BerkshireLinks

Dave Read

2011 Berkshire Theatre Festival schedule

The schedule for the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge and the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, now both run by Kate McGuire, long-time BTF artistic director, from May 2011 through December 2011 includes three plays being given world premieres by the BTF in Stockbridge, three BTF musical productions presented in Pittsfield, and a number of events at the Colonial produced in co-operation with local arts organizations.

The Who’s Tommy at The Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield | July 7 -16, 2011

  • Music and lyrics by Pete Townshend, book by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff
  • Additional music and lyrics by John Entwistle and Keith Moon
  • Featuring James Barry and Randy Harrison
  • Produced by Berkshire Theatre Festival, Presented at The Colonial Theatre
  • Directed by Eric Hill
  • Previews July 7, 8, 9 @ 2pm
  • Opening Night/Press Night July 9 @ 8pm
  • Closes July 16
  • Tickets A: $49 – B: $40 – C: $20
  • Monday, Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday at 7pm, Thursday and Saturday at 2pm

Ticket prices for all BTF Main Stage events are $15-$49 unless otherwise noted; Performance schedule is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday at 7pm, Thursday and Saturday at 2pm, unless otherwise noted.

Sylvia at Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge | July 12 -30, 2011

  • Sylvia by A. R. Gurney
  • Directed by Anders Cato
  • Featuring David Adkins and Jurian Hughes
  • Previews July 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 @ 2pm
  • Opening Night/Press Night July 16 @ 8pm
  • Closes July 30

In the Mood at Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge | August 2 -13, 2011

  • In the Mood by Kathleen Clark
  • Director TBD
  • Previews August 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 @ 2pm
  • Opening Night/Press Night August 6 @ 8pm
  • Closes August 13
  • World Premiere

Period of Adjustment at Berkshire Theatre Festival, Stockbridge | August 16 -September 3, 2011

  • Period of Adjustment by Tennessee Williams
  • Directed by David Auburn
  • Previews August 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 @ 2pm
  • Opening Night/Press Night August 20 @ 8pm
  • Closes September 3

Schedule for the BTF’s Unicorn Theatre, where ticket prices for all events $15-$39 unless otherwise noted, and the performance times are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Wednesday at 7pm, Thursday and Saturday at 2pm unless otherwise noted.

Moonchildren at BTF Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge | June 28 – July 16, 2011

  • Moonchildren by Michael Weller
  • Directed by Karen Allen
  • Previews June 28, 29, 30, July 1, 2 @ 2pm
  • Opening Night/Press Night July 2 @ 8pm
  • Closes July 16

Dutch Masters at BTF Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge | July 19 – August 6, 2011

  • Dutch Masters by Greg Keller
  • Directed by TBA
  • Previews July 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 @ 2pm
  • Opening Night/Press Night July 23 @ 8pm
  • Closes August 6
  • World Premiere!

Finian’s Rainbow at BTF Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge | August 9 – 27, 2011

  • Finian’s Rainbow Book by E.Y. Harburg and Fred Saidy
  • Lyrics by E.Y. Harburg, Music by Burton Lane
  • Directed by Kyle Fabel
  • Previews August 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 @ 2pm
  • Opening Night August 13 @ 8pm
  • Closes August 27
  • A production of the Unicorn Company (BTF’s pre-professional acting troupe)
  • Tickets $15-$34

Birthday Boy at BTF Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge | August 30 – Sept. 6 and Sept. 29 – Oct. 16, 2011

  • Birthday Boy by Chris Newbound
  • Directed by Wes Grantom
  • Preview August 30
  • Opening Night/Press Night Wednesday, August 31 @ 7pm
  • World Premiere! – Part of the Made in the Berkshires festival

Runs Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Saturday at 2pm; 1st Closing September 3. Reopens September 29 (runs Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Saturday & Sunday at 2pm) – Final Closing October 16

The Mystery of Irma Vep at Shakespeare and Co.

February l8, 2011 performance reviewed by Frances Benn Hall.

In the winter of our discontent with Berkshire weather woes, I can think of nothing more capable of making everyone happy than to urge them to hurry to the Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare and Co. for two hours of hysterical delight where they will be swept into the madness of The Mystery of Irma Vep, an extravaganza of horror and surprises, full of quotes and situations ripped from films, poems, and novels, from Hitchcock to James Joyce.

The two hour play, written by Charles Ludlum has specific requirements for production. It must contain only two actors who play its eight roles, and the two actors who keep changing costumes frantically, must be of the same sex so that the cross-dressing gets its hysterical chance as the two whirl in and out of the thirty five costumes required by the rapid whirlwind plot. (Costume designer Kara D Midlam has risen brilliantly to that challenge.)

The main setting for the play (although magically it briefly shifts to mummies and Egypt) is Mandacrest Estate, on a desolate moor in England where the owner, Lord Edgar Hillcrest while still mourning the death (by werewolf ) of his first wife, Irma Vip, a great painting of whom dominates the intricate set, has married again and the new wife, Lady Enid, must contend with more wolves and a weird pair of servants.

These two open the play with each in a major character. We see Ryan Winkles first as the formidable maid, Jane Twisden-who when she goes out one door to get tea, comes in by a different door, almost instantly as Lord Edgar himself. As for the other actor in this duo, Josh McCabe, he is, one feels, ever present as the silly new wife Lady Enid, who is terrified of one of his other major manifestations, Nicodemus Underwood, the demented swineherd who is missing one leg. In this magical play he can go out one door and enter, within seconds from another.

The plot reels on with both of these fine actors constantly appearing and reappearing as someone else, with the plot suddenly swooping some of the characters off to Egypt and returning with a mummy. Etc etc . Surprise after surprise. Indeed the program warns, “Regardless of what you see on stage, no animals were harmed in the mounting of this production.” Consider yourself warned.

With the one fifteen minute intermission (needed to transform the ornate decaying mansion into an Egyptian tomb) the running time is two hours of glee. How the actors even remember who they at the moment are, let alone what accent each should at the moment be employing, one marvels at what must be going on back stage in the literally seconds of costume changes, replete with hairdos,.

Kristopher Karstedt has designed two intricate sets that can be quickly transformed; Michael Pfeiffer keeps the sound scarey; and Stephen Ball’s lights add to the ever shifting mayhem. As for the two actors who slip in and out of those 35 costumes. They are magnificent.

This play, by Kevin G. Coleman, is such fun you may decide you have to see it twice. Enjoy.

2011 Williamstown Theatre Festival schedule

The 2011 Williamstown Theatre Festival schedule, running Friday, June 29, 2011 through Sunday, August 28, 2011, includes Jon Robin Baitz’s Three Hotels, She Stoops to Conquer, the 18th century comedy by Oliver Goldsmith, and the American premier of Tony Award-winner John Doyle’s Ten Cents a Dance. New curtain times for all Main Stage shows are as follows: Tuesday – Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Saturday & Sunday at 2:00 p.m.

Three Hotels – June 29 – July 24, 2011 – WTF Main Stage

  • By Jon Robin Baitz
  • Directed by Robert Falls

In Three Hotels, Ken Hoyle is an ambitious hatchet man for a multinational company that sells defective baby formula in developing African countries. His wife Barbara advises other young executive wives on life in the third world. Their days as idealistic Peace Corps volunteers are far behind them – physically and metaphorically – and the succession of moral compromises has taken its toll. Jon Robin Baitz weaves a timely tale of corporate misdeeds, personal tragedy, and marital discord that takes us into the private thoughts of a man and a woman searching for answers and aching for redemption.

She Stoops to Conquer – July 27 – August 7, 2011 – WTF Main Stage

  • By Oliver Goldsmith
  • Directed by Nicholas Martin
  • Cast includes: Brooks Ashmanskas, Kristine Nielsen, Jonathan Patrick Walker, Paxton Whitehead

Nicholas Martin, former WTF Artistic Director (Our Town at WTF; Present Laughter; Hedda Gabler), will direct Oliver Goldsmith’s rowdy comedy of mistaken identities, She Stoops to Conquer (July 27 through August 7). The cast features Jonathan Patrick Walker (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at WTF; High Fidelity) as Charles Marlow, Tony Award-nominee Brooks Ashmanskas (Promises, Promises; The Producers; She Loves Me at WTF) as Tony Lumpkin, Tony Award-nominee Paxton Whitehead (The Importance of Being Earnest; Home at WTF) as Mr. Hardcastle, and Drama Desk Award-nominee Kristine Nielsen (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; Les Liaisons Dangereuses) as Mrs. Hardcastle.

Pranks and hijinks abound in She Stoops to Conquer, a raucous 18th-century comedy of big costumes, big sets, big hair, and even bigger laughs. Two well-bred young men arrive at the country estate of Mr. Hardcastle, intending to woo his daughter Kate and her cousin Constance, but when local mischief-maker Tony Lumpkin plays a practical joke on the city-slickers, the Hardcastle household is launched into a dizzying, deliciously preposterous romp of mistaken identity. True to fashion, director Nicholas Martin assembles a fearless ensemble of comic all-stars and WTF favorites sure to thrill and delight.

Ten Cents A Dance – August 11 – August 28, 2011 – WTF Main Stage

  • Conceived and Directed by John Doyle
  • Music by Richard Rodgers
  • Lyrics by Lorenz Hart
  • Cast includes: Malcolm Gets, Lauren Molina, Jane Pfitsch

Tony Award-winner John Doyle’s (Sweeney Todd; Company) latest project, a celebration of the songs of Rodgers and Hart, Ten Cents a Dance (August 11 through August 28) will close Williamstown’s Main Stage Season. Tony Award-nominee Malcolm Gets (Amour; Anything Goes at WTF; “Caroline in the City”) plays Johnny and Lauren Molina (Rock of Ages; Sweeney Todd) and Jane Pfitsch (Les Liaisons Dangereuses; Company) will also be featured in this American Premiere production.

Prepare to be bewitched and beguiled by Ten Cents a Dance, a new musical conceived by Doyle, who applies his signature style of engaging a company of actor-musicians to bring to life the extraordinary music of Rodgers and Hart. Crooner Johnny wistfully recalls his lifelong love affair of chorus girl Miss Jones, who is embodied by five women, each portraying a different stage of her life. As Johnny and Miss Jones take “Manhattan” under a “Blue Moon” while “Falling in Love with Love,” you can’t help but think “Isn’t it Romantic?” – even if sometimes “The Lady is a Tramp.” These and so many other unforgettable songs – filled with infatuation, longing, and enchantment – will sparkle like a glass of champagne on a sexy summer evening. “All you need is a ticket, come on big boy, ten cents a dance.”

Williamstown Theatre Festival Main Stage 2011 Schedule

  • Three Hotels
  • By Jon Robin Baitz
  • Directed by Robert Falls
  • June 29 – July 24, 2011
  • She Stoops to Conquer
  • By Oliver Goldsmith
  • Directed by Nicholas Martin
  • Cast includes: Brooks Ashmanskas, Kristine Nielsen, Jon Patrick Walker, Paxton Whitehead
  • July 27 – August 7, 2011
  • Ten Cents a Dance
  • Conceived and Directed by John Doyle
  • Music by Richard Rodgers
  • Lyrics by Lorenz Hart
  • Cast includes: Malcolm Gets, Lauren Molina, Jane Pfitsch
  • August 11 – August 28, 2011

Williamstown Theatre Festival Nikos Stage 2011 Schedule

  • A Streetcar Named Desire
  • By Tennessee Williams
  • Directed by David Cromer
  • Cast includes: Jessica Hecht, Sam Rockwell
  • June 22 – July 3, 2011
  • One Slight Hitch
  • By Lewis Black
  • Directed by Joe Grifasi
  • Cast includes: Paige Howard, Mark Linn-Baker
  • July 6 – 17, 2011
  • A Doll’s House
  • By Henrik Ibsen
  • Translated by Paul Walsh
  • Directed by Sam Gold
  • Cast includes: Oscar Isaac, Hamish Linklater, Matthew Maher, Lily Rabe, Lili Taylor
  • July 20 – 31, 2011
  • Touch(ed)
  • By Bess Wohl
  • Directed by Trip Cullman
  • August 3 – 14, 2011
  • You Better Sit Down: tales from my parents’ divorce
  • Written by Anne Kauffman, Matthew Maher, Caitlin Miller, Jennifer R. Morris, Janice Paran, and Robbie Collier Sublett
  • Conceived by Jennifer R. Morris
  • Directed by Anne Kauffman
  • August 16 – 21, 2011 (one week only!)
  • ADDED PERFORMANCE: Sunday, August 21st at 7:30pm

Williamstown Theatre Festival contact info.

  • 1000 Main St. – Rt. 2
  • Williamstown, MA 01267
  • Box office – 413-597-3400
  • web: wtfestival.org

A special Main Stage Season Package is available for purchase until March 11, 2011 at www.wtfestival.org. 2011 Williamstown Theatre Festival season tickets will go on sale June 1, 2011 and can be purchased online at www.wtfestival.org, by phone at (413) 597-3400 or in person at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance, 1000 Main St. (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 02167.

Hotels in Williamstown, MA

Chester Theatre Company 2011 schedule

The 2011 schedule at Chester Theatre Company, running July 6th though August 28th, will feature four productions of contemporary American plays that have been adapted from works by Dostoyevsky, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Henry James, and Christopher Marlowe. “I’m really excited about the concept behind this year’s slate of plays,” said CTC Artistic Director Byam Stevens, “the classics continue to inspire the writers of today, so we’re presenting a season of classic works re-imagined by contemporary American playwrights. Our audience will get something familiar — masterpieces by Dostoyevsky, Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Henry James, Christopher Marlowe — and something new — exciting, fresh renderings from today’s best writers.”

pride@prejudice – Chester Theatre Company – July 6-17, 2011

  • East Coast Premiere
  • Based on Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice
  • Adapted, edited and compiled by Daniel Elihu Kramer
  • Directed by Ron Bashford

Crime and Punishment – Chester Theatre Company – July 20 -31, 2011

  • New England Premiere
  • Fyodor Dostoyesvsky’s Crime and Punishment
  • Adapted by Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus
  • Directed by Sheila Siragusa

The Turn of the Screw – Chester Theatre Company – August 3-14, 2011

  • East Coast Premiere
  • Based on Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw
  • Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher
  • Directed by Daniel Elihu Kramer

Wittenberg (A Tragical-Comical-Historical in Two Acts) – Chester Theatre Company – August 17-28, 2011

  • East Coast Premiere
  • Based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus
  • Adapted by David Davalos
  • Directed by Byam Stevens

Chester Theatre Company tickets and directions

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Orleton Farm, Stockbridge, Mass.

Orleton Farm, Stockbridge, Mass.

Orleton Farm in Stockbridge, Mass. is home to the Colonial Carriage and Driving Society, which sponsors annual events that could be classified “quintessentially Berkshire” – events that are remnants of the Gilded Age, when parts of the Berkshires looked to be extensions of European aristocrary. In winter there is the Classic Sleigh Rally, held Jan. 16, 2011; in autumn, there is the Lenox Tub Parade.

Barrington Stage Company schedules Valentine’s cabaret

Barrington Stage Company has scheduled The Big V-Day Cabaret, comprised of new songs composed by writers from the company’s Musical Theatre Lab, to run at Stage 2 on Friday and Saturday February 11 & 12 at 8PM, and Sunday, February 13 at 3PM. The Big V-Day Cabaret is directed by Julianne Boyd, music direction by Darren R. Cohen, line produced by Natasha Sinha, cast t.b.a..

Among the writers from the Musical Theatre Lab who will be represented include Jill Abramovitz, Gaby Alter, Will Aronson, Jeremy Desmon, Vadim Feichtner, Kirsten Guenther, Anna Jacobs, Alana Jacoby, Laura Kleinbaum, Salomon Lerner, Dan Lipton, Bill Nelson, Ryan Scott Oliver, Willem Oosthuysen, Michael Pettry, Zachary Redler, David Rossmer, Samuel Salmond, Joy Son, and Niko Tsakalakos.

Tickets are $25 Friday and Sunday and $30 on Saturday by calling 413-236-8888 or online at www.barringtonstageco.org.
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