The spirit of the Williamstown Theatre Festival (WTF) is best expressed on its opening night: The entire audience is always invited to the post-performance party along with the scores of young apprentices who are spending their summer honing their theatre skills under the tutelage of Broadway veterans. On Thursday, June 30, the mood was giddy under the tents erected on the lawn of the 62 Center for Theatre and Dance where Mezze Catering served sparkling wine, beer and cupcakes following an exquisitely provocative revival of Jon Robin Baitz's Three Hotels, the story of a former Peace Corps worker who loses his soul, along with his wife and son, by climbing the corporate ladder at a multinational company that pushes baby formula on women who don't need it in the Third World. WTF is justifiably famous for its commitment to all the theatre arts, and the sets for Three Hotels were especially magnificent and watching the scene changes was sheer delight.
Three Hotels playwright Jon Robin Baitz and Sunder Ganglani; Three Hotels set designer Thomas Lynch with Jacob Mundell.
Assistant costume designer Christopher Metzger with Three Hotels star Maura Tierney.
Interns Lisa Szolovits, David Mendizabal & Anne Joy; Williamstown Film Festival's Steve Lawson with Three Hotels star Steven Weber and WTF general manager Joe Finnegan.
Props intern Jeff Maloney, production intern Olivia Spears and box office staffer Sam Flinn; costumers Elizabeth Coffin, Grace Delahanty, Nicole Slavin & Rebecca Wallace.
Properties artisan Lawrence Moten and carpenter Kyle Pollitt.
Molly Kerns of Tsubo Massage and Janine Hetherington; Chip Chandler and WTF vice chair Michelle Moeller Chandler.
Actor Dylan Baker and his daughter Willa Baker with Joe Grifasi, who is directing Lewis's Black's One Slight Hitch on the Nikos Stage, July 6 - 17; WTF marketing consultant Carolann Patterson with Tracy Finnegan.
Veteran volunteer ushers Ethel Welch & Clara Dequaise enjoy free dessert from the ice cream truck parked on the lawn outside the 62 Center.
Written by
Matteline deVries-Dilling, founder of Lite Brite Neon, one of the evening's honoree of this year's Upstate Benefit adresses the gala from the Caboose's caboose.
- Karen Pearson. Courtesy Art Omi.
Olana senior vice president and landscape curatorMark Prezorski, president Sean Sawyer, The evenings honoree Kristin Gamble and New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
- Oxygen House Photo
