Williamstown Theater

[mc1227]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 9:10am

I know there is a summer theatre festival there but my question is in regards to developmental theatre.  Do they use this venue as a developmental vehicle for plays that might be considered for off-broadway or Broadway?  Is that the same as summer stock or regional theatre? I know this particular venue attracts some great talent every summer but didn’t really understand why that is?  Sorry if it’s a dumb question.  I’ve been to resort areas that have summer theater productions but not with the stars that this venue attracts.  

[LarryD2]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 10:15am

Williamstown Theatre Festival is a professional regional theater. It only operates in the summer. They have transferred a number of productions to Broadway/New York, but that is definitely not the goal of everything that is produced there. That said, when I worked briefly in Williamstown as an intern (early nineties), the focus was much less on producing new works or things that might be Broadway-bound and more on top-notch productions of classic plays. There seems to have been a shift in recent years towards developing new works that have a life beyond the festival. That's not a bad thing, and it's good to see a major company put its weight behind new play development, but that's not always how it's been.

This year, of the seven plays being produced, four are world premieres, two (SEARED and DANGEROUS HOUSE) are fairly new plays that have been produced elsewhere, and one (A MEMBER OF THE WEDDING) is a revival. The summer I worked at WTF, I think there was one new play and everything else was a revival.

[mc1227]

Posted: 6/29/18 at 11:43am

Thanks Larry, that certainly provides great information that I wasn’t aware of.  I agree that it’s always good to have a place to try out new material, I just wasn’t sure since it is summer and I suppose I’m just used to community playhouses for summer stock productions when I travel.  Seems that Williamstown may be unique in using summer for development?