OFF SCRIPT WITH DAN DWYER: Recent Episodes
ROBIN HOOD RADIO
Welcome to OFF SCRIPT for Dan Dwyer’s reviews of theater in New York, New England and sometimes London, plus podcasts of his radio interviews with creative principals in theatre arts.
CELESTE LECESNE is best known for his award-winning solo shows One Man Band, Word of Mouth, and The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey. The NYTimes has ranked him “among the most talented solo performers of his (or any) generation.” He wrote the short film Trevor, which won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short and he is co-founder of The Trevor Project, the only nationwide Lifeline for LGBTQ youth. He has written three novels for young adults, and created The Letter Q, a collection of letters by queer writers written to their younger selves. Celeste is also the co-founder of The Future Perfect, a national arts initiative for LGBTQ+ youth. For more info visit www.celestelecesne.com
THE PLEIN AIR PLAYS
Fri, Aug 13 at 5p & 6p
Sat, Aug 14 and Sun, Aug 15 at 4p, 5p & 6p TICKETS
At each presentation, three short plays are staged in three secret locations near the Opera House, with audiences traveling by car to reach each performance site.
Total running time—including the three plays and travel to each performance site—is expected to be approximately 90 minutes.
Please take note that to reach each performance location, audiences will be also walking a short distance across grass that is sometimes gently sloping. For whom this may be a concern, please write info@ancramoperahouse.org so that we can make accommodations.
At each play location, blankets and some seating will be provided. Audiences are also welcome to bring their own seating, if preferred, or to stand. Each individual piece has a running time of approximately 20 minutes.
Falstaff, Glory Denied, and Much Ado About Shakespeare Tickets Available Now!
We are THRILLED to announce that we will now be able to offer all BOF 2021 season performances at FULL CAPACITY! Ticket sales for Falstaff and Glory Denied are open now. Reservations for Much Ado About Shakespeare can be made through The Mount's website. Use the links below to learn more and to get your tickets today!
SECOND-STAGE OPERA
Based on the novel by Tom Philpott, this stirring drama is based on the true story of Vietnam veteran and America's longest-held prisoner of war, Colonel Jim Thompson.
FREE CONCERT
Join BOF for an evening of music inspired by the great William Shakespeare, performed by members of our internationally renowned cast of Falstaff.
MAINSTAGE OPERA
The crown jewel of our season! Falstaff, Verdi's last opera and one of the world's greatest comedies, will feature an all-star cast alongside the BOF Orchestra and Chorus.
Tickets for BOF's 2021 indoor productions of Glory Denied and Falstaff are both available for purchase through the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center box office.
Click on the buttons below to learn more about our 2021 season productions. Meet the acclaimed artists returning to the BOF stage this summer, and get to know some exciting new voices!
Glory Denied Much Ado About Shakespeare Falstaff
You can learn more about our COVID-19 audience safety protocols and ticketing logistics here.
Eric Comstock and Barbara Fasano, whose electrifying combination of warmth, wit, swing, and sensuality have made them the nightclub world's most celebrated team, are every bit as entertaining as they are musically savvy.
Although this married musical duo has been compared to Bobby Short and Lena Horne, Fred and Ginger, and Lunt and Fontanne, the “golden couple’s” style is all their own, with a wide choice of material that brings the generations together. Their repertoire runs the gamut from Cole Porter to Paul Simon, from Duke Ellington to Joni Mitchell, from Sinatra to Sting. Eric and Barbara make all of it fresh, new, spontaneous, and fun -- and their audiences feel they've been to a terrific party where the music and the stories have been equally great. Regular performers at New York’s most prestigious clubs and concert halls, Eric and Barbara’s cozy New York apartment is filled with awards for their concerts and recordings. Winners of 8 MAC Awards, 5 New York Bistro Awards and the New York Nightlife Award, most recently they were honored for the fourth time with the Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) award for Major Duo Artists. Barbara’s latest CDs, “WRITTEN IN THE STARS” and “BUSY BEING FREE”, were both awarded the MAC Award for Recording of the Year. Their fast-paced and swinging concerts of songs from the jazz and pop songbooks have been hailed as “exhilarating” and “witty” by The New York Times, and have had audiences standing and cheering from coast to coast and in London.
Courtesy Olivia Enstone
ALLISON DREW
Allison Drew has a PhD from UCLA and is professor emerita at the University of York and honorary professor at the University of Cape Town. She has published five scholarly books and numerous articles on anti-apartheid and anti-colonial movements in South Africa and Algeria. Her latest book, a memoir, is called Searching for My Missing Father: An American Noir (Black Rose Writing) and concerns her attempts to discover the truth behind her father’s vanishing.
Allison Drew’s frail, ninety-one-year-old father Tom Drew vanishes without a trace from his Salisbury, Connecticut home in July 2007. His caregiver claims he left his house on foot. Despite massive searches, he is not found.
Seeking to discover what happened to her father, Allison embarks on a brutalizing psychological journey leading her to America’s eroded democratic institutions. When she criticizes the police handling of the disappearance, she is arrested for criminal trespass of her father’s home. Dragged into the criminal justice system, denied her right to trial, she sees and feels the system’s injustices.
Allison’s memoir unravels the threads binding small towns and their police in a cocoon of silence. A forensic examination of the police investigation into her father’s vanishing, it is also a study of prejudice through the prism of dementia and an exploration of the emotional impact of a missing relative.
Courtesy Olivia Enstone
ALLISON DREW
Allison Drew has a PhD from UCLA and is professor emerita at the University of York and honorary professor at the University of Cape Town. She has published five scholarly books and numerous articles on anti-apartheid and anti-colonial movements in South Africa and Algeria. Her latest book, a memoir, is called Searching for My Missing Father: An American Noir (Black Rose Writing) and concerns her attempts to discover the truth behind her father's vanishing.
Allison Drew’s frail, ninety-one-year-old father Tom Drew vanishes without a trace from his Salisbury, Connecticut home in July 2007. His caregiver claims he left his house on foot. Despite massive searches, he is not found.
Seeking to discover what happened to her father, Allison embarks on a brutalizing psychological journey leading her to America’s eroded democratic institutions. When she criticizes the police handling of the disappearance, she is arrested for criminal trespass of her father’s home. Dragged into the criminal justice system, denied her right to trial, she sees and feels the system’s injustices.
Allison’s memoir unravels the threads binding small towns and their police in a cocoon of silence. A forensic examination of the police investigation into her father’s vanishing, it is also a study of prejudice through the prism of dementia and an exploration of the emotional impact of a missing relative.
SUMMER PLAY LAB
August 7-16; Fridays, Saturdays at 8p; Sundays at 7p
Featuring new work by Heather Christian, Mariah Ayscue and Frank Boyd performed in virtual staged readings.
Billy was the executive responsible for over 65 Broadway cast albums for RCA Victor/BMG and other labels. His recordings include Avenue Q, Assassins, Parade, Chicago (Revival), The Full Monty, Caroline, or Change, A New Brain and Ragtime.
Two Broadway veterans, producer/general manager Gary Gunas and recording executive/playwright Billy Rosenfield, regale us with stories about the shows and people they’ve been involved with over the course of their long careers and life together.
OLD SHOW QUEENS
Daniel Elihu Kramer became Producing Artistic Director of Chester Theatre Company in fall of 2015, after four years as Associate Artistic Director, and produced his first season in 2016. At CTC, he has directed ten plays, including the Berkshire Theatre Award winners The Aliens and Every Brilliant Thing. In 2011, CTC produced his play Pride@Prejudice, and in 2016 CTC premiered his play My Jane. (CTC’s production of Pride@Prejudice transferred to Capital Rep in 2012.) He works nationally as a theatre director and playwright, and as a film director. He is Professor of Theatre and a member of the Film and Media Studies program at Smith College.
Daniel’s CTC productions of The Turn of the Screw and The Amish Project were named by the Berkshire Eagle as among the Best Plays of their respective years, and he was named one of each season’s Notable Directors. He has received the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Production for A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Boston Theatre Works, and his production of The Pillowman at the Contemporary American Theatre Company received awards for Best Production and Best Direction. His first feature film, Kitchen Hamlet, a contemporary setting of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, won multiple awards as an official selection at film festivals throughout the U.S. His short film Recently, Long Ago premiered in 2015 at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival.
Kramer’s play Coyote Tales, based on traditional Native American stories, is published by Samuel French, and has been produced by numerous theatre companies. Pride@Prejudice is published by Playscripts. His adaptations of Babar and of James Thurber’s Many Moons were commissioned and produced by Phoenix Theatre Company. His play Love Suicide was workshopped in a residency at Cleveland Public Theatre and at Boston Theatre Works. He was a visiting artist at the Wexner Center for the Arts, which supported the editing of Kitchen Hamlet.
Kramer holds an MFA in Directing from Yale School of Drama and a BA from Haverford College, and is a member of the Society for Stage Directors and Choreographers (SDC) and the Dramatists Guild. He was a Founding Artistic Director of Salt Lake Shakespeare, Associate Artistic Director of Spiral Stage, and assistant to the Artistic Director of Circle Repertory Theatre. Kramer was also drama editor for the Kenyon Review. As a director, dramaturg, and musician, he has worked with playwrights including Bekah Brunstetter, Bill Cain, Julia Cho, Wendy MacLeod, Eric Henry Sanders, Julian Sheppard, and Elizabeth Wong. Previous teaching includes Kenyon College (where he was chair of Dance and Theatre), Bowdoin College, and Fordham University at Lincoln Center.
Bear Tales is a full company collaboration spotlighting the power and artistry of storytelling and solo performance by a selection of talented artists from our area. Also included is a brand new one-woman piece by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet, with Rebecca Pidgeon as famed reporter Dorothy Kilgallen. We hope you enjoy the unique variety of styles in this series. All filmed from a safe distance, while revealing the unconquerable creative spirit.
Great Barrington Public Theater was founded as a collaboration of seasoned theater professionals and newcomers to professional theater, all committed to bringing new work, new voices, local talent and always-affordable tickets to audiences in the Berkshires.
Jim Frangione (Artistic Director)
After more than ten years developing new plays with Berkshire Playwrights Lab Jim is very pleased to be part of Great Barrington Public Theater as it enters its second season. Last Spring Jim directed Anne Undeland’s acclaimed play, Lady Randy, at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre in Lenox; Mamet’s Romance at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater; Private Life at HERE Arts in NY; and An Evening of Shorts by Mamet, Pinter and Silverstein at the ART/Harvard Institute for Advanced Theatre Training. Jim’s play Breakwater, the second of his Cape Cod plays, received its premiere last June at the Daniel Arts Center at Simon’s Rock (Berkshire Theatre Critic’s Nomination) His play, Flight of the Monarch, premiered at Gloucester Stage Company in 2017. Jim has acted for over 35 years; Off-Broadway in the original production of Oleanna, as well as the National Tour; in many plays with the Atlantic Theater Company, on Broadway and at many regional theaters: The Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf, Alley Theater, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville—and most recently in David Mamet’s Prairie Du Chien at Atlantic and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Shakespeare & Company. Films: Joy, Transamerica, Spartan, Heist, State and Main, The Spanish Prisoner, Homicide, Suits, Claire Dolan and Maryam. Jim is an award-winning audiobook narrator performing over 300 titles, including David Mamet’s, Chicago.
Directed By KATHERINE ALMQUIST; Produced By DAVID ALMQUIST
Slapstick Tragedy. Far out tragic-comedy in the genre of Theatre of the Absurd, with a touch of Theatre for Cruelty.
“The Gnadiges Fraulein” is set in a rickety bunkhouse, for “permanent transients,” whose characters include a society columnist, a frowzy crone, a demented former Viennese vaudevillian, a Cacaloony bird and a blond-wigged Indian.
Two lonely children inhabit “This Property Is Condemned,” abandoned and aching for human connection.
Overdressed, heavily rouged ladies, “...in the autumn of their youth” hit the town for a high old time during an annual convention in “A Perfect Analysis Given By A Parrot.”
Tennessee Williams can compress the basic meaning of life—its pathos or its tragedy, its bravery or the quality of its love—into small scenes or a few moments of dialog.
Cast: Rosalind Chao, Chris Cooper Director: Nancy Kelly Screenplay: Anne Makepeace
After the film celebrated screenwriter Anne Makepeace will join us for a Q&A. Anne Makepeace has been a writer, producer, and director of award-winning independent films for more than three decades. Read full bio.
Set in a mining town in the 1880s and based on a true story, the script for Thousand Pieces of Gold was developed with the support of the Sundance Institute’s writer/ director lab. The film premiered at the San Francisco Film Festival After its theatrical release, Thousand Pieces of Gold aired on the PBS American Playhouse series, the UK’s Film Four and around the world. It won immediate acclaim for its portrayal of the real-life story of Lalu (Rosalind Chao), a young Chinese woman whose desperately poor parents sell her into slavery. She is trafficked to a nefarious saloonkeeper in Idaho’s gold country. Eventually, Charlie, a man of a different ilk, played by Chris Cooper, wins her in a poker game and slowly gains her trust.
Way ahead of its time, the film resonates even more powerfully today in the era of #MeToo. But Nancy Kelly became a victim of prejudice against women directors within the American film industry and was never offered another narrative feature to direct in spite of extraordinary reviews from critics, some of whom compared her talent to that of John Ford.
A man is haunted by a recurring bad dream. A girl journeys barefoot through the world to rescue her best friend. Their stories intertwine in this new adaptation with music, presented as a staged concert, accompanied by striking visuals.
For adults and younger audiences, ages 9 and up.
Jeff Mousseau co-founded Ancram Opera House in 2016. Ancram Opera House is an intimate, award-winning rural performance hall showcasing contemporary theatre and alternative cabaret by visionary theatre and musical artists. Jeff directed AOH's production of Tony Kushner’s HOMEBODY at Ancram Opera House, which won a 2018 Berkshire Theatre Critics Award. His work has been seen at HERE Arts Center, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Baruch Performing Arts Center, Theatre for the Open Eye, Theater at 224 Waverly, Ensemble Studio Theater, Tribeca PAC, West Bank Cafe, Proctors Theater, Olana, Hudson Opera House and StageWorks. Barbara Wiechmann is a New York-based performer and playwright. Her work has been produced at P.S. 122; the Ensemble Studio Theatre; New York Theatre Workshop; BACA Downtown; HERE; the Ohio Theatre; the Samuel Beckett Theatre; the Edinburgh, Seattle, Toronto and Philadelphia Fringe Festivals; and at colleges and universities around the country. A two-time New York State Council on the Arts grant recipient and a Jane Chambers Playwriting Award finalist, she is also the creator of the television show for kids "Naturally Sadie" which aired on the Disney Channel for three seasons. In addition to being a New Dramatists alumnus, she is a New Georges Affiliated Artist and was a HERE artist in residence.
Donald Loftus spent over 30 years in the fragrance industry with international firms from Yves St Laurent and Estee Lauder to Proctor & Gamble. All the while he was an avid theatre goer and part-time playwright, developing his craft and getting some plays read here and there. Now he is turning out plays full time, and recently won the prestigious W Keith Hedrick national Playwrighting Award for 2019, with his plays being staged and performed all across America and the UK. In our area his one act “Eddie and Edna” was performed in the 10 x 10 Festival at Barrington Stage in Pittsfield last winter and his short play “Dark Matter” was performed at Theatre Works in New Milford and will have been performed at the One Act Play Festival at Sharon Playhouse on Nov 2. Donald’s work has been presented as part of new playwright’s festivals in California (The American Renegade Theatre) and in New York (The Vagabond Theatre). A number of his plays and musicals have been presented as Equity Staged Readings. In addition, he has been chosen to participate in Ten-Minute Play Festivals including “Pizza & Plays” at Lucky Jack’s, NYC, “DGPG TEN by TEN” at The Player’s Club, NYC, and The Times Square Playwright’s TEN-MINUTE PLAY FESTIVAL at Ryan’s Daughter in NYC.
Donald’s work includes dramas, (“THE SPRINGVALE ARMADILLO”, “PER” and “EDDIE & EDNA”), comedies (“WILLY & THE MUSES”, “MAID TO MEASURE” and “THE BROTHER’S GRIN”) and the book and lyrics for several musicals (“ABBEY VICTORIA”, “POLLYANNA” and “’ROUND DUFFY SQUARE”).
Donald also serves on the Board of Directors for The Dramatist Guild Foundation (DGF) and The Women's Project Theatre (WP) and is an active member of two NYC playwright’s development groups, The DGPG, (Dramatist Guild Playwriting Group) and TSP (Times Square Playwrights & The Actors Who Act For Them).
Owner of Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre for more than three decades, Marty Markinson produced some of the most notable plays of the 1980s and 1990s, including Torch Song Trilogy by Harvey Fierstein, And A Nightingale Sang by C.P. Taylor, Passion by Peter Nichols and Corpse by Gerald Moon during a time of great change in the New York theater which was marked by the arrival of the British mega-musicals and the Hollywood studios.
A rich memoir by a former Broadway theatre owner and producer who relays in his intimate, easy voice his journey from an outsider to a self-made successful player in a most competitive, but little understood business. We are treated to a truly remarkable American story of dreams fulfilled on Broadway and beyond.
As you will read, Marty Markinson has lived an extraordinary life. Marty rose from modest means and obscurity to wealth, respectability and significant influence through a combination of laudable qualities - including honesty, courage, grit, creativity, high hopes, positive intentions plus a lot of hard work. And Marty had fun all the way to the top of his profession.
Markinson talks about his involvement in both production of shows and operation of the houses in which they appear, concentrating on his ownership of the Helen Hayes Theatre (previously known as The Little Theatre) on Broadway from 1979 until the theatre's sale in 2015. A fun, informative personal telling of this Broadway tale.
"What the Jews Believe"
THE UNICORN THEATRE 6 East Street · STOCKBRIDGE · MA 01262
Dave and his family still live in the old home built by his father in rural Central Texas, and they are still the only Jewish family in town. His son Nathan feels isolated attempting to understand the family’s beliefs, while his wife Rachel faces an even greater crisis of faith. Meanwhile, Dave struggles to maintain a sense of normalcy for his searching family. Written and directed by Mark Harelik (The Immigrant;TV: The Big Bang Theory), What the Jews Believe is a poignant story about the loss of faith and the journey to find it.
The Unicorn Theatre
6 East Street Stockbridge, MA 01262Ticket Office: (413) 997-4444 GET DIRECTIONS OPEN THE MAP
By Donald Margulies Directed by Nicole Ricciardi
September 13 – October 13, 2019 Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre
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Time Stands Still
Nominated for 2010 Tony Award Best Play
“Crackles with bright wit and intelligence.” – The New York Times
"Donald Margulies' TIME STANDS STILL compellingly demonstrates what a master playwright can do with great economy and efficiency…A rare play that encompasses universal issues and personal problems with equal compassionate insight. A splendid theatrical experience."— —Bloomberg News
There are exact times when the pursuit of what is important clashes with the consequences of one's choices. Sarah Goodwin, a photo journalist recovering from the blast of a road side bomb overseas, must decide between her life's work of revealing unsettling truths about the world, and domestic comfort. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Donald Margulies, here weaves a gripping story of the cost of staying true to one's path.
Nicole Ricciardi Seventh season (Time Stands Still, Director) S&Co: Creditors,4000 Miles, The Taming,The How and the Why, and Cassandra Speaks. She has directed, developed, and assisted productions at Youngblood/Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Flea, Primary Stages, the Drama Book Shop, Chelsea Repertory Lab, Circle East, Bushwick Arts, Central Square Theatre, Two River Theater Company, Berkshire Playwrights Lab, Shadow Lawn Stage, and the Irish Repertory Theatre. She is on the faculty of The Theatre School at DePaul. MFA, Carnegie Mellon University.
Allyn has returned to Shakespeare & Company as the company’s Artistic Director. He was an artistic associate for several years and acted in numerous productions, including King John (King John), Much AdoAbout Nothing (Benedick), Henry V(Henry V), A Midsummer Night’s Dream(Oberon), Henry IV, Part 1(Hal), Measure for Measure(Angelo), Betrayal(Jerry), The House of Mirth(Lawrence Selden), Love’s Labours Lost(Berowne), Macbeth(Macduff), and The Compleat Works of Shakespeare. He was the Artistic Director of Actors’ Shakespeare Project in Boston for 7 years. Directing credits there include Romeo & Juliet , Pericles, Jon Lipsky’s Living in Exile, Richard II, and The Tempest. Acting credits for ASP include The Winter’s Tale(Leontes), Henry VI Part 2(Gloucester and Jack Cade)Henry VIII( Henry VIII),Twelfth Night(Malvolio), Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2(Hotspur and Pistol), Timon of Athens(Timon), All’s Well that Ends Well(Parolles), King Lear (Kent), Measure for Measure(Duke Vincentio), and Richard III(Duke of Clarence) . He has worked at a number of theaters around the country, including Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, The American Conservatory Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, The Denver Center, and The Walnut St. Theatre. Television credits include The Broad Squad, Law and Order, Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and Against the Law, and he can be seen in the films The Company Men,Julie& Julia, and Manchester by the Sea.
July 02 – August 04, 2019
Twelfth Night
By William Shakespeare | Directed by Allyn Burrows
"Twelfth Night is funny, moving and hugely entertaining – in a crowded Berkshires summer of theater, it’s a real standout!" - Berkshire on Stage "A fast-paced...
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August 08 – September 01, 2019
The Merry Wives of Windsor
By William Shakespeare | Directed by Kevin G. Coleman
"O powerful Love, that in some respects makes a beast a man, in some other a man a beast." Sir John Falstaff vastly underestimates the Merry...
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BRIAN GARMAN
Artistic Director and Co-Founder
Maestro Brian Garman is the Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Berkshire Opera Festival. After over a year spent auditioning and establishing the Berkshire Opera Festival Orchestra and Chorus, he conducted BOF's inaugural production of Puccini's Madama Butterfly in summer
As a pianist and coach, Maestro Garman is sought after by numerous singers of renown, and has been called upon frequently to give recitals and master classes around the United States and Europe. He received a Master of Music degree in Vocal Coaching and Accompanying from the legendary John Wustman, and recently completed a guest appointment as the Music Director of the opera program at Carnegie Mellon University, after previous engagements at Mannes College The New School for Music, the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, and Duquesne University.
"Ain't it a Pretty Night"
Excerpts from American Opera
Thursday, August 8, 7:30pm
Hancock Shaker Village | Pittsfield, MA
"Savor the Sound"
An Evening of Bel Canto
Wednesday, August 14, 7:30pm
Saint James Place | Great Barrington, MA
Click here for details
THE TRICKY PART FRIDAY, JULY 12 & SATURDAY, JULY 13 AT 8P; SUNDAY, JULY 14 AT 3P
written and performed by Martin Moran directed by Seth Barrish
JUST ADDED: A post-performance conversation with Martin Moran immediately following the July 14th matinee; moderated by Martine Kei Green-Rogers, PhD, President of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, dramaturg with Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Assistant Professor of Theatre at SUNY New Paltz.GET TICKETS
2018 Revival: NY Times Critic’s Pick 2004 Obie Award Winner Drama Desk nominee: Outstanding Play and Outstanding Solo Performance Outer Critics Circle nominee: Outstanding Solo Performance
The Tricky Part tells the true story of sexuality, spirituality and the mystery of human experience. Between the ages of 12 and 15, the author had a sexual relationship with an older man, a counselor he met at a Catholic boys camp. Now an established New York actor, Moran has transformed his story into a riveting, often funny and always surprising journey throughout the complexities of Catholicism, desire and human trespass. Performed the world over—most recently, in much anticipated NYC revival—Ancram Opera House offers one last chance to see this highly heralded solo performance.
David is an author, journalist, and humorist. Among his books are the national bestseller The United States of Arugula, a chronicle of America’s foodways; I Must Say, Martin Short’s best-selling memoir (as co-author); and four volumes of humor. A longtime contributor to Vanity Fair, he has profiled such figures as Johnny Cash, Sly Stone, Lucian Freud, Bruce Springsteen, Randy Newman, and the Brill Building songwriters. His work also appears regularly in the New York Times. He began his career at Spy, the legendary satirical monthly. Kiss My Aztec! is his first musical.
Breakwater, is having its world premiere on the mainstage at the Daniel Arts Center at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts.
Breakwaterplays at the McConnell Theater at Bard College at Simons Rock’s Daniel Arts Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, through Sunday, June 23. For information and tickets, call (413) 579-8088 or go online to barringtonpublictheater.org.
Jim Frangione is a founder and co-artistic director of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab. He is an actor, director and playwright. Jim has acted for over 30 years on many New York stages, in several plays with the Atlantic Theater Company, in National Tours and in many regional theaters such as The Alley Theatre, The Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf Theatre and Berkshire Theatre Festival. Most recently he appeared in David Mamet’s Prairie Du Chien at Atlantic, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at Shakespeare & Company and The Delling Shore at the Humana Festival of New American Plays. He appeared in the films: Joy, Transamerica, Spartan, Heist, State and Main, The Spanish Prisoner, Homicide, Suits, Claire Dolan and Maryam. Jim is an award-winning audiobook narrator with over 250 titles to his credit.
May 15 - June 29, 2019 LITTLE WOMEN By Kate Hamill Based on the novel Louisa May Alcott Directed by Sarna Lapine Featuring Kate Hamill as "Meg"
Primary Stages welcomes back KATE HAMILL, playwright and star of our hit production of Pride and Prejudice, with her fresh new take on Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel of love and duty, Little Women. Jo March doesn't want to be like other girls; in fact, she's not even sure that she wants to be a girl. Jo is ambitious, rough around the edges, headstrong, and yearns for a future she can’t yet articulate. As the nation is torn apart by civil war, Jo and her sisters struggle with what it means to grow up. Gender roles, political beliefs, poverty, and even love itself threaten to break family ties, as the March sisters try to reconcile their identities with society’s demands. How do you stay true to yourself when the world wants you to become a perfect little woman?
Kate Hamill is known for writing and acting in innovative, contemporary adaptations of classic novels for the stage, including Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice and William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair.
Ancram Opera House presents a mix of contemporary theatre, alternative cabaret, and community programs. Located in the Hudson River Valley in a former grange hall converted into an intimate and flexible space, AOH offers a unique opportunity to directly engage, up close, with visionary theatre artists at the top of their field yet rarely seen in our region.
Inspired by the aspirations of the grange movement, the Ancram Opera House creates meaningful encounters through the performing arts that forge connection and community. We believe performances—experienced in our small, intimate space—offer the possibility for real exchange, instill a sense of place and contribute to healthier and happier lives. Our hall fosters an audience’s immersion with a performance to make it complete and the potential for personal growth that the arts provide.
The creative team of Stew and Heidi Rodewald are at it again—this time devising a special musical event to premiere at Ancram Opera House. Co-creators of the Tony, Drama Desk and Obie award-winning musical, Passing Strange, Stew and Heidi sing intimate versions of the songs they wrote for this critically acclaimed show as they've never been heard before—while telling never-before-heard stories about the wild and unlikely road they took from LA's dive bars to NYC's Broadway.
Stew's credits include the book, lyrics, and co-composer of Passing Strange (2008 Tony: Best Book, two-time 2007 Obie: Best New Theater Piece and Best Ensemble). In 2015, Notes of a Native Song in the spring at Harlem Stage and in the fall at Curran Theater; Wagner/Max/Wagner in the fall at the Kennedy Center; in 2014 Family Album at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival; in 2013 Chicago Omnibus, at the Museum of Contemporary Art; in 2012 California Analog at UCLA’s Royce Hall; in 2011 Aong Factory at the University of Wisconsin in Madison; in 2010 Making It in the spring at St. Ann’s Warehouse; Brooklyn Omnibus in the fall at Brooklyn Academy of Music; and in 2009 Spike Lee’s Passing Strange. Albums by The Negro Problem include Post Minstrel Syndrome; Joys & Concerns and Guest Host; The Naked Dutch Painter, both called Album of the Year by Entertainment Weekly; Welcome Back; Something Deeper than These Changes; Making It; and the Passing Strange cast album. For television, Stew is co-composer with Heidi Rodewald of “Gary Come Home,” for SpongeBob SquarePants. Stew is a Sundance Institute Alum.
Heidi Rodewald is the Tony Award-nominated, Obie Award-winning co-composer of the musical Passing Strange, which transferred from The Public Theater to Broadway in 2008 and then was made into a film by director Spike Lee. Rodewald joined the band The Negro Problem in 1997, where she began a longtime collaboration with singer/songwriter, Stew, and with him released ten critically acclaimed albums. She is co-composer with Stew of Brooklyn Omnibus, presented in the 2010 Next Wave Festival; Making It at St. Ann’s Warehouse (2010); Family Albumat Oregon Shakespeare Festival (2014); Notes of a Native Song at Harlem Stage (2015); Wagner, Max! Wagner!! At Kennedy Center (2015); and The Total Bent at The Public Theater (2016). Rodewald scored two short films for director Leigh Silverman: “Over The River & Through The Woods” (2017), and “Reprieve” (2018). She is the composer of The Good Swimmer with librettist Donna DiNovelli which had its world premiere at BAM's 2018 Next Wave Festival.
Sarah Combs--Sharon Playhouse Board Vice President
Alan M-L Wager, Artistic Director
Alan brings over 30 years of experience working in theater, television and film to the Sharon Playhouse. As a director, he has steered successful productions of Beauty and the Beast, Oklahoma!, Guys & Dolls, among others. As an actor, he’s appeared in leading roles ranging from Broadway, National Tours and regional theaters all over the United States. He is a sought-after vocal coach who has worked with performers such as Patrick Cassidy, Amy Peitz and Veanne Cox. Alan is also a musical theater composer. Concept recordings of his shows feature such gifted artists as Brent Barrett, Andrea Burns, Diana Canova, Meg Bussert, Elizabeth Loyacano and Glory Crampton. In 2011 Wager and Levinstein formed 22Q Entertainment which was represented in North Hollywood with an award-winning production of Always...Patsy Cline starring Sally Struthers, while back in New York City, the company produced the My Big Italian trilogy.
June 21 - July 7
Crazy For You is a zany rich - boy - meets hometown-girl romantic comedy. It tells the story of young New York banker Bobby Child, who is sent to Deadrock, Nevada, to foreclose on a rundown theatre. In Deadrock, Bobby falls for spunky Polly Baker, the theater owner’s daughter. But Polly takes an instant dislike to the city slicker, so Bobby vows – through cunning, razzmatazz, and a hilarious case of mistaken identity – to win Polly’s heart and save the theatre.
George and Ira Gershwin's musical comedy hit is full of memorable tunes from the score including “I Got Rhythm,” “Naughty Baby,” “They Can’t Take That Away from Me,” “Embraceable You,” “But Not for Me,” “Nice Work if You Can Get It,” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.”
Crazy For You is a truly delightful homage to the beloved, optimistic musicals of the 1930s full of tap dancing and humor!
July 19 - August 4
Beauty and the Beast is the classic story that tells of Belle, a young woman in a provincial town, and the Beast, who is really a young prince trapped under the spell of an enchantress. If the Beast can learn to love and be loved, the curse will end and he will be transformed into his former self. But time is running out. If the Beast does not learn his lesson soon, he and his household will be doomed to remain enchanted for all eternity.
This "tale as old as time" is based on the Academy Award winning animated feature and is filled with spectacular costumes, dazzling scenery and familiar songs such as “Be Our Guest”, “Belle”, “Gaston” and the well loved title song. Disney's Beauty and the Beast offers a great opportunity to bring the entire family together for theatre at its best!
We invite you to Be Our Guest as this Disney classic comes to life for the first time on our stage.
August 9 - August 25
Audiences around the world adore this first musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (Evita, Jesus Christ Superstar). And 2019 celebrates it’s 50th Anniversary!
With dazzling sets and costumes and rock concert lighting, this high energy sung through tour of the famous bible story is full of catchy songs, from a parody of French ballads “Those Canaan Days”, to country-western (“One More Angel in Heaven” and even calypso “Benjamin Calypso”, along with the unforgettable classics “Any Dream Will Do” and “Close Every Door” and wildly entertaining dance numbers “Go, Go, Go, Joseph.”
Bring the entire family…you’ll want to tap your feet and want to sing along to this stunning musical feast.
August 30 - Sept 15
Nunsense is a hilarious talent show staged by five survivors at the Little Sisters of Hoboken nunnery, the rest of the sisterhood having succumbed to botulism after eating vic
John Burnham Schwartz is the author of five acclaimed novels, including The Commoner, Claire Marvel, Bicycle Days, and Reservation Road, which was made into a motion picture based on his screenplay. His books have been translated into two dozen languages, and his writing has appeared in many publications, including The New Yorker and The New York Times. A winner of the Lyndhurst Foundation Award for mastery in the art of fiction, Schwartz has taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, Harvard University, and Sarah Lawrence College, and is currently literary director of the Sun Valley Writers’ Conference. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Aleksandra Crapanzano, and their son, Garrick.
Running from her father’s brutal legacy, Joseph Stalin’s daughter defects to the United States during the turbulence of the 1960s. For fans of We Were the Lucky Ones and A Gentleman in Moscow, this sweeping historical novel and unexpected love story is inspired by the remarkable life of Svetlana Alliluyeva.
In one of the most momentous events of the Cold War, Svetlana Alliluyeva, the only daughter of the infamous Soviet despot Joseph Stalin, abruptly abandoned her life in Moscow in 1967, arriving in New York to throngs of reporters and a nation hungry to hear her story. By her side is Peter Horvath, a young lawyer sent by the CIA to smuggle Svetlana into America.
Novelist John Burnham Schwartz’s father was in fact the young lawyer who escorted Svetlana Alliluyeva to the United States. Drawing upon private papers and years of extensive research, Schwartz imaginatively re-creates the story of an extraordinary, troubled woman’s search for a new life and a place to belong, in the powerful, evocative prose that has made him an acclaimed author of literary and historical fiction.
Richard Eldridge Maltby Jr. is an American theatre director and producer, lyricist, and screenwriter. He conceived and directed the only two musical revues to win the Tony Award for Best Musical: Ain't Misbehavin' and Fosse.
Based on the novel Madame Sousatzka by Bernice Rubens, and set in London, England in 1982, SOUSATZKA tells the story of a young musical prodigy torn between two powerful women from vastly different worlds: his mother, a political refugee, and his piano teacher, a brilliant eccentric with a shattered past. These two proud, iconoclastic women must ultimately cross cultural and racial divides to find common ground, or else put the boy’s destiny in jeopardy.
CRY “HAVOC!”
After two years of paralysis from a high school sports injury. After six years in the United States Army. After a full blown transition into a classic case of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Stephan Wolfert hopped off an Amtrak train deep in the mountains of Montana. Far from home. Close to the middle of nowhere. And without the first damn clue of what to do for the rest of his life.
Until, as Fate would literally have it, he stepped into a local theater and saw a production of William Shakespeare’s Richard III.
Twenty years later, using Shakespeare’s timeless words, and a few of his own, actor/veteran Stephan Wolfert in Cry Havoc leads us on an interactive journey to meet Shakepeare’s veterans.
He also brings us face to face with one of the most vexing military – and civilian – problems of our time.
Men and women are tested and trained before entering the military. While serving in the military, they continue to be tested and trained to ensure “combat readiness”. Or, as Wolfert suggests, to harness their “berserker energy”. Berserkers were Norse warriors of old who fought with a trance-like fury, and the value of that spirit of rage is as important to the military of today as it ever was.
But there’s no “off switch”. After years of testing and training to maintain combat readiness, there is no testing and training to leave military service and rejoin the civilian world. No testing to ensure “NON-Combat readiness”. No training to eliminate our warrior’s “berserker energy”. Leaving the “berserker” to pose the unanswered question: “Now what?”
Shakespeare had something to say about that. He wrote about the relationships between veterans, politicians and civilians. He wrote about how these relationships can either prevent or create havoc.
Cry Havoc is a one-person play that unites veterans with civilians. It shows us that the military men and women of Shakespeare’s time wrestled with the same hopes and worries that occupy our modern lives. It explores the difficulties that our veterans and their families face.
And maybe, just maybe, it will help them eliminate the berserker and truly come home.
J. Quinton Johnson, who, when the “Hamilton” cast album was released, became obsessed, memorizing every word.Credit Micaiah Carter for The New York Times
Full casting has been announced for The Cake, a new play by Emmy nominee Bekah Brunstetter making its New York premiere at City Center—Stage I in 2019. Manhattan Theatre Club Artistic Director Lynne Meadow will helm the production, scheduled to begin previews on February 12 ahead of a March 5 opening night.
Newly announced stars include Marinda Anderson (Far From Heaven) as Macy, Genevieve Angelson (Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) as Jen and Dan Daily (The Rivals) as Tim. They join the previously announced Debra Jo Rupp as Della.
The Cake follows Della, whose North Carolina bakery is legendary. She has just been cast in her favorite television baking competition. Soon her late best friend's daughter comes home from New York City to ask her to make a cake for her upcoming wedding. When Della learns that Jen's about to marry a woman, she is forced to reexamine her deeply held beliefs, as questions of morals, judgment and family swirl around them all.
The production is slated to play a limited run through March 31.
The Latecomers by Helen Klein Ross
From the bestselling author of "What Was Mine," a deeply moving family drama about a young Irish immigrant, an ancestral home in New England and a dark secret that lay hidden in its walls for five generations. In 1908, sixteen-year-old Bridey runs away from her small town in Ireland with her same-age sweetheart Thom. But when Thom dies suddenly of ship fever on their ocean crossing, Bridey finds herself alone and pregnant in a strange new world.
The Lakeville Crucifix by local historian and author Geoffrey Brown
In the 1880s events in Lakeville, Connecticut made the front page of the “New York Times” and the “Hartford Courant”, and appeared in papers across the United States. Now, the “New York Times” page one headline “The Lakeville Crucifix” has become the title of a new book by local historian Geoffrey Brown about what has been called a “religious war”.
Lynn Ahrens’s extensive credits for stage and screen include Broadway’s Ragtime, for which she won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. She was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes for Twentieth Century Fox’s animated feature film Anastasia, and she wrote lyrics for its current hit Broadway stage adaptation. She wrote book and lyrics for Once On This Island, which just won the 2018 Tony for Best Revival of a Musical and earned her fourth Grammy nomination. She’s received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement, the Olivier Award, and in 2015 she and long-time collaborator Stephen Flaherty were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. She was also nominated to the Songwriters Hall of Fame this year. Additional Broadway and regional theater includes: Seussical; Rocky; My Favorite Year; Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life; Dessa Rose; A Man of No Importance; The Glorious Ones; Lucky Stiff; and Marie, which will make its West Coast Premiere at Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theater in March.Ms. Ahrens wrote book and lyrics for Madison Square Garden’s “A Christmas Carol” (with music by Alan Menken). She is an Emmy Award winner and four-time Emmy nominee, recipient of the Lilly Award for Lyrics, and a mainstay songwriter and singer for “Schoolhouse Rock” (ABC-TV). She serves on Council for the Dramatists Guild of America and is a co-founder of the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program for Emerging Writers. www.ahrensandflaherty.com
n the 1880s, a Catholic priest in rural Lakeville, Connecticut erected a crucifix on the front lawn of his parish church -- in a predominately Protestant village. Some villagers were enraged. They petitioned the priest to remove the crucifix. The parishioners responded by boycotting the merchants who had signed the petition. The story ran on the first page of the New York Times, and other newspapers all over the United States. Things went rapidly downhill from there. That's the story in a nutshell. It really becomes interesting when you mix in state and national politics, Irish immigration, major changes in the Roman Catholic church, the Puritan history of New England, and a familiar topic today: nativism. Mixed with all of these were unique personalities -- some of national reputation and some not -- who dramatically affected all of the various outcomes. Then, as if by magic, the story disappeared from view. This volume, based on extensive research in primary sources, brings the Lakeville crucifix back to life, along with the background material necessary to comprehend why things happened the way that they did.
Jamie joined Off-Broadway theater company, The New Group, in 2011 after 25 years living abroad in Switzerland, Singapore but mostly in London where she was Head of Development at the Lyric Hammersmith and first turned a life-long passion for theater into her profession. Her working life began in publishing as an editor for international literary journal 2PLUS2 in Lausanne, eventually opening the London office. After 2PLU2 closed, Jamie worked freelance as a reader/editor for most UK publishing houses. Jamie’s children's book, The Magic Costumes was published in the USA, UK, Australia, Portugal & Spain in 1996 and reprinted in 2004. Jamie grew up in Dallas, Texas and Washington, DC. She now divides her time between New York City and Canaan, CT.
Helen Klein Ross is a poet and novelist. Her latest novel The Latecomers will be published by Little, Brown on November 6, 2018. Other novels include What Was Mine (Simon and Schuster, 2016) and Making It: A Novel Of Madison Avenue (2013) the first e-book with a digital epilogue which links to online content where readers can explore material created by each character. Helen is also the creator and editor of The Traveler’s Vade Mecum (Red Hen Press, 2016), a compendium of new poems titled by old telegrams sourced from an 1853 book she discovered on Twitter. Over 70 contributing poets include Frank Bidart and Billy Collins. Helen’s work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and in The Iowa Review where she won the 2014 Iowa Review award in poetry. Helen spent decades as a writer/creative director at global ad agencies on both coasts. She graduated from Cornell University and received an MFA from The New School. She lives with her husband in New York City and Lakeville, CT.
The Latecomers is a deeply moving family drama about a young Irish immigrant, an ancestral home in New England and a dark secret that lay hidden in its walls for five generations. LEARN MORE
What Was Mine tells the story of Lucy Wakefield—a seemingly ordinary woman who does something extraordinary in a desperate moment: she takes a baby girl from a shopping cart and raises her as her own.
LEARN MORE
The Traveler’s Vade Mecum is a unique collaboration, an anthology of new poems prompted by old telegrams from an 1853 compendium of the same name, contributed by 67 poets from all over the world.
LEARN MORE
Making It: A Novel of Madison Avenue is a coming-of-middle age story about a woman and a business (advertising.) It’s sort of like Mad Men thirty years later, from the point of view of an older, wiser, married Peggy Olson. LEARN MORE
Luigi Pirandello's Naked a new version by Nicholas Wright directed by Eric Hill featuring David Adkins, Haley Aguero, James Barry, Jeffrey Doornbos, Tara Franklin, Barbara Sims and Rocco Sisto
at The Unicorn Theatre The Larry Vaber Stage BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 6 East Street
Previews: Thursday, September 27 at 7pm and Friday, September 28 at 7pm Press Opening/Opening Night: Saturday, September 29 at 7pm Talkback: Thursday, October 4th, following the 7pm performance Closing: Sunday, October 28 at 2pm Tickets: Preview: $45 Tickets: $52 Sponsored by: Lead Sponsor, Bobbie Hallig; Furlano and Arace, PC; The Westfield News Group, Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Shubert Foundation
“How could I invent you if you didn’t exist?”
Hailed as one of the great playwrights of all-time, Nobel Prize-winner Luigi Pirandello’s Naked, in a new version by Nicholas Wright, delves deep into the struggle of self-identity, and the tendency to skew reality to benefit desires of the heart. Directed by Eric Hill (BTG: At Home at the Zoo, The Homecoming, Poe), Naked follows the story of a woman, in the midst of questioning her existence, as the men around her impose their view of her into the world. Stated in Nobel Lectures, “Pirandello’s characters attempt to fulfil their self-seeking roles and are defeated by life itself which, always changing, enables them to see their perversity. This is Pirandello's humor, an irony which arises from the contradictions inherent in life.”
Cast:
David Adkins as Alfredo Cantavalle Haley Aguero as Emma James Barry as Franco Laspiga Jeffrey Doornbos as Consul Grotti Tara Franklin as Ersilia Drei Barbara Sims as Signora Onoria Rocco Sisto as Ludovico Nota
MARILYN MONROE The Private Life of a Public Icon Charles Casillo
St. Martin's Press
Based on new interviews and research, this ground-breaking biography explores the secret selves behind Marilyn Monroe’s public facades.
Marilyn Monroe. Her beauty still captivates. Her love life still fascinates. Her story still dominates popular culture. Now, drawing on years of research and dozens of new interviews, this biography cuts through decades of lies and secrets and introduces you to the Marilyn Monroe you always wanted to know: a living, breathing, complex woman, bewitching and maddening, brilliant yet flawed.
Charles Casillo studies Monroe’s life through the context of her times—in the days before feminism. Before there was adequate treatment for Marilyn’s struggle with bipolar disorder. Starting with her abusive childhood, this biography exposes how—in spite of her fractured psyche—Marilyn’s extreme ambition inspired her to transform each celebrated love affair and each tragedy into another step in her journey towards immortality. Casillo fully explores the last two years of her life, including her involvement with both John F. Kennedy and his brother Robert, and the mystery of her last day.
BUY THE BOOK
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- Books-a
Always Patsy Cline
Created and Originally Directed
by TED SWINDLEY
ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE at The Sharon Playhouse is based on the true story of the legendary country stars friendship with housewife Louise Seger. Louise tells of the day in 1961 when she met Patsy at Houston’s Esquire Ballroom. Patsy kept in touch by writing letters until the day she died, signing them “(Love) Always…Patsy Cline.”The show combines humor, heartache and a bounty of hits like Crazy, I Fall To Pieces & She’s Got You!
https://youtu.be/y8pCrYc8E70
HOMEBODY BY TONY KUSHNER August 3-5 & August 10-12 Fridays/Saturdays at 8p; Sundays at 4p
Taking place just before 9/11, an inquisitive middle-aged British housewife, safely ensconced in her respectable kitchen, grapples with Afghanistan's turbulent, complex history and her own rather unremarkable life. She clutches an outdated guidebook to the country which sparks her curiosity and rattles her complacency.
“Mr. Kushner’s glorious specialty is in giving theatrical life to internal points of view, in which our thoughts meld with a character’s wayward speculations or fantasies... He makes the personal and the universal, the trivial and the cosmic come simultaneously to life in a single character’s bewilderment.” Ben Brantley, The New York Times
THE MEMBER OF THE WEDDING
AUGUST 5 - AUGUST 19 | MAIN STAGE 2018 SEASON
REVIVAL OF THE BELOVED PLAY by Carson McCullers directed by Gaye Taylor Upchurch
Gaye Taylor Upchurch directs this revival of Carson McCullers‘ beloved play. On the eve of a family wedding in 1945, housekeeper Berenice Sadie Brown (Roslyn Ruff) can’t calm the nerves of her 12-year-old charge, Frankie (Tavi Gevinson). Berenice has raised Frankie and her cousin John Henry (Logan Schuyler Smith) as though they are her own children. But as their companion, playfellow, and mother figure, Berenice is suddenly struggling to protect them from the harsh, racially motivated injustices lurking just outside their Southern home. This cherished American work explores the complicated reality of a thoughtful and hard-working woman caught between two worlds.
Presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.
Program and casting subject to change.
CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS!
OR CALL 413.458.3253
SPONSORED BY Jessica & Matt Harris
Steve Lawson
Paul Neely 2018 SEASON PARTNERS James & Virginia Giddens
Jessica & Matt Harris
Andrew Martin-Weber
3 Anonymous Donors
Coming Back Like a Song!
by Lee Kalcheim directed by Gregg Edelman music direction by Daniel Mollett featuring David Garrison, Philip Hoffman and David Rascheat The Fitzpatrick Main Stage BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 83 East Main Street
Previews: Thursday, June 28 at 7pm and Friday, June 29 at 8pm Opening Night: Sunday, July 1 at 6pm (90th Gala beginning at 5pm, at Fitzpatrick Main Stage) Press Night: Monday, July 2 at 7pm Talkback: Monday, July 2, following the 7pm performance Closing: Saturday, July 21 at 8pm Tickets: Preview: $45 Tickets: $66 Gala Ticket (July 1 at 5pm): Starting at $125, for more information and to purchase tickets, please visit www.berkshiretheatregroup.org or call 413.448.8084 x 50 Sponsored by: Linda and Bob Berzok, Natalie and Howard Shawn, NBT Bank, The Westfield News Group, Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Shubert Foundation
It’s 1956, and three of America’s great songwriters, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen and Jimmy Van Heusen, are at a crossroads in their lives; rock ‘n roll is now king, and their careers could be over. Directed by Tony Award-nominated Gregg Edelman (City of Angels, 1776, Into The Woods; BTG: Arsenic and Old Lace, Constellations), Emmy Award-winner Lee Kalcheim’s (All in the Family) World Premiere, Coming Back Like a Song! follows the story of the three old friends and music icons on Christmas Eve in New York City, as they drink, fight and sing. Berlin, Arlen and Van Heusen have written classic tunes such as, Berlin’s “Cheek to Cheek” and “Always;” Arlen’s “Over the Rainbow” and “The Man That Got Away;” to Van Heusen’s “Swingin’ On a Star” and “All the Way” and many more. We dare you not to sing along.
Cast: David Garrison as Irving Berlin Philip Hoffman as Harold Arlen David Rasche as Jimmy Van Heusen *
LEMPICKA JULY 19 - AUGUST 1 | MAIN STAGE 2018 SEASON WORLD PREMIERE MUSICAL book and lyrics by Carson Kreitzer music by Matt Gould choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly directed by Rachel Chavkin
Featuring Tony nominee Carmen Cusack and Eden Espinosa, this world premiere musical is directed by Tony nominee Rachel Chavkin, with music by Matt Gould and book and lyrics by Carson Kreitzer. Fleeing the Russian revolution and leaving behind a world of opulence and wealth, aristocrat Tamara de Lempicka (Espinosa) and her beloved husband Tadeusz (Andrew Samonsky) are forced to make a new life. In the rising tide of fascism, Tamara takes to painting to survive, and when she meets the free-spirited Rafaela (Cusack), a prostitute on the fringes of Parisian society, she’s torn between the life she cherishes with her husband and the passion, ambition, and possibility awoken in her by her new muse. Inspired by the life of the artist who transformed herself from penniless refugee to star of the art world when the world itself teetered on chaos, Lempicka looks at the beauty and danger of one painter pursuing it all.
By special arrangement with Seaview Productions and Marathon Live Entertainment
Program and casting subject to change.
CLICK HERE TO BUY TICKETS!
Tom Santopietro is the author of seven books: Why To Kill a Mockingbird Matters; Barbara Cook: Then and Now; the best selling The Sound of Music Story; The Godfather Effect: Changing Hollywood, America, and Me; Sinatra in Hollywood; Considering Doris Day (a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice;) and The Importance of Being Barbra.
A frequent media commentator in programs ranging from the PBS documentary The Italian Americans to the Jimmy van Heusen biography Swingin’ With Frank & Bing, Tom conducts monthly interviews for Barnes and Noble and lectures on classic films. Over the past thirty years he has managed more than two dozen Broadway shows.
The past informs the present Athol Fugard’s compelling portrait of three individuals caught in the midst of a nation’s racial divide and the choices each one is forced to make.
A Lesson from Aloes MAY 17 – JUNE 10 By Athol Fugard Directed by Darko Tresnjak
Approximate Running Time:
Recommended Ages: 16+
Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, James Dean, Edna Ferber, and the Making of a Legendary American Film.
The Ancram Opera House History
The Ancram Opera House was erected in 1927 as Ancram Grange #955, a chapter of the National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry, to address the social, educational and economic concerns of the region’s farmers. In 1972, the building was repurposed and renamed the Ancram Opera House as an arts venue focusing on light operatic fare. Over the years, a variety of performances, film showings, vaudeville acts, lectures, gatherings and, most recently, weekly yoga classes have taken place here. Today, Ancram Opera House rededicates itself to aspects of its origins, producing and presenting inventive contemporary theatrical performances to be shared by a rural community.
Vision
Inspired by the aspirations of the grange movement, the Ancram Opera House envisions meaningful encounters through the performing arts that forge connection and community. We believe performances—conceived, created and experienced in our small, intimate space—offer the possibility for real exchange, instill a sense of place and contribute to healthier and happier lives. Our hall fosters an audience’s immersion with a performance to make it complete and the potential for personal growth that the arts provide. We also look to Ancram's pastoral character to nurture fervent artistic creation. DIRECTORS Jeffrey Mousseau
Paul Ricciardi
June 15 through July 1, 2018
Music and Lyrics by Cole Porter Original Book by P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton and Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse New Book by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman
A hilarious shipboard romp, wrapped around one of Cole Porter’s most magical scores, ANYTHING GOES is Delightful, Delicious, and De-Lovely. It’s the hilarious musical set aboard the S.S. American. Billy is a stowaway in love with Hope, who is engaged to Lord Evelyn. Former evangelist and current nightclub singer Reno Sweeney and Public Enemy #13 Moonface Martin aid Billy in his quest to win Hope. Join the voyage and tap your toes to the hits Anything Goes, You’re the Top, I Get a Kick Out of You and more!
July 13 through July 22, 2018
Book by Joe DiPietro and the songs of Elvis Presley
Youth Production
ALL SHOOK UP is based on William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and features the songs of Elvis Presley in this musical comedy about a mysterious, leather-jacketed guitar-playing roustabout who shakes up a square little town and everyone he meets in this hip-swiveling, lip-curling musical fantasy that’ll have you jumpin’ out of your blue suede shoes with such classics as Heartbreak Hotel, Jailhouse Rock & Don’t Be Cruel.
July 27 through August 12, 2018
Written by Neil Simon
BAREFOOT IN THE PARK is a romantic comedy of newlyweds Paul and Corie Bratter, who move into a tiny walkup apartment in NYC. While straight-laced Paul tries to prove himself as a young lawyer, free spirit Corie sets up her straight laced mother with their peculiar and eclectic neighbor! After a strange night, they wonder if maybe they are too different for one another.
August 17 through September 2, 2018
Written by Ted Swindley
ALWAYS...PATSY CLINE is based on the true story of one of Country Music’s Legendary and most beloved artists, Patsy Cline and the country stars friendship with housewife Louise Seger. Louise tells of the day in 1961 when she met Patsy at Houston’s Esquire Ballroom. Patsy kept in touch by writing letters until the day she died, signing them “(Love) Always…Patsy Cline.” The show combines humor, heartache and over 30 of Patsy’s hits like Crazy, I Fall To Pieces & She’s Got You to name a few.
CASEY CHILDS
Casey Childs founded Primary Stages in 1984 and has directed many productions for the company. He served as the Artistic Program Director for the New Dramatists from 1981 - 1985 and has directed other new plays Off-Broadway including Lanie Robertson’s Woman Before a Glass with Mercedes Ruehl at the Promenade Theatre (OBIE Awards for Performance and Design). Casey is the recipient of the Carnegie-Mellon Commitment to New Playwrights’ Award, as well as two Emmy Awards and many nominations for his extensive work in television. He is a past Vice President of the Directors’ Guild of America and a past trustee of The National Association of Television Arts and Sciences. He has taught at many universities including Columbia’s School of Film, New York University and Duke, and is currently an associate fellow at Calhoun College at Yale University. Casey has a BFA in acting and an MFA in directing from Carnegie-Mellon University.
After receiving an MFA in Arts Management from Columbia's School of the Arts, Hal started his career off-Broadway in downtown Manhattan, working in some of New York's most storied and venerable theaters. There, he created fertile ground for up-and-coming talents like Eric Bogosian and Charles Busch, in shows like Sex, Drugs and Rock and Roll and The Lady in Question.
Soon, Hal began to produce on Broadway, as well. His shows have included Ariel Dorfman's Death & the Maiden, George Wolf's Jelly's Last Jam, Tony Kushner's Angels in America, the 20th Anniversary production of Larry Kramer's The Normal Heart at the Public Theater, the unexpurgated revival of The Diary of Anne Frank, Twyla Tharp and Billy Joel's Movin' Out, the work of comic geniuses like Whoopi Goldberg & Kathy Najimi, and Tony Award-winning new musicals like Thoroughly Modern Millie, as well as revivals of delightful classics like Rodgers & Hammerstein's The King and I and Irving Berlin's Annie Get Your Gun. The artists whose work he has produced have themselves moved on to win their own awards and run important institutions.
Hal has gone on to be one of the leading producers in New York and around the globe. He has won four Tony Awards, including two as lead producer, and two Olivier Award, also as lead producer. In 2016, Hal Luftig received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, SUNY Oneonta.
Lost Lake
by David Auburn directed by Daisy Walker featuring Lynnette R. Freeman and Quentin Maréat The Unicorn Stage The Larry Vaber Stage BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 6 East Street
Shakespeare & Company presents God of Carnage written by Yasmina Reza and translated by Christopher Hampton, directed by Regge Life. The play won a Tony Award for Best Play and an Olivier Award for Best Comedy, now this award-winning New York hit comes to the Berkshires. Written by the author of ART, God of Carnage runs from September 14 - October 8th in the Elayne P. Bernstein.
Chester Theatre Company is committed to presenting intelligent, contemporary, language-rich, thought-provoking plays produced by world-class theatre professionals. We create a lasting effect on our audiences – bend minds, open hearts, and expand consciousness.
WE'RE GONNA DIE
August 4-5, August 11-12: Fridays and Saturdays at 8p
written by Young Jean Lee original music by Young Jean Lee, Tim Simmonds, Mike Hanf, Nick Jenkins, and Benedict Kupstas
Drawing from true stories of people's experiences with tragedy, Young Jean Lee creates a surprisingly life-affirming show about the one thing we all have in common. Smart and catchy pop songs, heart-rending storytelling, humorous moments of standup and even a short dance break make "We're Gonna Die" a powerful, even joyful experience. And, let's face it, since many of us would rather not talk about it, why not sing about it?
Barrington Stage Company presents The Creative Place International/And Theatre Company production of Kunstler starring BSC veteran Jeff McCarthy as the self-described “radical lawyer” and civil rights activist William Kunstler. The colorful, perpetually rumpled defense lawyer whose best-known clients include the Chicago Seven, inmates involved in the Attica prison riots, and members of the American Indian Movement, makes a case for his often unconventional style in this wise and revealing play.