Kerry Butler Signs on to Williamstown Stoppard Tribute

Kerry Butler has joined the Williamstown Theatre Festival's salute to Sir Tom Stoppard, whose three-part epic The Coast of Utopia will run at Lincoln Center from October through March.  The Gala, which will benefit the Festival, will take place on Monday, November 13 in at the Puck Building in New York City.

On Broadway, Stoppard won the Tony Award for Best Play on three occasions--for The Real Thing, Travesties and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead.  Two other plays, The Invention of Love and Arcadia, received Tony Award Best Play nominations.  In film, he received the Academy Award for the screenplay of Shakespeare in Love and a nomination for the screenplay of Brazil.   

The Williamstown Theatre Festival has produced many of Stoppard's works, including On the Razzle, Travesties and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (on two occasions) Roger Rees, Artistic Director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, also has a deep affection for Stoppard's work.  Rees created the role of Henry in the West End premiere of Stoppard's The Real Thing and the role of Kerner in the West End premiere of his Hapgood. 

The evening will include a reception with the Gala's many distinguished guests and performers, dinner, musical entertainment, silent auction and the tribute to Sir Tom. 

The musical entertainment will include performances by Butler (Williamstown's The Opposite of Sex, Hairspray), as well as the previously-announced Catherine Brunell (Big River, Thoroughly Modern Millie), Kate Burton (The Constant Wife, Hedda Gabler), Matt Cavenaugh (Grey Gardens, Urban Cowboy), Nikki Renee Daniels (Les Miserables, Lestat), and Malcolm Gets (Amour, Finian's Rainbow). Additional performers are being scheduled. 

In addition to Rees (A Man of No Importance, The Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby), the tribute to Stoppard will include Tony Award-winner Bill Irwin (The Goat, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?).  The performers have all appeared at Williamstown in the past. 

Academy Award-winner Joanne Woodward will serve as Honorary Chair of the Gala. Honorary Co-Chairs of the Gala are: Marge Champion, Connie Cincotta, Blythe Danner, Dana Ivey, Bebe Neuwirth, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ann Reinking, Jean Kennedy Smith, and Kathleen Turner.

The Williamstown Theatre Festival received the 2002 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre.  The Festival presents classic and new work in the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance on the Williams College campus in Williamstown, Massachusetts.   Next year's season will be the Festival's 53rd. 

Tickets for the Gala which include the reception, dinner, entertainment and tribute to Stoppard range from $350 for a patron ticket to $10,000 for an Angel table.  To purchase tickets or request an invitation, please call the Festival at 212.395.9090 or 413.458.3200.