On Sunday, Feb. 18, actresses Laura Linney and Jessica Hecht spoke to a packed Paresky Auditorium about their careers, the importance of the arts to a liberal arts education, and the changing landscape of creative fields. The event culminated Hecht’s Winter Study filmmaking course, featuring a screening of six student-produced short films.
Linney’s highly acclaimed television, film, and theatre career has placed her in a position to advise aspiring artists. She has starred in popular TV series Ozark and films The Truman Show and Love Actually, won two Golden Globe Awards and four Emmy Awards, and received nominations for three Academy Awards and five Tony Awards.
Hecht, who has taught the Winter Study course several times, makes an effort to bring in her industry friends in order to build mentorship connections for students. She is known for roles in Friends and Breaking Bad and is also a seasoned Broadway performer.
The pair worked together last year on the Broadway production of Summer, 1976, for which Hecht received a Tony nomination. During their collaboration, Linney learned that Hecht teaches the Winter Study course at the College and wanted to get involved.
“She was telling me about the class, and I just said, ‘If you ever want me to come speak to students, I’m happy to do it,’” Linney told the Record. “It’s something I love… Any opportunity I have to go talk about the arts, particularly to a younger generation, I will do it.”
Linney said her past involvement with the Williamstown Theatre Festival (WTF) and her love for The Clark Art Institute also drew her to speak at the College — along with a general love of education. “I love schools, and I particularly love schools in New England,” she told the Record. “They’re a very special place to be and a wonderful place to grow up. The ages that you’re here, it’s a very influential period of time — and to be in such a beautiful environment with the resources that you have, and the minds that you’re surrounded by … it makes me feel good about the future.”
The event began with a screening of the short films from Hecht’s Winter Study course, which were filmed, written, and edited entirely by students. Ben Davis ’27, a student in the course who was involved in several of the films, told the Record that it was exciting to see his work on a big screen. “I love feeling the audience’s reaction,” he said. “You know, you really get to see what works, what didn’t, and where the laughs are.”
Several of the visiting artists who helped teach the course — including director Stacy Cochran ’81 and actress Jodie Markell — also attended the screening. “I got to know all the students, and they were really fantastic,” Cochran told the Record.
Kristen Johanson ’79 — a friend of Hecht’s who serves on the WTF board — attended the event to support the students and local art scene. “We’ve always gone to her screenings and just love seeing what the students can pull together in a very short period of time,” she said. “It’s just a fun, exciting little viewing to see hopefully prospective filmmakers at the very early stages of their careers.”
After the screening, Hecht moderated a discussion with Linney titled “Life in the Arts and Its Role in Liberal Arts Education.” The pair discussed their artistic processes, their careers, and the relationship between the arts, personal well-being, and mental health.
“I really believe that the arts, particularly in this country, is the most underused resource we have, as far as mental illness, building community, strengthening your brain and thought process, and also as a connection to yourself and other people,” Linney told the audience.
Hecht initially approached Professor of Psychology Steven Fein with the idea for the event. Fein told the Record that he was excited to facilitate and promote the event because of his interest in the intersection of mental health and the arts, which Hecht and Linney highlighted in their talk. “The connection between mental health and art is something I’ve thought about a lot,” Fein said. “It’s a rich area that we don’t talk about enough.”
As the pair discussed mental health, Linney emphasized to the audience the importance of failure and discomfort. “You have to love what you’re doing more than the result of what it is,” she said. “So that even if it stinks … the only way through is through, and it teaches you grit.”
In the talk, Linney and Hecht both suggested approaches to further incorporate the arts into one’s everyday life — from listening to Bach for 10 minutes at a time to accomplishing three managable career goals each day. Linney said that she wanted each of the event’s attendees to have a unique takeaway, but she also hoped the talk would influence them to think more about the arts.
“It’s a very cyclical and self-reflective journey to be in the arts,” Hecht told the Record. She added that the arts could be a means for students to overcome the anxiety produced by recent world crises, citing the COVID-19 pandemic and frequent mass shootings. “I feel that artistic collaboration has become something of an essential aspect of being in relation to other students, and you have so many resources here.”
“The arts will make everything better,” Linney told the Record. “You learn how to read things in a different way. You learn how to communicate, you become articulate.”
Linney also emphasized the importance of mentorship in the arts. “There’s a wonderful generosity of people passing down in the arts, which I think is very important,” she said in the talk. “There is a sense that you are a small piece of a very long continuum.”
Students were excited to hear from experienced professionals. “I don’t think of Williams as a school that really has a great film program — it’s not focusing on that,” Davis added. “But it’s cool because people like Jessica and the Williamstown Theatre Festival come in for things like this. Being able to hear from people who are so talented is awesome.”
