WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. -- With eight months to go until the 2027 summer season, the Williamstown Theatre Festival is looking for an artistic director.

 

In a letter to the community promoted on social media, WTF Board Chair Margaret Gould Stewart said the festival has promoted its managing director to executive director and that, "plans for 2027 are actively taking shape."

 

"Kit [Ingui] will partner with the board to guide the festival's next chapter, supporting the organization and deepening its relationship with artists, audiences and the community," Stewart wrote.

 

She wrote that the board is using a national search firm to find its next artistic director. In the meantime, Ingui will oversee the festival's "creative collective director," Jeremy O. Harris.

 

After staging eight productions over three weekends in the summer of 2025, the WTF was absent from the local cultural scene last summer.

 

"We missed seeing you this summer," Stewart wrote. "The absence of a Festival season was deeply felt by many: the audiences, the artists, and the local community that are part of the Festival’s ecosystem."

 

She wrote that the WTF Board of Trustees feels a responsibility to continue the spirit of the festival and, "build a model strong enough to sustain it."

 

The WTF was a summer staple in the Berkshires with a lineage going back to 1955 and a history of attracting current and future stars of stage and screen.

 

In 2002, it received a Regional Theater Tony Award.

 

As recently as 2019, the WTF offered seven fully staged productions and brought stars like S. Epatha Merkerson of TV's "Law & Order" and film star Uma Thurman.

 

In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival attracted six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald to perform in Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire," one of six audio-only productions released on the streaming service Audible.

 

In 2021, the WTF returned with three in-person outdoor productions, including the site-specific "Alien/Nation" that used the streets of Williamstown.

 

2021, though, marked a turning point for the festival, as chronicled in an article published on Monday by the website Broadwayworld.com.

 

Last year, with the WTF dark, the '62 Center filled the void with productions from the Berkshire Theatre Group, Barrington Stage Company, Images Cinema and the Adams Theater along with the Blues and Roots Festival originated by Williamstown resident and recording artist Gina Coleman.

 

Stewart's letter on the festival's website promised updates on the WTF's plans for 2027 without offering any indication what form it will take.

 

"As the festival’s leadership evolves, plans for 2027 are actively taking shape, with additional details to come in the months ahead," Stewart wrote. "We recognize that staying connected means communicating more consistently. You will hear from us more regularly as we share progress, introduce artists and ideas in development, highlight new partnerships and opportunities to gather, and provide updates on the organizational and artistic future of Williamstown Theatre Festival."