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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, PLEASE

TONY AWARD^® RECIPIENT
WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL

ANNOUNCES SPECIAL ONE-PERFORMANCE-ONLY OF
ED NAPIER’S “MUSIC LESSONS”

DIRECTED BY ROBERT LUPONE
AT THE CLARK ART INSTITUTE AUDITORIUM

New York, NY (November 10, 2022) – Williamstown Theatre Festival (Jenny Gersten, Interim Artistic Director) announced a special one-time-only performance of Ed Napier’s Music Lessons at the Clark Art Institute’s auditorium as part of the Williamstown Holiday Walk festivities and the Clark’s “First Sunday Free” program on Sunday, December 4^th at 2 PM. Admission to Music Lessons is free with general admission seating. Reservations are recommended and can be made directly on Williamstown Theatre Festival’s website at wtfestival.org.

Tracing his years of voice and theater training with two larger-than-life mentors, in Music Lessons, Ed Napier shares his funny, moving, and revelatory adventures from southern West Virginia to New York institutions like Columbia University, HB Studio, and the Juilliard School. With scenes, stories, and songs in a range of genres, he recounts the process of growing up, becoming an artist, and learning to relish the glory of just being alive. Directed by Robert LuPone, who died this August, Music Lessons also will feature Lynn Kao on piano and soprano Deborah Lifton.

“Williamstown Theatre Festival is thrilled to be able to offer the hilarious and moving Music Lessons as part of our Holiday Walk festivities this December,” said Jenny Gersten, Interim Artistic Director of WTF. “This would not have been possible without our hosts and partners Olivier Meslay and the Clark. And I’m moved to be able to be in conversation with a piece that was being developed by the late, beloved, gifted Robert LuPone.”

The Williamstown Holiday Walk takes place December 2-4 with a line-up of family-friendly festivities, including the beloved ReinDog Parade, a visit with Santa Claus, a Soup-er Bowl Cook-off, Gingerbread House Exhibition, Penny Social, Tree Lighting & Caroling, and so much more! For a complete schedule of holiday fun, visit DestinationWilliamstown.org.

As part of the Clark’s “First Sunday Free” program on Sunday, December 4, admission to the museum galleries will be free all day and from 1-4PM will be filled with art-making and other surprises all themed to the concept of celebration. Family programs at the Clark are generously supported by Allen & Company. Visit clarkart.edu to learn more. Please note use of facemasks is optional for all visitors at the Clark. Visit clarkart.edu/visit/health to learn more about the Clark’s COVID-19 healthy and safety protocols.

TESTIMONIALS

“Music Lessons is one of those remarkably rare and honest solo shows, that takes you into the agonizing heart of what it means to be an artist, a musician, and to maintain your deep humanity and compassion in a world that challenges you to dare to be that vulnerable… Ed Napier stuns us with his invitation to come into his life from almost the beginning, and inspires anyone who watches him to be as brave and daring in their own life and times.” – actors Kathryn Grody and Mandy Patinkin

“At the heart of Ed Napier’s deeply moving, ceaselessly funny, and profoundly personal solo play, Music Lessons, in which he also performs, is his lifelong quest to develop an authentic voice as an artist and human being. Whether he is relating stories about a wildly idiosyncratic array of acquaintances he made as a West Virginia transplant in New York City, or digging for meaning in the beautiful music he sings throughout the show, Ed pulls the audience along a patchwork path to the present moment of his middle age – where he has found joy in who he has become. This is a play about learning to love who you are. It is thrilling in its intimacy, in poignant moments of personal discovery, and in the power of Ed’s voice filling the space with operatic arias and Appalachian folk songs. The experience is as honest as a breath of fresh air.”  – John Eisner, former Artistic Director of The Lark

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 Williamstown Theatre 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 the Festival.

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 earlier this fall.

Learn more about Williamstown Theatre Festival at www.wtfestival.org.

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