Williamstown Theater Festival, long one of the nation’s most highly regarded summer theaters, has been fighting for its life recently, struggling to regain its footing after complaints about its workplace practices, leadership turnover and the economic challenges that have vexed other performing arts organizations.
This summer, the Western Massachusetts nonprofit’s latest leadership team has opted for a radically new and risky reboot: Instead of a summer-long season with two shows at a time, the company is leaning into the “festival” part of its name, offering eight shows simultaneously, but only for three long weekends, starting July 17 and ending Aug. 3.
The shows — which include dance, opera and music as well as theater — are being curated by Jeremy O. Harris, the audacious playwright best known for “Slave Play,” and several of the productions are based on stories written by, or inspired by, Tennessee Williams. Most unexpected: an ice dance show inspired by a Williams novel.
Why does Williamstown matter?
The Williamstown Theater Festival had been a destination not only for culture-loving visitors who flock to the Berkshires every summer, but also for theater performers, writers and directors seeking to hone their craft and develop new work. It was also an important training ground for many aspiring theater industry workers. Numerous shows moved from Williamstown to New York, including, during the last full prepandemic season, three that transferred to Broadway: the plays “Grand Horizons” and “The Sound Inside” as well as a revival of another Tennessee Williams play, “The Rose Tattoo.”
Why has the festival been struggling?
At the start of the pandemic, following the death of George Floyd, the calls for a social justice reckoning that rocked many corners of society also shook theater. Staff and alumni of the festival objected to the nonprofit’s history of relying on young workers who were often unpaid or underpaid; there were also complaints about how the company responded to safety concerns. The turmoil, chronicled by The Los Angeles Times, led to the departure of the festival’s artistic director, Mandy Greenfield, and a review of the festival’s practices. Ultimately, the festival decided all staff would be paid; that decision was followed by a sharp reduction in programming.
Williamstown is not alone, particularly among seasonal theaters that before the pandemic drew far-flung audiences. The Oregon Shakespeare Festival, once one of the nation’s biggest and most influential nonprofits, had a near-death experience but is now operating, albeit with diminished size and stature; the California Shakespeare Theater, in San Francisco’s East Bay, has suspended operations.
What is this summer’s plan?
Inspired by the energy, ambition, and multidisciplinary nature of European arts gatherings like Festival d’Avignon, Manchester International Festival, Ruhrtriennale and Salzburg Festival, Harris has assembled a wide array of shows that will run concurrently, allowing weekenders to see several art forms and a variety of performance styles in one trip.
Four of the shows are connected to Tennessee Williams (there are several reasons, including the fact that Williams spent time in Williamstown, and that Harris liked the winking humor of performing Williams plays in Williamstown).
Dustin Wills will direct a main stage production of “Camino Real,” an expressionistic 1953 play by Williams, with a large cast that includes Pamela Anderson. Robert O’Hara (who previously directed “Slave Play”) is directing “Not About Nightingales,” a 1938 Williams play about prison inmates that was only rediscovered and staged years after the playwright’s death.
More wild: Will Davis is directing a team of dancers and skaters staging “The Gig,” inspired by a Williams novel, “Moise and the World of Reason,” and presented at an ice rink (even though it’s midsummer, attendees are being advised to dress warmly).
Then there is Harris’s own new play, “Spirit of the People,” directed by Katina Medina Mora and featuring Amber Heard. Harris says his play features characters one might imagine appearing in a Williams play, and was shaped in part by his reading of Williams’s letters.
There will be opera — Heartbeat Opera’s new adaptation of Samuel Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti‘s “Vanessa” — as well as dance — “Many Happy Returns” from Monica Bill Barnes and Robbie Saenz de Viteri — and music — Ahamefule J. Oluo performing “The Things Around Us.” There is also a series of late-night concerts that include the folk-pop songwriter Jensen McRae and Rostam, a former member of Vampire Weekend, joined by a cello quartet.
What is the strategy?
The festival’s new leadership is hoping that audiences, donors and artists will respond to the big swing.
“We’re acknowledging that the traditional nonprofit theater model isn’t sustainable anymore, and choosing innovation over inertia,” said Raphael Picciarelli, who has the telling title of managing director for strategy and transformation. “We’re acting like a start-up — taking a calculated risk and betting on the audience to meet us in that risk.”
Picciarelli thought enlisting guest curators would be a good way to start reimagining the festival, and reached out to Harris on Instagram. Harris, who had never been to Williamstown, was intrigued. “There’s a lot of conservative programming happening at historic institutions, so I was like, ‘Let’s lean into ambition, lean into what’s scary,’ and they were so down for that,” Harris said. “This could be some colossal failure, and it might be a thing that means we don’t have the money to do another one, but what excites me is that everyone is going into this with all of the ambitions fully on the table.”
And what does he wish for?
“I’m hoping that this is a really fruitful time” for artists, Harris said. “And I hope for audiences that they’re meeting these rare works of art, and realizing that a group of people went into a mine together and got these raw, weird things and worked on them for a long time this summer and produced jewels.”
All this ambition comes at a cost: The budget for this summer is $8 million, up from $4.7 million last year. Annual expenses had been $5 million or below before the pandemic. But the theater has high hopes this year’s investment will pay off. “What if Williamstown Theater Festival could become a Coachella?” Picciarelli asked.
How do I attend?
The festival, taking in place at four stages in Williamstown and North Adams, adjoining communities in the northwest corner of Massachusetts, is selling single-show tickets for as low as $35 and as high as $130, and $500 passes that allow patrons to see everything. The easiest way to get around is by car; other options are here.
Michael Paulson is the theater reporter for The Times.
Tony Cenicola is a Times photographer.
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