Williamstown Festival moving outside

Summer schedule to feature three world premieres

The Williamstown Theatre Festival, which presented its 2020 productions in an audio format on the Audible platform, this year will perform its season outside.

One production will be on the lawn at the festival’s home, the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance at Williams College, another around the reflecting pool at the nearby Clark Art

Institute, and the third is being described as an “immersive theatrical experience” at different spots in Williamstown that can be visited by vehicle or on foot. All are world premieres.

In an announcement on its website, the festival said, “Devised by the country’s leading generative theatre artists, these bold and innovative outdoor productions break free from the physical boundaries of a theatre and make the natural landscape of the Berkshires their stage.” The season:

July 6 to 25: “Nine Solo Plays by Black Playwrights.”

Three programs, each with three 30-minute plays, will rotate in performance on the lawn of the the ’62 Center. Guestcurated by Tony Awardnominated director and playwright Robert O’hara, the shows feature work for actors of color written by Black playwrights Ngozi Anyanwu, France Luce Benson, J. Nicole Brooks, Guadalis Del Carmen, Terry Guest, Ike Holter, Zora Howard, Nsangou Njikam and Charly Evon Simpson.

July 13 to Aug. 8: “Row,” a musical with book by Daniel Goldstein, music and lyrics by Dawn Lande, inspired by “A Pearl in the Storm,” a memoir by Tori Murden Mcclure about becoming the first woman to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Performed at the reflecting pool at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown.

July 20 to Aug. 8: “Alien/nation.” Last summer, the Forest of Arden, a company of multidisciplinary artists, actors, dancers, designers, musicians and filmmakers created a piece that had audiences driving and walking around locations in the Columbia County towns of Philmont, Claverack and Harlemville. For 2021, it was commissioned by the Williamstown Theatre Festival to create a site-specific work that will allow audiences explore the college town through “stories inspired by real events that took place in Western Massachusetts in 1969,” according to promotional material.

Tickets go on sale in mid-june. Pricing was not immediately available. The box office telephone number is 413-458-3253.