Dylan Baker, whose Broadway credits include Eastern Standard and La Bete, will play The Squire, and "Big Love" actress Ginnifer Goodwin will play Bessie Watty in Emlyn Williams' The Corn Is Green, which stars the previously announced Kate Burton. Nicholas Martin will direct the production on the Main Stage, Aug. 1-12.
Translations' Rob Campbell will play Johann Mobius in The Physicists, which runs on the Center Stage Aug. 7-18. Campbell will join Tony winner Roger Rees for the production of the Friederich Dürrenmatt work. Kevin O'Rourke directs.
Newcomers to the cast of The Front Page — July 4-15 on the Main Stage — include The Coast of Utopia's Jason Butler Harner (as Hildy Johnson) and Sweet Charity's Wayne Knight (as Sheriff Hartman). They join Richard Kind (as Walter Burns) and Robert Stanton (as Ron Bensinger). Ron Daniels will direct the Ben Hecht-Charles MacArthur play.
Wendie Malick — the two-time Emmy nominated star of "Just Shoot Me" — has joined the cast of Blithe Spirit as Madame Arcati. The Last Night of Ballyhoo's Jessica Hecht will portray Ruth in the Noël Coward work, which plays the Main Stage July 18-29. Maria Mileaf directs.
Hecht will also be seen as Nina Denery in The Autumn Garden, which plays the Main Stage Aug. 15-29. Directed by David Jones, the Lillian Hellman play will feature Elizabeth Franz, Mamie Gummer, Allison Janney, Maryann Plunkett and Jay O. Sanders. John Benjamin Hickey, of Love! Valour! Compassion! fame, has also joined the Garden cast as Nicholas Denery. Crimes of the Heart, which runs Aug. 8-19 on the Nikos Stage, has welcomed "Grey's Anatomy" actress Kali Rocha to its cast. Kathleen Turner will direct a company that also features Sarah Paulson and Lily Rabe.
The season at a glance follows:
Herringbone
Starring B.D. Wong
Book by Tom Cone, Music by Skip Kennon, Lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh, Based on the play by Tom Cone
Directed by Roger Rees
June 14 – 24 Center Stage
"B.D. Wong stars as one of vaudeville's greatest child stars in this unconventional, hilarious and ultimately heart-breaking one-man musical."
Dissonance
Starring Daniel Gerroll and Alicia Witt
By Damian Lanigan – World Premiere
Directed by Amanda Charlton
June 27 – July 8 Nikos Stage
"Members of the Bradley String Quartet may have their artistic differences, but those issues pale when a rock star invades their classical comfort zone."
The Front Page
Starring Jason Butler Harner, Richard Kind and Wayne Knight
By Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Directed by Ron Daniels
July 4 – 15 Main Stage
"It's the hottest story since the Chicago Fire. And they're sitting on it!"
Villa America
Starring David Deblinger, Karl Kenzler, Jennifer Mudge and Chandler Williams
By Crispin Whittell – World Premiere
Directed by Crispin Whittell
July 11 – 22 Nikos Stage
"They migrated to France in the 1920's, and their names are still legend – Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Picasso – and at the center of their circle were Gerald and Sara Murphy."
Blithe Spirit
Starring Jessica Hecht and Wendie Malick
By Noel Coward
Directed by Maria Mileaf
July 18 – 29 Main Stage
"While conducting research for a new book, author Charles Condomine and his second wife Ruth invite the local mystic, Madame Arcati, to hold a séance. The unfortunate result is that Charles' first wife Elvira is summoned from beyond the grave to rally all the powers of heaven and hell to darken Charles and Ruth's lives."
Party Come Here
Starring Hunter Foster, Malcolm Gets, Kaitlin Hopkins and Kate Reinders
Book by Daniel Goldfarb, music and lyrics by David Kirshenbaum World Premiere
Directed by Christopher Ashley
July 25 – Aug. 5 Nikos Stage
"Part farce, part fable, Party Come Here is a musical comedy that promises a collision of cultures as tantalizing as the sexiest city in the world."
The Corn Is Green
Starring Becky Ann Baker, Dylan Baker, Kate Burton, and Ginnifer Goodwin By Emlyn Williams
Directed by Nicholas Martin
Aug. 1 – 12 Main Stage
"Shocked by conditions in a Welsh mining town, schoolteacher Lilly Moffat is hell-bent on offering the illiterate locals the fundamentals of a decent education."
The Physicists
Starring Rob Campbell and Roger Rees
By Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Translated by James Kirkup
Directed by Kevin O'Rourke
In Association with the Williams College Summer Theatre Lab
Aug. 7 – 18 Center Stage
"Three inmates at the Cherry Trees Sanatorium believe themselves to be Einstein, Newton and Möbius. Are they madmen? Murderers? Or exactly who they claim they are?"
Crimes of the Heart
Starring Sarah Paulson, Lily Rabe and Kali Rocha
By Beth Henley
Directed by Kathleen Turner
Aug. 8 – 19 Nikos Stage
"Ancient feuds bubble to the surface when the Magrath sisters are forced to cope with the latest disaster to disrupt their lives.
The Autumn Garden
Starring Elizabeth Franz, Mamie Gummer, Jessica Hecht, John Benjamin Hickey, Allison Janney and Maryann Plunkett
By Lillian Hellman
Directed by David Jones
Aug. 15 – 26 Main Stage
"In a summer resort in 1949, seven friends confronting middle age assess the choices they have made and the lives they have led, clinging to the hope that they will once more be at peace."
Tickets are now available online at wtfestival.org; beginning June 4, they will be available at the box office and by phone at (413) 597-3400.
