Theater leader Frances Williams killed in car accident

PHOTOGRAPHER: Sara Foss

Corinth resident Frances Williams was an imaginative person who loved music and the theater and was an integral member of the Adirondack theater scene, according to her friend and former piano instructor, Norm Mosher.

She helped bring famous productions such as “Guys and Dolls” to the area, as well as “really strange comedy skits,” he said.

“She was the ultimate director,” Mosher said.

Williams, 65, was killed Friday in a car accident in Warren County.

Mosher taught Williams piano when she was a teenager, and played piano for many of the productions she was involved in. He described Williams as “a forceful personality” who invested “everything she had” in music and theater.

Williams directed theater productions in Corinth, Schuylerville and Queensbury, and was a longtime member of the Corinth Theater Guild. She got her start in local theater in the 1970s, in the minstrel shows put on by the Corinth Catholic Daughters.

Mosher said Williams had a big impact on her hometown.

“Corinth is a small town,” Mosher said. “For a small town to come up with these theater productions was really kind of an achievement. They were an artistic outlet for people who otherwise wouldn’t have any place to perform. The community enjoyed it. The shows were well attended. … It was definitely fun.”

Williams was the first youth program director for the theater group Broadway Upstate, and directed last August’s production of “Charlotte’s Web — The Musical.”

This week, the Broadway Upstate website remembered Williams as “one of the funniest, as well as one of the most loving people we have ever known. She was a mentor of theatre and of life to all of us.”

Williams was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, and grew up in Corinth, graduating from Corinth High School in 1966.

Professionally, Williams was a beautician. She owned Studio 8, a beauty salon in Corinth.

Also injured in the car accident were 32-year-old Christina Andrews and 33-year-old Michael Straight of Queensbury, who were airlifted to Albany Medical Center. Police said Williams was alone in her car when it crossed over the center line and collided with the other car.

Calling hours for Williams will be held from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Corinth High School auditorium. Her funeral will begin at 7:30 p.m.