This season, Fridays@3 will present House on Stilts by Sarah Hammond (July 8^th); It's Only a Reading by Maria Tucci and Mary Tannen (July 15^th); WHADDABLOODCLOTT!!! by Katori Hall (July 22^nd); The Blue Deep by Lucy Boyle (July 29^th), featuring a cast that includes Blythe Danner and Lily Rabe; Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang (August 5^th); and Sister Carrie directed and adapted by Steve Lawson (August 12^th).

Sarah Hammond's equally funny and heartbreaking play House on Stilts is a tale of hard longing and unexpected friendship set in the South Carolina low country. Haunted by a tragic Fourth of July accident, Rutherford Stub lives alone in a borrowed house on the edge of Crooktail Island, waiting for the woman across the water to wake up. After years away from home, an old friend and her teenage daughter arrive, wrecking his quiet solitude. In the months between his unhappy birthday and the always-difficult Fourth of July, hermitical Rutherford gets a glimpse of a happier life. But when it's time to let go of the past, can he?  Directed by Kip Fagan.

It's Only a Reading, a hilarious play co-written by Tony-nominated actress Maria Tucci and novelist and New York Times writer Mary Tannen and directed by Patrick Breen is set amongst the celebrity-studded hills of Taos, New Mexico. A successful television writer, the hot-shot young actor who starred in his series, and an older actress with whom the writer shares a sordid emotional history get together to read his new play. When the actors discover the play may be more true to life than they first realized, rehearsal quickly evolves into an outrageous struggle between writer and actress for control over the past, the play, and even the poor hapless young actor caught in between.

Olivier Award-winning playwright Katori Hall and director May Adrales bring WHADDABLOODCLOTT!!! to WTF.  Upper East Sider Eden Higgenbotham has a cushy life and an even cushier bank account, surrounded by her equally affluent and snobbish friends. Eden's life changes in an instant, however, after a sudden stroke causes her to contract the very rare Foreign Accent Syndrome, forcing her to speak uncontrollably with a Jamaican accent. Seeking help for this bizarre condition, Eden must reluctantly embrace her new identity as her old life falls apart in this hilarious and quirky new play.

The Blue Deep a tender new play by Lucy Boyle will featuring a cast that includes Blythe Danner and Lily Rabe. Lila Miller returns to her mother's idyllic summer home in Sag Harbor feeling a little lost and forgotten. Her prodigal return, however, may not be quite as well received by her mother, Grace, as Lila would like. Surrounded by a lovable group of eccentrics including Roberta, a rock 'n' roll journalist and Jorge, a strapping young gardener, both Lila and Grace might just put their pasts behind them and step into the next chapter of their lives as the end of summer draws near.  Bob Balaban will direct.

In Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Sonia and her brother Vanya are at each other's throats in an old farmhouse in the quiet countryside of Pennsylvania. Their sister, Masha, a glamourous movie star, wants to sell the family home and move on to her new life with a hunky young actor named Spike. Not even the wild threats of a voodoo slinging, prophetic housemaid named Cassandra or the ridiculous family antics surrounding a fairytale costume ball seem to be truly successful in thwarting Masha's plans. Will they succumb to the great Chekhovian fates and loose their home forever? Will Sonia and Vanya finally move on with their lives? Join us for a reading of this hysterical comedy from one of America's preeminent playwrights: Christopher Durang.

Theodore Dreiser's classic 1900 novel Sister Carrie comes to the stage in a wonderful new adaptation by Festival family member Steve Lawson. A provincial girl from Wisconsin arrives in the big city of Chicago where vice and virtue are intertwined, money clashes with desire, and reaching the top depends on what you can sell. But, as Carrie quickly learns, everything that glitters is not necessarily gold. Dreiser's panoramic saga of aspiration explores the consequences of success in a fast-changing and merciless world.

TICKETS AND SCHEDULE

Fridays@3 asks a $5 suggested donation upon entrance.  Reservations are strongly recommended and can be made by phone at (413) 597-3400 or in person at the '62 Center for Theatre and Dance, 1000 Main St. (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 02167.  Fridays@3 are presented every Friday in the Paresky Center on the Williams College Campus starting July 8^th and continuing through August 12^th at 3pm.

THE L. ARNOLD WEISSBERGER AWARD FOR PLAYWRITING

The Williamstown Theatre Festival administers the L. Arnold Weissberger Award for Playwriting on behalf of the Anna L. Weissberger Foundation. Championed for the Festival in 1998 by late Trustee Jay Harris, the award honors noted theatrical attorney and avid theatre supporter L. Arnold Weissberger who passed away in 1981, and is designed to recognize excellence in playwriting. The recipient of the award receives a $10,000 grant, and the winning script receives a reading produced by Williamstown Theatre Festival, as part of the Fridays@3 reading series, as well as optional publication by Samuel French, Inc. Each year, invitations are sent out to theatres, agents, and playwriting programs across the country requesting script nominations. Finalists are then chosen by the Festival and read blindly by a select panel of industry judges. The 2010 panel of judges were Anne Kauffman, Terry Kinney and John Rando.