Famous Faces at the Williamstown Theatre Festival

WILLIAMSTOWN ... The Williamstown Theatre Festival was conceived during winter 1954 by Ralph Renzi, Williams College’s news director, and David C. Bryant, chairman of the college’s active drama program. The original idea? To use the Adams Memorial Theatre on the Williams College campus for a summer theater with a resident company.

The Williamstown Summer Theatre — it later was renamed the Williamstown Theatre Festival — opened in summer 1955. Bryant was joined by assistant director Nikos Psacharopoulos, a professor of drama at Yale University. They assembled a company of actors made up of young New York professionals, Yale actors and alumni and a few students from Williamstown.

The season was successful, and it returned the next year, with Psacharopoulos as artistic director. Under his direction, the festival became a professional summer theater attracting actors of all stages of their career and shaping the careers of young actors through its apprentice programs.

The festival, which received a Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre in 2002, opens its 68th season this summer. Here is a look back at some of the famous faces that have been part of the festival over the years.

Sources: wtfestival.org, Berkshire Eagle Archives

Christopher Reeve first joined the Williamstown Theatre Festival as an apprentice, when he was 15 years old in 1968. The next summer, he turned Equity in Boston. He unsuccessfully would audition for Nikos Psacharopoulos annually, until 1980, when the artistic director found him suitable for a role (that he wouldn’t give to a non-Equity apprentice). Reeve, who already had donned Superman’s cape for two feature films, accepted the role and became a mainstay at the festival.

In 1985, Blythe Danner returned to the Williamstown Theatre Festival for her 12th season, heading the cast of Tom Stoppard’s “Undiscovered Country.” Danner is seen with Artistic Director Nikos Psacharopoulos at the 31st season’s opening night gala.

Playwright Tennessee Williams was in town for the production of his latest play, “Gideon Point,” playing on The Other Stage at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in August 1982. Most of the summer had been devoted to Williams, seen with Artistic Director Nikos Psacharopoulos. Williams had been in residence for a month before the WTF’s 28th season, which opened with “Tennessee Williams: A Celebration,” a two-part play-collage of Williams’ works.

Christopher Walken, Joanne Woodward, co-chairwoman of the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s annual New York City cabaret, and James Naughton chat during the festivities at the Criterion Club in May 1989. The event, “A Gala Tribute to Nikos Psacharopoulos,” was dedicated to the memory of the artistic director who died Jan. 12, 1989, ending a 34-year-association with the festival. All three actors are WTF alums. Walken, who has appeared at the festival five times, was directed twice by Psacharopoulos, in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and “The Three Sisters.”

Williamstown Theatre Festival cast members came together for a news conference in August 1985 to field questions about the summer experience, in response to a Wall Street Journal article that compared the festival to a summer camp. From left: Laila Robins, Richard Thomas, WTF Artistic Director Nikos Psacharopoulos, Karen Allen, John Sayles and George Grizzard.

The Second Company, the festival’s non-Equity ensemble, launched the careers of many television and film stars we know today. In 1972, the company included a crew with many familiar faces. Back row: Peter Evans, Sigourney Weaver, Bing Gordon, Veronica Horan, Alley Mills and Carol Potter. Front row: Ellene Winn, Lee Wessoff and Terry Byars. Evans was best known for his role as Russ Merman in the 1980s sitcom “9 to 5.” Weaver is an Oscar-nominated actress best known for her roles in “Gorillas in the Mist,” “Ghostbusters” and “Alien.” Although not an actor, Gordon, a venture capitalist, is the founding director of Audible.com and spent 10 years as chief creative officer of Electronic Arts. Mills is best known for her role as Norma Arnold on “The Wonder Years,” while Potter is known as another famous TV mom, Cindy Walsh from “Beverly Hills 90210.” Byars is a mainstay in the Baton Rouge, La., arts scene.

Paul Newman was a frequent visitor to the Williamstown Theatre Festival, as his wife, Joanne Woodward, performed in several productions and still is associated with the festival. In August 1985, Newman, left, was among many associates of film and stage director Elia Kazan, right, who attended a special festival event in Kazan’s honor.

Robin Williams never appeared onstage at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, but he was an audience member in July 1981, when he attended the opening night performance of “The Greeks,” in which his good friend, Christopher Reeve, was playing Achilles.

Sigourney Weaver, who originally joined WTF as a member of the Second Company, would star as Stella in the 1986 production of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” opposite Christopher Walken’s Stanley. She is seen on opening night of the 1986 season and of the production “The Barbarians.”

Actor Teri Garr, who was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role in “Tootsie,” talks with Peter Corbin, of Williamstown, at a party at Capers on June 27, 1985, after the opening night performance of “Undiscovered Country,” in which she performed.

Edward Herrmann was a prolific actor, director and writer, with a career that included a Tony Award for best featured actor in a play for “Mrs. Warren’s Profession” in 1976 and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series for “Gilmore Girls” in 1999. Herrmann, seen at WTF in July 1981, appeared in three plays that summer, including George Bernanrd Shaw’s “Arms and the Man.”

Richard Thomas, who appeared in the 1984 production of “The Devil’s Disciple,” was among the names drawing patrons to the theater that summer. Thomas, who appeared as John-Boy Walton in the series “The Waltons,” from 1972 to 1975, is seen in July 1984, signing autographs for fans.

The 1956 company of the Williamstown Theatre Festival gathered outside the Adams Memorial Theatre.

In 1955, WTF produced “Odine” with the original Broadway costumes worn by Audrey Hepburn. Seen here are director Niko Psacharopoulos, actor Sue Ann Gilfillan, who took on Hepburn’s roles, and actor Tom Brennan. Gilfillan would go on to have roles in television and film. Brennan also would have several roles in television and film, including a role as Michael Douglas’s father-in-law in the movie “Fatal Attraction.” ■