The stunning '62 Center for Theatre & Dance not only looks but also feels like the Lincoln Center of the Berkshires when the Williamstown Theatre Festival is in residence. WTF kicked off its 56th season with a dinner catered by Mezze in an airy dance studio, which was followed by the ebullient and innovative all-male production of Stephen Sondheim's 1962 musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. The mood was high at the after party because it was clear that director Jessica Stone's gamble had paid off: the show is two hours of pure, high-spirited entertainment.
Fred Windover, a WTF trustee emeritus, and his brother Mark Windover; Dr. Don Quinn Kelly and Williams College dance professor Sandra L. Burton,
White Bird Dance co-founder Walter Jaffe and his mother, the indefatigable Lola Jaffe, the chairman of the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center; MCLA professor Roselle Chatock and WTF trustee Jid Sprague.
The creative team for Western Country, the Fellowship program musical on July 19: musicians Ryan Tyndell & Kellys Collins, playwright Noah Haidle (What is the Cause of Thunder?) and director Davis McCallum.
Reid White, WTF trustee Fredda Harris and WTF board vice president Michele Moeller Chandler; Connie Cincotta and Anna Kalamon.
Actress Gayle Rankin, Lauren Blumenfeld (who will be in Six Degrees of Separation) Sharyn Rothstein (author of Camp Monster) and After the Revolution playwright Amy Herzog
WTF Arstistic Associate Amanda Charlton with WTF community relations coordinator Carolann Patterson; Joe Donahue & Sara LaDuke of WAMC's The Round Table.
The Tenement Museum's Leslie Milton and David Rosenthal; director Catherine Taylor-Williams of the Wharton Salon at The Mount, and Susan Conklin.
WTF trustee Katherine Kollarth Peabody and her husband Bo Peabody, with Mike Seckler and WTF trustee Caren Pasquale Seckler
WTF trustee Brad Svrugla and Julia Bowen, executive director of the Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter Public School; Hermine Drezner & Jan Winkler.
Forum director Jessica Stone and her husband, Christopher FItzgerald, who stars as Pseudolus, arrive at the after party.
Cast members at the after party: Chivas Michael & Joe Aaron Reid; David Turner & Bryce Pinkham
WTF general manager Joe Finnegan and WTF board president Matthew C. Harris.
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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
