Dave Read

Berkshire Theatre Festival schedule for the 2009 season has been announced by Kate Maguire, Artistic Director of the BTF. Performances are to be presented on the Main Stage and Unicorn Stage in Stockbrdge, MA campus from May 21 through December 30, 2009, making this the longest-running season in the company’s history.

Bulletin!!! Berkshire Theatre Festival is excited to announce that due to popular demand, The Prisoner of Second Avenue by Neil Simon will be extended for one final performance on Sunday, August 9th at 2pm. All tickets to Sunday’s show will be $50. The hit show will still run on Wednesday, August 5th at 7pm and Thursday, August 6th through Saturday, August 8th at 8pm with 2pm matinees on Thursday and Saturday.

In order to accommodate this, the first preview for Ghosts on Tuesday, August 11th has been cancelled. The first preview will now take place on Wednesday, August 12th.

Berkshire Theatre Festival reviews:

• The Prisoner of Second Avenue – July 25, 2009
• Candide – July 14, 2009
• The Einstein Project – July 7, 2009
• Broadway by the Year – June 20, 2009
• Faith Healer – May 23, 2009
• Love in the Afternoon; Shakespeare’s Sonnets and the Story Behind Them – April 26, 2009

Get directions to the Berkshire Theatre Festival:

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Berkshire Theatre Festival’s 2009 season will be dedicated to the memory of William Gibson, noted playwright and former Artistic Director of Berkshire Theatre Festival, who died in Stockbridge Nov. 25 at age 94. Best known for his 1959 play, The Miracle Worker, his 2004 play Golda, opened in Lenox, MA and went on to become the longest-running one-woman play in Broadway history. (From our archive: Review of Golda; Interview with William Gibson.)

Berkshire Theatre Festival Main Stage

Main Stage performances are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8pm, Wednesdays at 7pm, with 2pm matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays. Tickets range from $23 to $68.

Broadway by the Year®

Created/Written/Hosted by Scott Siegel with an All-Star Cast
Presented by special arrangement with The Town Hall in New York City.
Previews: June 19
Opening Night/Press Night: June 20
Closes: June 27

Since 2002, this critically acclaimed cabaret series has become what Show Business Weekly deems, “…an invaluable and entertaining jewel in the cabaret crown of New York”. For the first time ever, this amazing evening of show tunes from Broadway’s glorious past is presented in the Berkshires. This strictly limited engagement has been called by The New York Times, “Witty, breezily paced. . .informative. . .valuable. . .the right perspective of lighthearted nostalgia.”

The Einstein Project

by Paul D’Andrea and Jon Klein
Directed by Eric Hill
Previews: June 30, July 1, 2, 3
Opening Night/Press Night: July 4
Closes: July 18

The Einstein Project humanizes an immortal figure. Through conversations with his son, his wife, and his colleagues, Paul D’Andrea and Jon Klein present a vulnerable, fiendishly intelligent Albert Einstein trapped between his beliefs and his duty. A fascinating portrait of the man who, however reluctantly, ushered in the atomic age. Originally presented in the Unicorn Theatre, BTF Director Eric Hill turns to the Main Stage to re-invigorate this extraordinary production.

The Prisoner of Second Avenue

by Neil Simon
Directed by Warner Shook
Previews: July 21, 22, 23, 24
Opening Night/Press Night: July 25
Closes: August 8

Mel and Edna Edison, a middle-aged couple living in New York, find their luck is quickly deteriorating during a terrible heat wave and a garbage strike. When Mel cracks under the pressure, his family intervenes in an attempt to nurse him back to his old self, with predictably unpredictable results. World renowned playwright Neil Simon presents a comical, and sometimes sad, look at the pressures placed upon a working class family that ripples with his trademark crisp dialogue and quirky, hysterically memorable characters

Ghosts

by Henrik Ibsen
Adapted by Anders Cato and James Leverett
Directed by Anders Cato
Previews: August 11, 12, 13, 14
Opening Night/Press Night: August 15
Closes: August 29

A woman struggles to keep several terrible family secrets, the implication of which are only worsened by a puritanical Pastor, a lascivious son, and her own guilt-ridden, well hidden past. Full of dark symbols, Ghosts exemplifies Henrik Ibsen’s uncanny ability to overturn Victorian social values by using them as the damning elements in his work. Now, BTF favorites Director Anders Cato and Dramaturg James Leverett present a brand new translation of this classic of the theatre.

Berkshire Theatre Festival Unicorn performances

Unicorn performances are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8pm; Wednesday evening at 7pm; and Saturday afternoons at 2pm. The opening and closing productions have slightly different schedules — please see details below. Prices range from $19.50 to $44.

Faith Healer

by Brian Friel
Directed by Eric Hill
Previews: May 21, 22
Opening Night/Press Night: May 23
Closes: July 4

Playing Thursday through Saturday at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2pm through June 20. From June 20-July 4 performances will return to the normal weekly schedule as listed above.

Francis Hardy has an unusual job. He, his wife, Grace, and his loyal manager, Teddy, travel across the British Isles performing a series of almost vaudevillian faith healings. But like any professional, Hardy begins to worry about losing his talent, or whether or not he ever really had one. The strain is felt by his wife, observed by his manager, and so grips Francis that he becomes obsessed with curing the incurable, no matter the cost.

Director Eric Hill says about Faith Healer, “The title is somewhat ironic in that it has multiple layers of meaning. On the surface, it’s a man who travels the country using faith to heal others, but it can also mean a person who goes about healing faith. In that way, the term asks as many questions as it answers, questions about our ability to heal ourselves in moments of crisis.”

Candide

• Music by Leonard Bernstein, Book adapted from Voltaire by Hugh Wheeler, Lyrics by Richard Wilbur
• Additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and John LaTouche
• Directed by Ralph Petillo
• Previews: July 7, 8, 9, 10, 11
• Opening Night/Press Night: July 11 – Closes: August 15

Plays the normal Unicorn Schedule; however the schedule on Thursday will feature a 2pm show and an 8pm show.

Based on Voltaire’s novella, Candide is the story of a young man’s journey of self-discovery as he tries to find his place in a world that appears to be growing increasingly hostile. Alternately funny and poignant, Candide features some of the most recognizable music in the American canon and has proven to be a crowd favorite.

Sick

by Zayd Dohrn
Director TBA
Previews: August 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 @ 2pm
Opening Night/Press Night: August 22 @ 8pm
Closes: September 6

Regional Premiere! – A small home on the Lower East Side of Manhattan is the only safe haven for the children of the Krebs family. But despite Mrs. Krebs’ attempts to protect her family with scrubbers, masks, and isolation, the delicate balance is brought to the breaking point when her husband’s academic career brings a stranger into their safe house. In its Northeast Premiere, Sick seeps onto the stage as a terrifying family drama filled with dark comedy, mistrust, and shocking realism.

Red Remembers

by Andrew Guerdat
Directed by John Rando
With David Garrison (Married. . . With Children)
Previews: September 11, 12 @ 2pm
Opening Night/Press Night: September 12 @ 8pm
Closes: November 1

Playing Thursday through Saturday at 8pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2pm.

World Premiere! – Well into retirement, Red Barber, the former announcer for the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees, invites the audience into an intimate, beautifully nostalgic story about his life, the history of baseball, and the core values of humanity in an ever changing world. The honor, loyalty, and perseverance of America and its favorite pastime are not lost upon Red, and he ensures they shall not be lost to us.

Theatre for Young Audiences

Note: The following productions are not part of the subscription series.

The Wind in the Willows

Adapted by E. Gray Simons from the novel by Kenneth Grahame
Directed by E. Gray Simons III
July – August at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield

$7 children, $10 adult (discount for museum members)
For ticket information, call the Berkshire Museum at 413-443-7171
Playing Wednesday through Saturday 11am

Berkshire Theatre is proud to return to the Berkshire Museum for The Wind in the Willows. This classic Children’s tale deals with the eccentric Mr. Toad and his three friends, Mole, Ratty, and Mr. Badger. Exciting as well as educational, this is a production the whole family will love.

Peter Pan: The Musical

Based on the play by J. M. Barrie
Directed by E. Gray Simons III and Travis Daly
With a cast of children and adults drawn from the local Berkshire community
At the BTF Main Stage
Opening Night/Press Night: September 4
Closes: September 13
Playing Friday and Saturday at 7:30pm, Saturday and Sunday at 2pm.
$10 students, $25 adults

Proceeds to benefit Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation’s Berkshire County Educational Enrichment Initiative and BTF PLAYS!, Berkshire Theatre Festival’s Year-Round Education Program.

Head towards the “second star to the right” and re-discover this wonderful tale of the boy who wouldn’t grow up. BTF is proud to once again stage a production cast completely from the Berkshire County community. Join the Darling children, the Lost Boys, and evil Captain Hook for an evening of music, merriment, and wonder.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Adapted by Eric Hill
Directed by Eric Hill and E. Gray Simons III
At the Unicorn Theatre
Previews: December 10, 11, 12@2pm
Opening Night/Press Night: December 12@8pm
Closes: December 30

Playing December 10 – 15, December 17 – 22, and December 26 – 30 at 7pm. There will be 2pm matinee performances on December 12, 13, 19, 20, 26, and 27. 10am matinee performances will be held on December 15 and 17. There will be no performances December 23-25. – $20 child/student, $36 – $39 adult
BTF’s fourth annual production of the classic Dickens’ tale. A holiday tradition that the whole family will love.

Berkshire Theatre Festival Tickets

Season passes to either the Main Stage or the Unicorn are still available. This year, Main Stage subscribers get guaranteed Main Stage lot parking. All subscribers also receive discounts on additional single tickets. Contact the BTF Box Office at 413-298-5536 ext. 33 or visit www.berkshiretheatre.org for more information.

Single ticket vouchers to any of our shows are available for purchase as well. Each voucher guarantees you a seat in the theatre for the night of the show you wish. Starting in January, voucher holders will be given seats for their shows.

All plays, schedules, and prices are subject to change.

New for 2009 season at BTF

This season BTF will be changing its performance calendar slightly. Due to popular demand, all shows on Wednesday will be at 7pm, not 8pm, in the Main Stage and the Unicorn. Additionally, for The Wiz our Saturday matinees will be at 10am, not 2pm.

About Berkshire Theatre Festival

Founded in 1928, Berkshire Theatre Festival is one of the oldest professional regional theatres in the United States and the longest-running cultural organization in the Berkshires. Now under the helm of Artistic Director and CEO Kate Maguire, BTF presents theatre that matters—world premieres, contemporary works, and classics that speak to who we are in our world today. The Main Stage (408 seats), cataloged by the National Register of Historic Places, was originally designed and built by Stanford White as the Stockbridge Casino in 1888.

The mission of BTF’s second stage, the intimate Unicorn Theatre (122 seats), is to provide a home for emerging artists and new theatrical ideas. BTF’s education program, BTF PLAYS!, reaches over 10,000 children annually through school residencies, touring performances, and summer performance training and writing programs. During the summer months BTF opens its doors to over 75 administrative, acting, and technical interns and apprentices. For more information about Berkshire Theatre Festival, please visit www.berkshiretheatre.org.

Tanglewood Jazz Festival schedule for Labor Day weekend 2009 lists concerts by clarinetist Paquito d’Rivera, jazz violinist Regina Carter, vocalists Nnenna Freelon and Harolyn Blackwell, pianists Kenny Barron and Mulgrew Miller, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, trumpeter Jon Faddis, bassist Dave Holland, saxophonist Chris Potter, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, and trombonist Robin Eubanks, plus the taping of a radio show by John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey.

See also: Tanglewood Jazz Festival lineup and musician’s websites.

Presented by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the annual Tanglewood Jazz Festival will be held in Seiji Ozawa Hall September 4-6, 2009, at the orchestra’s summer home in the Berkshire Hills in Lenox, Massachusetts. Tickets for the 2009 Tanglewood season go on sale February 15, 2009.

Friday, September 4 – 8 PM – An Evening with Paquito d’Rivera

On Friday, September 4, at 8 p.m., Paquito d’Rivera will open the 2009 Tanglewood Jazz Festival performing pieces from his Latin jazz and classical repertoires. A 2005 NEA Jazz Master, winner of the 2008 Downbeat Reader’s Poll for best clarinetist, and guest artist on Yo-Yo Ma’s most recent recording, Songs of Joy & Peace, d’Rivera has extensive expertise in both the jazz and classical music worlds.

Saturday, September 5, at 2 PM – John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey

On Saturday, September 5 at 2 p.m., John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey (in her Tanglewood debut) will tape their popular radio program, “Radio Deluxe,” at the festival for later broadcast on more than 60 stations nation-wide. Normally broadcast from their living room “high above Lexington Avenue,” the Tanglewood program will officially take Radio Deluxe on the road for the first time since the program’s inception in 2005. The show’s format, marked by the duo’s urbane, sophisticated humor, inventive playlist, and extensive knowledge of the Great American Songbook, is expanding its repertoire to include such rock era voices as Randy Newman and Joni Mitchell. “Radio Deluxe” from Tanglewood will feature special guests Kurt Elling, Bucky Pizzarelli, Aaron Weinstein and Harry Allen.

Saturday, September 5, at 8 PM – Regina Carter; Nnenna Freelon and Harolyn Blackwell

On Saturday, September 5, at 8 p.m., jazz violinist and MacArthur Fellowship recipient Regina Carter will perform with her quartet in a program titled “Reverse Thread,” which includes material from her Paganini project plus music from Mali, Senegal, and Uganda.

Following Ms. Carter will be Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon and classical vocalist Harolyn Blackwell in “Dreaming the Duke,” a program that celebrates the legacy and influences of the great Duke Ellington with innovative solo pieces, duets with chamber and jazz quartets, and intimate vocal-piano selections. Noted pianist and arranger Mike Garson, whose work with David Bowie and in jazz and classical genres has earned him high praise as an arranger, serves as accompanist and musical director. They will perform classical Ellington standards as well as selections from Ellington’s famed “Black, Brown and Beige Suite.”

September 6 will open at 2 PM – Kenny Barron and Mulgrew Miller; Vanguard Jazz Orchestra

The Sunday-afternoon concert on September 6 will open at 2 p.m. with a rare and exclusive piano duet featuring Kenny Barron and Mulgrew Miller on two nine-foot Steinways performing spontaneous improvisations on original and jazz standard compositions. Performed at the 2005 Marciac Jazz Festival in France, this program has only been presented a few times in the United States and in Europe.

Barron and Miller will be followed by one of the most enduring large jazz ensembles in the U.S., the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Founded by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, the orchestra received two Grammy nominations in 2008 for its recording “Monday Night Live at the Village Vanguard” (Planet Arts Records). For over four decades the orchestra has performed on Monday nights at the world-famous jazz club in New York, the Village Vanguard.

Sunday, September 6, at 8 PM – Jon Faddis Quartet; Dave Holland, with his all-star band

Closing the festival on Sunday, September 6, at 8 p.m. will be trumpeter Jon Faddis and his Quartet with two guest trumpeters to be announced at a later date. “A Triumph of Trumpets” is a celebration of the role of the trumpet in jazz throughout the past century, from Louis Armstrong to Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and more.

Following Jon Faddis will be bassist and big-band leader, Dave Holland, with his all-star band including saxophonist Chris Potter, vibraphonist Steve Nelson, and trombonist Robin Eubanks. A native of the United Kingdom, Holland worked extensively with Miles Davis, Stan Getz, Jack DeJohnette, and Herbie Hancock in addition to performing with chamber orchestras and classical composers.

TICKET AND SPONSOR INFORMATION Tickets for the 2009 Tanglewood season go on sale to the general public on Sunday, February 15. Tickets are available through Tanglewood’s website, www.tanglewood.org, and through SymphonyCharge at 888-266-1200. Tanglewood Jazz Festival tickets are priced from $17 to $75. All-day lawn passes, priced at $34, are available for performances on Saturday and Sunday. All ticket prices include a $1 Tanglewood grounds maintenance fee.

Tickets are also available for purchase in person at the Tanglewood Box Office at Tanglewood’s Main Gate on West Street in Lenox, MA, as of June 19. American Express, Visa, MasterCard, Diners Club, Discover, personal checks, and cash are all accepted at the Tanglewood Box Office. For further information and box office hours, please call the Boston Symphony Orchestra at 617-266-1492 or visit www.bso.org.

Solo Performance Workshop with Frank La Frazia

Artistic Director of the Playwright Mentoring Project
6 sessions, 6-8pm
Mondays, January 12, 19, 26,
& February 2, 9, 16
36 Linden Street, BSC Stage 2

Do you have a story that would make an interesting monologue? You can make a performance piece based on your own personal experiences. Each participant will create a short solo-performance piece that will be presented informally at the final class. The course will deal with dramatic structure and writing for performance and look at other solo performance artists’ scripts as a reference tool. This course is intended for adults only.

Tuition: $200 – To enroll or for additional information, please contact Cynthia Quiñones at 413-499-5446 x 118
or by email at education@barringtonstageco.org

KidsAct! Improv and Workshop Series!

February Vacation – KidsAct! Improv and Workshop Series
Tuition: $150
February 16-20, 1-4pm
36 Linden Street, BSC Stage 2
Partial scholarships available based on need – Click here to download forms

Theatre enthusiasts ages 8 to 15 are invited to spend their February vacation learning about the essentials of theatre and improvisation. Participants will study the art of improv and acting, and take specialized workshops in the areas of movement, mask making and more.

Saturday Morning KidsAct!
Tuition: $200
February 28-April 18
Saturdays, 10am-noon
36 Linden Street, BSC Stage 2
Partial scholarships available based on need – Click here to download forms

Children ages 8 to 15 will work on improv, acting, movement, creating dramatic scenes and more! Participants work with a group of their peers to write and perform an original production open to family and friends.

To enroll or for additional information, please contact Cynthia Quiñones at 413-499-5446 x 118
or by email at education@barringtonstageco.org

Audition Workshop!

Audition Workshop with Debra Jo Rupp, actress of That 70’s Show, and Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director of BSC.
2 sessions, 1-3pm, Saturdays, March dates TBA
36 Linden Street, Barrington Stage Company Stage 2

Audition for the pros! Find out from professionals in the field how to present one’s self at an audition, how to select a piece to perform, and what it takes to get the role. Interested participants should prepare an initial monologue and audition to be accepted into the program.
(February audition date TBA)

Tuition: $100 – – To enroll or for additional information, please contact Cynthia Quiñones at 413-499-5446 x 118
or by email at education@barringtonstageco.org

Playwrighting Workshop!

Playwrighting Workshop with Chris Newbound
6 sessions, Tuesdays, 6-8pm
March 3, 10, 17, 31 & April 7, 14
58 Union Street, BSC Mainstage

Aimed at mixed abilities from complete novice to more experienced writers, this playwrighting workshop will explore the art of writing a one-act play, the goal being for each class participant to complete a one act play of their own by the end of the workshop. We will also be reading a few selected texts aloud in class by more established playwrights who have excelled at the form, hopefully to inspire and instruct. Students must be willing to “act” (read aloud) in other people’s plays.

Tuition: $200 – To enroll or for additional information, please contact Cynthia Quiñones at 413-499-5446 x 118
or by email at education@barringtonstageco.org

Nov. 13, 2004 performance reviewed by Frances Benn Hall

(Originally published on NewBerkshire.com)

For the past five decades the Berkshires have gleefully claimed writer William Gibson as their own, and turned out in force (and delighted pride) on November 13th, his 90th birthday, to show him how much they loved him — as a man, as well as a playwright, poet and novelist.

The Berkshire Theatre Festival’s Unicorn Theatre was the site and the birthday celebration, at which the cake was an enormous three-foot-long whale, was preceded by a dynamically staged reading of Gibson’s play “Jonah’s Dream,” written a few years ago while he was also writing “Golda.”

“Jonah’s Dream” is surreal. A goat talks and the audience is swept with Jonah into the body of a whale. A narrator and a chorus, the latter reciting short rhymed poems (that range from hilarious at times to, near the end, poignant awareness of the human condition) and that are in themselves evocative of Irish poetry at its best (yes, Irish, in the middle of this play about Nineveh and the wiping out of ten of the tribes of Israel), support actors Michael Hammond as Jonah and Kristin Wold as The Seraph-turned-goat, once in Jonah’s anger, sacrificed, and in the end in Jonah’s humanity and love, saved.

At the play’s opening Jonah, a lonely survivor, is living in the desert with a goat. When the goat speaks and orders him to go to Nineveh and preach God’s word, he cannot do this for a God who let Nineveh wipe out his world. He kills the goat, flees, and his dream takes him to Nineveh where he is confronted by the ambiguity of the reality of life or the abstract nature of God. This time, he cannot and does not kill the goat. Love is what enables humans to live and God may, or may not, be telling us that.

Despite the serious theme, mainly the play is hilariously funny, fantastic, surreal and quite wonderful. The actors are splendid and the direction is insightful. And despite the comedy, the play deals, in its final few minutes, with a poignant religious theme, as a program note states: “The attempt to forgive is the pathway to remaining human and, again paradoxically, to learning compassion. One cannot forgive without love.”

The audience loved the play and loved it even more because William Gibson was sitting there among them, with mainly on one side and his two fine sons on the other.

A vigorous ninety! Happy birthday, Bill!!!!!!