Williamstown Theatre Festival Announces Schedule Changes for HERE LIES LOVE& FAR FROM HEAVEN

Williamstown Theatre Festival Artistic Director Jenny Gersten announced today performance schedule changes to the runs of the workshop production of Here Lies Love and the Preview Production of Far From Heaven on the Main Stage.

Due to popular demand, Here Lies Love has added a performance on Wednesday, June 20 at 8:00pm. The production will then continue its sold out scheduled run of performances from June 21 through 24 at the Hunter Center for the Performing Arts at MASS MoCA (87 Marshall Street, North Adams, MA). All evening performances will be followed by talkbacks by co-creator David Byrne and director Alex Timbers. Here Lies Love is a co-production between the Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Public Theater, and MASS MoCA (where the workshop is in residence). Tickets and information on the wait list policy are available through the MASS MoCA box office at www.massmoca.org or by calling (413) 662-2111.

Far From Heaven will add an additional performance to its schedule on Wednesday, July 25 at 2:00pm. The Preview Production begins performances on July 19 and runs through July 29. Due to the technical demands of the ambitious physical production of Far From Heaven, the show will no longer have a matinee on Thursday, July 19 at 2:00pm and instead begin performances at 7:30pm that same evening.

Within a throbbing dance club environment, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim deconstruct the astonishing journey of Filipina First Lady Imelda Marcos from her meteoric rise to her descent into infamy in Here Lies Love. Directed by Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers (Peter and the Starcatcher), this wholly immersive spectacle combines disco beats, adrenaline-fueled choreography, and a remarkable 360-degree scenic and video environment — going beyond Imelda’s near-mythic obsession with shoes to explore true questions of power and responsibility. Neither period piece nor mere biography, neither play nor musical, Here Lies Love is a unique theatrical experience that raises the pulse and quickens the blood — all filtered through the remarkable vision of David Byrne, one of the great American artists of the last half century.

In Far From Heaven, Cathy Whitaker seems to be the picture-perfect wife and mother in 1957 suburban Connecticut. But roiling beneath the surface, secret longings and forbidden desires cause her world to unravel — with incendiary consequences. Starring four time Tony Award nominee Kelli O’Hara (Nice Work If You Can Get It, South Pacific), with a book by Tony Award winner Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out, Three Days of Rain), and a lush score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie (Grey Gardens) that is both jazz-inflected and hauntingly lyrical, Far From Heaven is a powerful story of romance, betrayal, intolerance, and a woman grappling with her own identity in a society on the verge of great upheaval.

As previously announced, the complete 2012 Williamstown Theatre Festival season runs from June 26 – August 19, 2012 and includes Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, a Preview Production of the new musical Far From Heaven, and a new translation of Ivan Turgenev’s A Month in the Country on the Main Stage, with Lucy Boyle’s The Blue Deep, Neil Simon’s Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Bernard Pomerance’s The Elephant Man, and Katori Hall’s WHADDABLOODCLOT!!! on the Nikos Stage. The season will also include a special workshop production of David Byrne’s Here Lies Love, which will play at nearby MASS MoCA.

Since 1955, the Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought America's finest actors, directors, designers, and playwrights to the Berkshires, engaging a loyal audience of both residents and summer visitors. Each WTF season is designed to present unique opportunities for artists and audience alike, revisiting classic plays with innovative productions, developing and nurturing bold new plays and musicals, and offering a rich array of accompanying cultural events including Free Theatre, Late-Night Cabarets, readings, workshops, and educational programs. While best known for our acclaimed productions, WTF is also home to one of the nation’s top training and professional development programs for new generations of aspiring theatre artists and administrators. Now under the leadership of Artistic Director Jenny Gersten, WTF was honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 2002 and The Commonwealth Award for Achievement in 2011.

MASS MoCA (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art) is one of the largest centers for contemporary visual and performing arts in the country and is located in North Adams, Massachusetts, on a restored 19th-century factory campus. MASS MoCA’s galleries are open 11am – 5pm every day except Tuesdays. In July and August galleries are open every day from 10 AM – 6 PM. Gallery admission is $15 for adults, $10 for students, $5 for children 6 – 16, and free for children 5 and under. Members admitted free year-round. For additional information, call 413-662-2111 or visit www.massmoca.org. MASS MoCA is an independent 501C3 whose operations and programming are funded through admissions and commercial lease revenue, corporate and foundation grants, and individual philanthropy. Except for an initial construction grant from The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and competitive program and operations grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, MASS MoCA is privately funded: 90% of annual operating revenues are from earned revenues, membership support and private gifts and grants.

Tickets to all Williamstown Theatre Festival productions may be purchased online (www.wtfestival.org), by phone at 413-597-3400, or in person at the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance Box Office at 1000 Main St (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 02167.

The Festival's Nikos Stage is an intimate 173-seat venue that regularly sells out in advance from within the pool of Festival donors.

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