David Hyde Pierce-Directed Importance of Being Earnest, New Comedy from Katori Hall & More Complete Williamstown’s Summer Season

Plays by Oscar Wilde, Neil Simon, Katori Hall and Ivan Turgenev complete Williamstown Theatre Festival’s 2012 summer season, which join the previously announced musical Far from Heaven starring Kelli O’Hara. Full casting for the company’s productions will be announced in the coming months.

The Mainstage season will kick off with The Importance of Being Earnest, helmed by Tony and Emmy winner David Hyde Pierce. The reimagined production, running June 26 through July 14, will mix Guys & Dolls-style gangsters with Downton Abbey-style society for a unique retelling of Wilde’s beloved tale about love and mistaken identity.

The next show up on the Mainstage is the world premiere of the new musical Far from Heaven starring Kelli O’Hara. The musical, directed by Michael Greif and based on 2002 the film of the same name, will run July 19 through July 29.

Rounding out the Mainstage season is Richard Nelson’s world premiere of A Month in the Country, adapted from the Ivan Turgenev text. A Month in the Country follows 29-year-old Natalya, who is comfortably married with a young son. One day, without warning, she falls under the influence of a force she has never known before: desire. Suddenly, her simple, predictable world is irrevocably changed. This new take on the classic Russian drama will run from August 1 through August 19.

The Nikos stage will begin its season on June 27 with a world premiere drama by Lucy Boyle and starring Tony and Emmy winner Blythe Danner. Directed by Bob Balaban, The Blue Deep examines a mother and daughter’s complicated relationship after the daughter returns home to the family’s Hamptons estate. The family drama continues through July 8.

The Nikos stage will then host a revival of Neil Simon’s three-act comedy Last of the Red Hot Lovers. Directed by Jessica Stone, the show follows Barney Cashman as he attempts to bring excitement into his life by hosting three afternoon trysts with three very different women. The comedy will run July 11 through July 22.

The summer comes to an end with another world premiere production. Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Hurt Village) will debut her comedy WHADDABLOODCLOT!!!, about an affluent woman who speaks with an uncontrolled Jamaican accent as a result from her stroke. The show will play the Nikos Stage from August 8 through August 19.

In addition to these productions, Williamstown will offer a free outdoor production of Valley of Fear, a Sherlock Holmes story adapted by Steve Lawson. The show will play the Poker Flats Field July 18 through July 27.