weekends are the same, and all shows take place on our specially created 2023 Festival Stage, featuring a mix of premium cabaret-style tables and traditional seating, as well as a full bar. So grab a drink and pull up a chair for the must-see event of the summer!
Cabaret 1: Thursday, July 20 at 8PM
Friday, July 21 at 8PM
Saturday, July 22 at 10PM
Cabaret 2: Thursday, July 27 at 8PM
Friday, July 28 at 8PM
Saturday, July 29 at 10PM
Cabaret 3: Thursday, August 3 at 8PM
Friday, August 4 at 8PM
Saturday, August 5 at 10PM
Tickets will go on sale to the public at noon on Tuesday, May 2. Donors at the $250 level and above will receive advance access to tickets prior to the public as a benefit of support. Eligible donors will be notified by email when the advance access period begins. Consider making a donation today!
2023 Festival Stage
Artist Rendering of the 2023 Festival Stage set up for the WTF Cabaret
This summer, experience the Festival in a new, uniquely created environment that puts us all—artists and audience—onstage in one intimate setting together. The 2023 Festival Stage, reimagined on the stage of the theater by designers Se Hyun Oh and Emily Schmit, is home to our inimitable WTF Cabaret and a new Main Stage Reading Series featuring popular plays and esteemed Festival artists. Join us onstage for conviviality, fun, and a season of celebration!
“We are placing both the audience and the performers on stage together, making the auditorium the backdrop for this season. This gives everyone a unique opportunity to reflect on inhabiting this space together as creatives and spectators alike – consider the past, contemplate the future. It is also important, of course, to acknowledge that being present in the same space together is always a precious thing. We want to cherish this moment of being together and encourage you to take the joy you experience this season back home with you.” — 2023 Festival Stage Designers Se Hyun Oh and Emily Schmit
By Hamish Linklater
Featuring Hamish Linklater & Lily Rabe
Occupied Paris. 1944. Real life celebrity Nazi Werner Krauss is between projects. But the Party, desperate for a propaganda extravaganza in the City of Lights, has arranged a remount of his notorious Merchant of Venice produced by a French theater teeming with family secrets. Paris, ACTORS! is “The Last Metro” if Truffaut were unavailable to direct, but the Marx Brothers were.
Saturday, July 22 at 3PM & 7PM
Sunday, July 23 at 3PM
Tickets will go on sale to the public at noon on Tuesday, May 2. Donors at the $250 level and above will receive advance access to tickets prior to the public as a benefit of support. Eligible donors will be notified by email when the advance access period begins. Consider making a donation today!
Main Stage Reading Series
Paris, ACTORS! is part of the 2023 Main Stage Reading Series. Get up close and personal with beloved Festival actors performing new and classic plays on our specially created intimate 2023 Festival Stage. Watch as the creative process unfolds before you and experience these works in exhilarating new ways.
2023 Festival Stage
Artist Rendering of the 2023 Festival Stage set up for the Main Stage Reading Series
This summer, experience the Festival in a new, uniquely created environment that puts us all—artists and audience—onstage in one intimate setting together. The 2023 Festival Stage, reimagined on the stage of the theater by designers Se Hyun Oh and Emily Schmit, is home to our inimitable WTF Cabaret and a new Main Stage Reading Series featuring popular plays and esteemed Festival artists. Join us onstage for conviviality, fun, and a season of celebration!
“We are placing both the audience and the performers on stage together, making the auditorium the backdrop for this season. This gives everyone a unique opportunity to reflect on inhabiting this space together as creatives and spectators alike – consider the past, contemplate the future. It is also important, of course, to acknowledge that being present in the same space together is always a precious thing. We want to cherish this moment of being together and encourage you to take the joy you experience this season back home with you.” — 2023 Festival Stage Designers Se Hyun Oh and Emily Schmit
The beloved Prozorov family returns to Williamstown Theatre Festival this summer to recount their timeless and tumultuous tale of existential longing. In this Chekhov classic, sisters Olga, Masha, and Irina yearn for the promise of Moscow while grappling with the tribulations of unrequited love and family drama at home. In the wake of their father’s death and a changing Russia, the women must face the reality of their choices and take responsibility for their uncertain futures.
Saturday, July 29 at 3PM & 7PM
Sunday, July 30 at 3PM
Tickets will go on sale to the public at noon on Tuesday, May 2. Donors at the $250 level and above will receive advance access to tickets prior to the public as a benefit of support. Eligible donors will be notified by email when the advance access period begins. Consider making a donation today!
Main Stage Reading Series
Three Sisters is part of the 2023 Main Stage Reading Series. Get up close and personal with beloved Festival actors performing new and classic plays on our specially created intimate 2023 Festival Stage. Watch as the creative process unfolds before you and experience these works in exhilarating new ways.
2023 Festival Stage
Artist Rendering of the 2023 Festival Stage set up for the Main Stage Reading Series
This summer, experience the Festival in a new, uniquely created environment that puts us all—artists and audience—onstage in one intimate setting together. The 2023 Festival Stage, reimagined on the stage of the theater by designers Se Hyun Oh and Emily Schmit, is home to our inimitable WTF Cabaret and a new Main Stage Reading Series featuring popular plays and esteemed Festival artists. Join us onstage for conviviality, fun, and a season of celebration!
“We are placing both the audience and the performers on stage together, making the auditorium the backdrop for this season. This gives everyone a unique opportunity to reflect on inhabiting this space together as creatives and spectators alike – consider the past, contemplate the future. It is also important, of course, to acknowledge that being present in the same space together is always a precious thing. We want to cherish this moment of being together and encourage you to take the joy you experience this season back home with you.” — 2023 Festival Stage Designers Se Hyun Oh and Emily Schmit
They say life imitates art—but what happens when that art is horror? In a totalitarian dictatorship, young author Katurian is interrogated by the authorities after a string of child murders bears a striking resemblance to his grisly short stories. When his brother admits to the murders and implicates Katurian and their troubled childhood, more complicated questions arise—is it really possible to separate art from artist? Widely regarded as one of the greatest plays of the last 25 years, The Pillowman is as dark as comedies get and is sure to keep audiences glued to the edge of their seats.
Saturday, August 5 at 3PM & 7PM
Sunday, August 6 at 3PM
Tickets will go on sale to the public at noon on Tuesday, May 2. Donors at the $250 level and above will receive advance access to tickets prior to the public as a benefit of support. Eligible donors will be notified by email when the advance access period begins. Consider making a donation today!
Main Stage Reading Series
The Pillowman is part of the 2023 Main Stage Reading Series. Get up close and personal with beloved Festival actors performing new and classic plays on our specially created intimate 2023 Festival Stage. Watch as the creative process unfolds before you and experience these works in exhilarating new ways.
2023 Festival Stage
Artist Rendering of the 2023 Festival Stage set up for the Main Stage Reading Series
This summer, experience the Festival in a new, uniquely created environment that puts us all—artists and audience—onstage in one intimate setting together. The 2023 Festival Stage, reimagined on the stage of the theater by designers Se Hyun Oh and Emily Schmit, is home to our inimitable WTF Cabaret and a new Main Stage Reading Series featuring popular plays and esteemed Festival artists. Join us onstage for conviviality, fun, and a season of celebration!
“We are placing both the audience and the performers on stage together, making the auditorium the backdrop for this season. This gives everyone a unique opportunity to reflect on inhabiting this space together as creatives and spectators alike – consider the past, contemplate the future. It is also important, of course, to acknowledge that being present in the same space together is always a precious thing. We want to cherish this moment of being together and encourage you to take the joy you experience this season back home with you.” — 2023 Festival Stage Designers Se Hyun Oh and Emily Schmit
July 14 - August 4 | The Clark Auditorium (225 South St)
New plays by Clarence Coo, Cindy Lou Johnson, and Aurora Real de Asua
WTF’s Fridays@3 reading series is a renowned program for the development and discovery of new work. Many Festival productions started as Fridays@3 readings. Spend the afternoon at the Clark with a play in development, performed by professional actors.
Two couples from China try to make ends meet in New York City in the wake of the Second World War. One husband and wife live uptown, obsessed with a past of poetry, painting, and gardens. Another pair face the day-to-day reality of keeping a Chinatown restaurant in business. Their worlds, previously separated by class and education, converge when the two women find each other in Central Park and fall under the spell of the Chinese language.
Friday, July 21 at 3PM: Plunder and Lightning
By Cindy Lou Johnson
Tina and George’s preparations for an important party are wildly derailed when their daughter Rikki shows up on the run from the cops, and Tina’s stepmother, Lola, threatens to levy charges of elder abuse. A dark comedy about greed and the urgent power of love, Plunder and Lightning examines the price to be paid for burying our sins—in the field out back.
Friday, July 28 at 3PM: To Be Announced
Check back here for details soon!
Friday, August 4 at 3PM: Wipeout
By Aurora Real de Asua
Directed by Maggie Burrows
It’s Gary’s 77th birthday and all she wants to do is surf. The only problem? She’s never stepped foot on a board before. But with the help of a hot-rod teenage surf instructor and the company of her two best friends, Gary is about to go on the ride of her life. As the three women navigate the currents of the Pacific, they must confront seven decades of secrets and sacrifices, not to mention the odd jellyfish or two.
Tickets will go on sale to the public at noon on Tuesday, May 2. Donors at the $250 level and above will receive advance access to tickets prior to the public as a benefit of support. Eligible donors will be notified by email when the advance access period begins. Consider making a donation today!
August 16 - September 9 | Boyd-Quinson Stage (30 Union St, Pittsfield, MA)
A Barrington Stage Company production in association with Williamstown Theatre Festival
Music & Lyrics by William Finn
Book by William Finn and James Lapine
Musical Direction by Vadim Feichtner
Directed by Joe Calarco
Gordon can’t get past his writer’s block when a medical emergency forces him to reassess if his songs (or lack thereof) are more important than his family, his friends, or his partner. He needs to navigate a mean nurse, shelves of books, and a bossy frog to get to the heart of his music.
August 16 – September 9
Boyd-Quinson Stage at Barrington Stage Company (30 Union St, Pittsfield, MA)
To purchase tickets to A New Brain, please call the Box Office at Barrington Stage Company at (413) 236-8888 or visit BSC’s website. Please note: The WTF Box Office will not be selling tickets to this production.
Play development is a year-round activity at WTF. Every summer, the Festival supports new work in development by inviting artists to participate in residencies and workshops. We’re thrilled to welcome the following artists and projects to Williamstown this summer. Additional artists-in-residence will be announced soon!
Breaking the Binary Theatre is a new work development and community building hub wherein transgender, non-binary, and Two-Spirit+ (TNB2S+) artists come together to reclaim our artistic license and liberty on our own terms in spaces built by and for us. Breaking the Binary Theatre hosts a number of programs and initiatives, including our flagship artistic event each October: the all-TNB2S+ Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival. @BreakingTheBinaryTheatre on Instagram. www.btb-nyc.com.
TWITCH
By Liliana Padilla (they/them)
Directed by Jack Ferver (they/them)
Dramaturgy by Desiree S. Mitton (she/they)
Produced by Breaking the Binary Theatre (Founding Artistic Director, George Strus (they/he))
Following their collaboration as part of the inaugural Breaking the Binary Theatre Festival in October of 2022, playwright Liliana Padilla (they/them), director Jack Ferver (they/them), dramaturg Desiree S. Mitton (she/they) are reuniting with several of their BTB collaborators to dive further into the world of TWITCH as a part of Breaking the Binary Theatre’s 2023 Falco and Steinman Residency Program.
NIGHTDRIVE
Nightdrive makes rigorously irreverent, demandingly vulnerable, borderline-impossible plays that use indelible moments of stagecraft to build thrillingly personal relationships with audiences. Their work includes an apocalypse around a campfire (The Grown-Ups, Time Out New York’s Top 10 NYC Theatre Productions of 2021); a live immersive alien movie (Alien Nation); a five-dimensional community meeting with a full pancake breakfast cooked on stage (Providence, RI); a haunted rock concert (Thank You Sorry); and a hybrid comic book with interactive animation (Apathy Boy). They’ve been semifinalists for the American Playwriting Foundation’s Relentless Award, finalists for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, and resident artists at Pipeline Theatre Company and Ars Nova.
Society
By Skylar Fox and Simon Henriques
Society is part play, part participatory focus group, part collective fever dream, presented around a giant conference table. You can’t believe they still ask you back in for more sessions—it feels like you’ve been going there forever. But the money’s decent, and it costs so much to live in this city. And there are snacks. It’s supposed to be a different group in there every time, but a couple people are starting to look familiar. Maybe you’re just imagining things. But they’re staring at you, too, right?
Waterwell/Plate Spinner Productions
Waterwell is a group of artists, educators and producers dedicated to telling engrossing stories that deliberately wrestle with complex civic questions in unexpected ways. WW creates productions that are creatively daring and emotionally potent to cultivate connections across real and perceived divides. www.waterwell.org
Plate Spinner Productions is a production company working across entertainment media. PSP is committed to developing, nurturing, and producing unique and dynamic stories that challenge artists and audiences to question the status quo, and believe that a fair and equitable world is possible. www.platespinnerproductions.com
A Good Day to Me Not to You
By Lameece Issaq (she/her)
Directed by Lee Sunday Evans (she/her)
A co-production of Waterwell and Plate Spinner Productions
Writer and actor Lameece Issaq teams up with two-time Obie winner Lee Sunday Evans on her riotously funny and gut-wrenching new play about a 40-whatever dental lab tech who gets fired and moves into St. Agnes Residence, a woman’s boarding house run by nuns. While there, she must come to terms with her unfulfilled path to motherhood, the untimely death of her sister, and earth-shaking news about her beloved nephew – all while fending off her unpredictable and sometimes deranged cohabitants. Performed by Issaq in a story-telling tour-de-force.
Award-winning comedian Hasan Minhaj showcases and prepares new material for his latest work-in-progress. Hasan is one of the most in-demand comedians on screen and stage today. Earlier this year, he was the host of The Daily Show, and he is also the host and creator of Netflix’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning weekly comedy show Patriot…
Award-winning comedian Hasan Minhaj showcases and prepares new material for his latest work-in-progress. Hasan is one of the most in-demand comedians on screen and stage today. Earlier this year, he was the host of The Daily Show, and he is also the host and creator of Netflix’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning weekly comedy show Patriot…
Award-winning comedian Hasan Minhaj showcases and prepares new material for his latest work-in-progress. Hasan is one of the most in-demand comedians on screen and stage today. Earlier this year, he was the host of The Daily Show, and he is also the host and creator of Netflix’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning weekly comedy show Patriot…
New plays by Clarence Coo, Cindy Lou Johnson, and Aurora Real de Asua
Jul 14-Aug 4
The Clark Auditorium (225 South St)
WTF’s Fridays@3 reading series is a renowned program for the development and discovery of new work. Many Festival productions started as Fridays@3 readings. Spend the afternoon at the Clark with a play in development, performed by professional actors. [expand title="Read More" swaptitle="Read Less"] Friday, July 14 at 3PM: Chapters of a Floating Life - Winner…
Award-winning comedian Hasan Minhaj showcases and prepares new material for his latest work-in-progress. Hasan is one of the most in-demand comedians on screen and stage today. Earlier this year, he was the host of The Daily Show, and he is also the host and creator of Netflix’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning weekly comedy show Patriot…
Award-winning comedian Hasan Minhaj showcases and prepares new material for his latest work-in-progress. Hasan is one of the most in-demand comedians on screen and stage today. Earlier this year, he was the host of The Daily Show, and he is also the host and creator of Netflix’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning weekly comedy show Patriot…
Award-winning comedian Hasan Minhaj showcases and prepares new material for his latest work-in-progress. Hasan is one of the most in-demand comedians on screen and stage today. Earlier this year, he was the host of The Daily Show, and he is also the host and creator of Netflix’s Peabody and Emmy Award-winning weekly comedy show Patriot…
Tickets will go on sale to the public at noon on Tuesday, May 2. Donors at the $250 level and above will receive advance access to tickets prior to the public as a benefit of support. Eligible donors will be notified by email when the advance access period begins. Consider making a donation.
If you need immediate assistance, please call the Box Office Hotline at (413) 458-3253 or email tickets@wtfestival.org.
Find Us
By Phone: (413) 458-3200
By Email: wtfinfo@wtfestival.org
By Snail Mail: PO Box 517
Williamstown, MA 01267
