happenings: Season Highlights Prize winners August Wilson and Donald Margulies. This is perhaps the most diversified, intriguing, and brave season Shakespeare & Company has offered in the 37 years I’ve been covering it—three plays by Shakespeare, one of them rarely performed; and four contemporary plays, one a New England premiere and one a world premiere. Shakespeare will be represented by his beloved fanciful romantic comedy, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Aug. 1Sept. 10, in the company’s newest space, the 500-seat outdoor New Spruce Theatre; “Hamlet,” in a staged reading Sept. 1-3 in the indoor 400-seat Tina Packer Playhouse; and the rarely seen “The Contention (Henry VI, Part II),” regarded by artistic director Allyn Burrows as the best of the Henry VI trilogy. Burrows likens this rarely produced, titleshortened epic to “Game of Thrones” in terms of its themes of power, ruthless rivalry, and ambition. The production is set for June 17–July 15, also in the Tina Packer Playhouse. Packer will be directing, along with associate directors Kate Kohler-Amory and Sheila Bandyopadhyay. Increasingly over the years, the “& Company” portion of the theater’s name truly has earned its co-equal billing, perhaps never more so than this summer. Four contemporary plays are on tap this summer, three of them worth more than usual attention. From Ken Ludwig, best known
for the farces “Lend Me a Tenor,” “Moon Over Buffalo,” and “Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery,” comes the New England premiere of “Dear Jack, Dear Louise” (May 26-July 30 in the 280seat outdoor Roman Garden), a love story that unfolds through the correspondence between two strangers during World War II. There is also the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Donald Margulies’ “Lunar Eclipse,” about a long-married couple reflecting on life while observing the seven stages of a lunar eclipse from a field on their farm (Sept. 15-Oct. 22 in the 200-seat Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre). And August Wilson’s 1987 Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning “Fences,” (July 22-Aug. 27 in the Tina Packer Playhouse), a true classic by one of our country’s top-tier playwrights. Improbable as it seems, “Fences” has never been produced in the Berkshires; nor, for that matter, have any other of his plays. Rounding out the “& Company” offerings is an eightperformances-only revival of William Gibson’s solo play, “Golda’s Balcony,” starring Annette Miller as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir—a role she created in the play’s world premiere at Shakespeare & Company in 2002. Daniel Gidron is again directing. Given the unsettling tumult in Israel these days, this revival could not have been better timed. ______________ Critic’s choices: “Dear Jack, Dear Louise” | “Lunar Eclipse” | “Fences” | “The Contention (Henry VI, Part II)”
2023 Season
New England Premiere
KEN LUDWIG’S DEAR JACK, DEAR LOUISE
Directed by Ariel Bock
MAY 26 – JULY 30
THE CONTENTION: HENRY VI, PART II
by William Shakespeare Directed by Tina Packer
Associate Directors Kate Kohler-Amory and Sheila Bandyopadhyay
JUNE 17 – JULY 15
AUGUST WILSON’S FENCES
Directed by Christopher Edwards
JULY 22 – AUGUST 27
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
by William Shakespeare Directed by Allyn Burrows
AUGUST 1 – SEPTEMBER 10
GOLDA’S BALCONY
by William Gibson
Directed by Daniel Gidron Featuring Annette Miller
AUGUST 5 – 20 A Staged Reading
HAMLET
by William Shakespeare
Directed by Kevin G. Coleman
SEPTEMBER 1 – 3 World Premiere
LUNAR ECLIPSE
by Donald Margulies
Directed by James Warwick
SEPTEMBER 15 – OCTOBER 22 Tickets Available at 413.637.3353
SHAKESPEARE.ORG
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THE B • Spring 2023
WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL wtfestival.org; 413-458-3200 ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance Main Stage / Nikos Stage 1000 Main St., Williamstown
Going into its 68th season this summer, Williamstown Theatre Festival’s rich history is a narrative of new and classic American and European plays performed and directed by some of the best known talents in theater. In recent years, what used to be considered an actor-centered theater has become much more of a home for playwrights and directors who want to work on a variety of projects away from the madding crowd of New York’s theater world. A typical Williamstown season also includes any number of special events, play readings, and talkbacks. The Festival is in transition now. Under the guidance of interim artistic director Jenny Gersten last summer, the Festival produced one Main Stage production—a wildly unorthodox, controversial reexamination of Frank Loesser’s “The Most Happy Fella” called “Most Happy in Concert”—and two shows on the Nikos Stage: Anna Ouyang Moench’s wild black comedy, “Man of God,” and Harrison David Rivers’ moving drama, “we are continuous.” And from New York, the Festival brought to its Main Stage Alex Edelman in his one-person show, “Just For Us,” for what turned out to be a hugely successful five-performance run. Gersten is continuing as interim artistic director. It would not be surprising if the 2023 season’s format was patterned somewhat after last summer’s reduced format. B
P H OTO : N I L E S C OT T S T U D I O S
THIEVES OF LOVE