POSTER BOY Starring Taylor Trensch, Jose Llana, Jerry Dixon, Katie Lee Hill, Stephen Wallem, Levin Valayil, Ned Riseley and Noah Zachary in World Premiere at Williamstown Theatre Festival through Aug. 7

Williamstown Theatre Festival is presenting the world premiere of POSTER BOY on the Nikos Stage through Sunday, Aug. 7th.  POSTER BOY began previews on July 27th and opened on July 30th.

Jose Llana and Taylor Trensch. Photo: Daniel Rader

Inspired by actual events surrounding the 2010 suicide of Tyler Clementi (Taylor Trensch), a college student who brought national attention to cyber-bullying, POSTER BOY is a new American musical by Tony Award-nominated composer Craig Carnelia and playwright Joe Tracz. A community of gay men in an online chat room come together to discover what drove one of their own to take his life. Directed by Olivier Award-nominee Stafford Arima, and movement by Danny Mefford, this provocative and moving new musical lays bare the complexity of protecting our privacy, identity and humanity in the digital era.

Levin Valavil, Taylor Trensch, Ned Riseley. Photo: Daniel Rader

Due to a family emergency, Rohan Kymal withdrew from the production during rehearsals. Levin Valayil (Bollywood and Vine) replaces him in the role of Dharun.

The cast also includes Jerry Dixon (If/Then), Katie Lee Hill (The Wilderness), Jose Llana (The King and I), Ned Riseley, Taylor Trensch (Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime), Stephen Wallem (“Nurse Jackie”), and Noah Zachary (I am Anne Hutchinson/I am Harvey Milk).

There will be a post-show talkback after the August 2nd performance.

Click here to listen to sample tracks.

Tickets for all Williamstown Theatre Festival productions can be purchased online at www.wtfestival.org, by phone at 413-597-3400, or in person at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance Box Office at 1000 Main St (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 01267.

Taylor Trensch. Photo: T. Charles Erickson

Stephen Wallem and Katie Lee Hill. Photo by Daniel Rader

Jose Llana. Photo: Daniel Rader

Jerry Dixon. Photo by Daniel Rader

Under artistic director Mandy Greenfield, Williamstown Theatre Festival, recipient of the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre, creates renowned productions of both world premiere plays as well as revivals of some of the great works of the Western theatrical canon. Since 1955, Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought together gifted emerging theater artists with our country’s finest theater professionals to produce a vibrant summer season in the Berkshires, while simultaneously running one of the country’s top training and professional development programs. In 2015, the Festival launched a New Play Commissioning Program as well as a community-immersive theatre initiative, which unites professional theater artists with Berkshire residents to create new work. Playwrights under commission include Fernanda Coppel, Melissa James Gibson (co-commission with Second Stage), Halley Feiffer, Matthew Lopez, Jiehae Park, Benjamin Scheuer and Lucy Thurber. Additionally, each summer the Festival produces an array of unique cultural events including family-friendly theater, Late-Night Cabarets, music concerts and comedy. The artists and productions shaped at the Festival each summer fill theaters in New York, around the country and abroad. Recent critically acclaimed productions launched by Williamstown Theatre Festival include: Sam Shepard’s FOOL FOR LOVE directed by Daniel Aukin, starring Nina Arianda and Sam Rockwell; Bernard Pomerance’s THE ELEPHANT MAN directed by Scott Ellis, starring Bradley Cooper; John Kander, Frank Ebb and Terrence McNally’s THE VISIT, directed by John Doyle, starring Chita Rivera, among many others. For more information, visit www.wtfestival.org.

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Lia Chang_photo by Garth Kravits

Lia Chang is an actor, a multi-media content producer and co-founder of Bev’s Girl Films, making films that foster inclusion and diversity on both sides of the camera. Bev’s Girl Films’ debut short film, Hide and Seek was a top ten film in the Asian American Film Lab’s 2015 72 Hour Shootout Filmmaking Competition, and she received a Best Actress nomination. BGF collaborates with and produces multi-media content for artists, actors, designers, theatrical productions, composers,  musicians and corporations. Lia is also an internationally published and exhibited photographer, a multi-platform journalist, and a publicist. Lia has appeared in the films Wolf, New Jack City, A Kiss Before Dying, King of New York, Big Trouble in Little China, The Last Dragon, Taxman and Hide and Seek. She is profiled in Examiner.com, Jade Magazine and Playbill.com.