Theatre in the Summertime
Williamstown Theatre Festival
During the winter of 1955, Ralph Renzi (Williams ’43), News Director of Williams College, in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, and David C. Bryant, chairman of the College’s active drama program, conceived the idea of using the Adams Memorial Theatre on the Williams College campus for a summer theater with a resident company. They were joined by music professor Irwin Shainman as Treasurer and Louis Rudnick (Williams ’15), chairman of the Williamstown Board of Selectman, who was elected President of the new Foundation—a position he held for 17 years. Over 50 years later, the Tony Award-winning Williamstown Theatre Festival's goals remain constant: to attract top talent, cultivate young artists, produce reinterpreted versions of classics and new plays from gifted playwrights and to continue to attract audiences with the quality and ambition of its work.
Season 2012:
● The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde (June 26–July 14)
● The Blue Deep, by Lucy Boyle (June 27–July 8)
● Last of the Red Hot Lovers, by Neil Simon (July 11–22)
● Far From Heaven, book by Richard Greenberg, music by Scott Frankel and lyrics by Michael Korie (July 19–29)
● The Elephant Man, by Bernard Pomerance (July 25–August 5)
● A Month in the Country, by Ivan Turgenev (August 1–19)
● WHADDABLOODCLOT!!!, by Katori Hall (August 8–19)
