For Immediate Release
July 18, 2023
CLARK ART INSTITUTE HOSTS
FRIDAYS@3 SERIES IN PARTNERSHIP
WITH WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL
Williamstown, Massachusetts—In partnership with the Williamstown Theatre Festival (WTF), the Clark Art Institute hosts Fridays@3, a series of readings of new plays and works-in-progress. Hosted weekly through August 4, the renowned program welcomes visitors to spend the afternoon with a play in development, performed by professional actors. All performances begin at 3 pm in the Clark’s auditorium.
Plunder and Lightning
By Cindy Lou Johnson
Directed by Portia Krieger
Featuring John Pankow, Annie Golden, Johanna Day, Nina Grollman, and Samantha Bohrer
Friday, July 21
Tina and George’s preparations for an important party are wildly derailed when their daughter Rikki shows up on the run from the cops, and Tina’s stepmother, Lola, threatens to levy charges of elder abuse. This dark comedy about greed and the urgent power of love examines the price to be paid for burying our sins.
Chapters of a Floating Life (Winner of the 2023 L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award)
By Clarence Coo (Recipient of the 2023 Jay Harris Commission)
Directed by Jennifer Chang
Featuring Teresa Avia Lim, Grant Chang, James Chen, Diana Oh, and Leah Getz
Friday, July 28
Two couples from China try to make ends meet in New York City in the wake of the Second World War. One husband and wife live uptown, obsessed with a past of poetry, painting, and gardens. Another pair try to keep a Chinatown restaurant in business. Their worlds converge when the two women find each other and fall under the spell of the Chinese language.
Wipeout
By Aurora Real de Asua
Directed by Maggie Burrows
Featuring Emily Kuroda, Becky Ann Baker, and Brett Gray
Friday, August 4
It’s Gary’s seventy-seventh birthday and all she wants to do is surf, though she’s never stepped foot on a board. With the help of a hot-rod teenage surf instructor and the company of her two best friends, Gary is about to go on the ride of her life. As the three women navigate the currents of the Pacific, they must confront seven decades of secrets and sacrifices.
Tickets $15. Advance registration required. Register through the Williamstown Theatre Festival Box Office at wtfestival.org. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.
ABOUT WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL
For seven decades, the Tony Award-recognized Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought emerging and professional theater artists together in the Berkshires to create a thrilling summer festival of diverse, world premiere plays and musicals, bold new revivals, and a rich array of accompanying cultural events.
Artists are drawn to the Festival to make great theater in an environment conducive to artistic risk-taking. Matthew Broderick, Audra McDonald, Dominique Morisseau, Mary-Louise Parker, Susan Stroman, Uma Thurman, and Blair Underwood are just a few of the luminous theater artists who have worked at the Festival. Many others, including Sterling K. Brown, Ty Burrell, Charlie Day, Paul Giamatti, Kathryn Hahn, Allison Janney, Brie Larson, Chris Pine, and George C. Wolfe, began their careers at WTF.
Productions and artists shaped at the Festival fill theaters in New York City and around the world. Recently, Williamstown Theatre Festival was represented on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and regionally by The Sound Inside, Grand Horizons, The Rose Tattoo, The Visit, Fool for Love, The Elephant Man, Seared, Selling Kabul, Unknown Soldier, and Lempicka, to name just a few. Cost of Living, which was developed and premiered at Williamstown Theatre Festival, was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and made its Broadway debut last fall.
Learn more about Williamstown Theatre Festival at www.wtfestival.org.
ABOUT THE CLARK
The Clark Art Institute, located in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, is one of a small number of institutions globally that is both an art museum and a center for research, critical discussion, and higher education in the visual arts. Opened in 1955, the Clark houses exceptional European and American paintings and sculpture, extensive collections of master prints and drawings, English silver, and early photography. Acting as convener through its Research and Academic Program, the Clark gathers an international community of scholars to participate in a lively program of conferences, colloquia, and workshops on topics of vital importance to the visual arts. The Clark library, consisting of some 300,000 volumes, is one of the nation’s premier art history libraries. The Clark also houses and co-sponsors the Williams College Graduate Program in the History of Art.
The Clark, which has a three-star rating in the Michelin Green Guide, is located at 225 South Street in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Its 140-acre campus includes miles of hiking and walking trails through woodlands and meadows, providing an exceptional experience of art in nature. Galleries are open 10 am to 5 pm Tuesday through Sunday, from September through June, and daily in July and August. Admission is free January through March and is $20 from March through December; admission is free year-round for Clark members, all visitors age 21 and under, and students with a valid student ID. Free admission is also available through several programs, including First Sundays Free; a local library pass program; and EBT Card to Culture. For information on these programs and more, visit clarkart.edu or call 413 458 2303.
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