For Immediate Release
July 8, 2024
CLARK ART INSTITUTE PRESENTS
THE WRITING ON THE WALL, COMBINING
THEATRE, ART, AND THE WRITTEN WORD
Williamstown, Massachusetts—The Clark Art Institute hosts a literary celebration on Sunday, July 21 at 2 pm, featuring a quartet of award-winning actors performing short fiction readings. The special program, The Writing on the Wall, combines art, theatre, and the written word.
Maria Tucci, David Strathairn, Jessica Hecht, and Joe Grifasi combine their talents to bring a selection of short stories to life on the stage of the Clark’s auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center. The program includes Maria Tucci presenting A Dog in Dürer’s Etching by Marco Denevi; David Strathairn reading the Willa Cather story A Wagner Matinee; Jessica Hecht offering Jean Rhys's Goodbye Marcus, Goodbye Rose; and Joe Grifasi performing John Sayles’s comic masterpiece At the Anarchists’ Convention. The At the Anarchists’ Convention reading is enhanced by an image from the Clark’s collection.
ABOUT THE ACTORS
Maria Tucci debuted on stage in 1964 at Joe Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival and has since appeared on Broadway in such productions as A Lesson from Aloes, The Substance of Fire, and The Rose Tattoo. She played lead roles in Chekhov and Tennessee Williams productions, among many others, at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and recently starred in 4,000 Miles at the Berkshire Theater Festival.
David Strathairn portrayed Edward R. Murrow in the film Goodnight, and Good Luck, for which he won an Oscar nomination for best actor. His other films include several by his fellow Williams College alum, John Sayles (Matewan and Passion Fish among them), as well as Nomadland, Godzilla, and two Bourne action thrillers. He starred in the Syfy television series Alpha, and his many stage credits include The Birthday Party, Hapgood, The Cherry Orchard, and The Heiress.
Jessica Hecht is widely known for her television appearances in Breaking Bad, The Sinner, and Friends, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for the series Special. She earned a Tony Award nomination for her work on Broadway in A View from the Bridge and Summer, 1976. Hecht has spent twelve seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Joe Grifasi has appeared in over fifty feature films, including The Deer Hunter, Presumed Innocent, and Matewan. Among his many Broadway and off-Broadway credits are The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dinner at Eight, and The Boys Next Door, for which he won a Drama Desk Award. Television work highlights include Law and Order, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, and The Bronx is Burning.
ABOUT THE READINGS
Maria Tucci reads Marco Denevi’s A Dog in Dürer’s Etching, based on artist Albrecht Dürer’s etching The Knight, Death and the Devil, which is part the Clark’s works on paper collection. The story depicts a knight returning home from a nameless war under the pleasant illusion that home will be waiting for him in the same state he left it in. To his surprise, that is not the case.
David Strathairn presents Willa Cather’s A Wagner Matinee, sketching out a life wasted when a woman leaves Boston to live on a remote farm. When she returns to the city, she hears the music of Wagner for the first time and realizes she has missed out on so much.
Jean Rhys's Goodbye Marcus, Goodbye Rose, read by Jessica Hecht, follows a young girl named Phoebe who experiences a physical advance from a captain. Following the incident, she continues taking regular walks with the captain, and even though he never pursues her again, he continues to initiate inappropriate conversations. As a result, Phoebe’s dreams of marriage and motherhood lose meaning, and she says goodbye to the children she will no longer have. [CONTENT WARNING: Adult themes]
Joe Grifasi presents John Sayles’s At the Anarchists’ Convention, in which the protagonist Leo Gold is persuaded by his friend Sophie to attend the annual Anarchists Convention. At every stage of the proceedings, difficulties arise, and old grudges and animosities resurface.
Tickets $10 ($8 members, $7 students, $5 children 15 and under). Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. For more details and to purchase tickets, visit clarkart.edu/events.
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. Open 10 am to 9 pm on Wednesdays from June 19 through September 25, with free admission from 5 to 9 pm. 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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