Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead dies a natural death at the Williamstown Theatre Festival on July 11. It began performances June 30. Christopher Evan Welch (London Assurance) and Jefferson Mays star as the title characters, supported by Richard Kind ("Spin City") as the Player.

Tom Stoppard's quasi-absurdist classic takes a look at the Hamlet story through the eyes of two of its minor players, the doomed pawns Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Darko Tresnjak directs the play.

Also in the cast are Jack Ferver, David Hornsby (as Hamlet), Cheryl Lynn Bowers, Thomas Schall, Sandra Shipley and Gregor Paslawsky.

Stoppard recently gained renewed fame by co-penning the screenplay to "Shakespeare in Love." His most recent stage works include Arcadia and The Invention of Love.

* In other WTF news, John Spencer has been added to the cast of the Williamstown Theatre Festival's production of Warren Leight's latest play, The Glimmer Brothers. Spencer and Terry Beaver play Martin and Daniel Glimmer, twin brother once united in their love of jazz, but now long estranged. When Martin lands in the hospital, his godson Jordan and Daniel's daughter Delia try to bring the two brothers back together.

"Friends" actor David Schwimmer stars as Jordan opposite Kim Raver as Delia.

Spencer is best known for his regular role on the television series "L.A. Law." His most recent New York stage appearance was in the Off-Broadway production of Peter Hedges' Good as New.

Terry Beaver starred in the Broadway production of Alfred Uhry's The Last Night of Ballyhoo.

Glimmer is being considered for the upcoming Roundabout Theatre Company season.

*

Mark Linn-Baker and Michael Cumpsty have joined the cast of the Gwyneth Paltrow As You Like It, due to take the Williamstown Theatre Festival's Main Stage Aug. 4-15. The Bard's classic comedy marks the Oscar-winning actress and former WTF regular's first stage turn in many years. She will play the heroine Rosalind, who -- much like her character in "Shakespeare in Love" -- dressed up as a man in order to snare her love.

Paltrow began her career at Williamstown in the 1981 production of The Greeks. Other Paltrow performances at WTF include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Picnic, The Sweet By and By and The Sea Gull. Paltrow's films include "Emma" and "Sliding Doors."

Her mother, actress Blythe Danner, is a mainstay at the Massachusetts summer theatre.

Linn-Baker is known for his comic turns in Broadway musicals such as A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and comedies like Laughter on the 23rd Floor. He will play the clown Touchstone in As You Like It.

Cumpsty will speak the famous "All the world's a stage" speech as Jaques. Cumpsty was recently seen on Broadway in the Zoe Wanamaker production of Electra. His other roles include La Bete and Racing Demon.

Alessandra Navola will play opposite Paltrow as Rosalind's love, Orlando.

*

The remaining season schedule, which runs June 16-Aug. 29, runs as follows:
The Main Stage:
The Taming of the Shrew (July 7-18), directed by Roger Rees (The Misanthrope), who also stars in the production as Petruchio. Bebe Neuwirth stars as Kate, supported by David Aaron Baker, Tom Bloom, Denis Holmes, Neal Huff and Bruce MacVittie

A Raisin in the Sun (July 21-Aug. 1), Lorainne Hansberry's classic, directed by Jack Hofsiss (The Elephant Man). Gloria Foster stars.

As You Like It (Aug. 4-15), starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Rosalind, Mark Linn-Baker as Touchstone, Michael Cumpsty as Jaques and Alessandra Navola as Orlando.

The Price (Aug. 18-29), Arthur Miller's play about family loyalty and responsibility, directed by James Naughton (WTF's 1997 Johnny on the Spot).

Nikos Stage:
The Glimmer Brothers (July 14-25), a world premiere of Warren Leight's play about two generations of jazz musicians. David Schwimmer, John Spencer, Kim Raver and Terry Beaver star.

Chaucer in Love (July 28-Aug. 8), John Guare's new play about pilgrims who journey to Rome to absolve their sins, directed by Martin, who successfully mounted Guare's Bosoms and Neglect at New York's Signature Theatre Company earlier this year.

The Waverly Gallery (Aug. 11-22), Kenneth Lonergan's new play about an 85-year-old Greenwich Village gallery owner who, while failing mentally, refuses to retire, directed by Scott Ellis (Steel Pier).

WTF will also present Quark Victory, a musical by Robert Reale and Willie Reale, starring Karen Ziemba and Wilson Jermaine Heredia, at the Hunter Center for the Performing Arts; and several cabaret acts and play readings.

For information, call (413) 597-3399.

--By Robert Simonson