{"id":1421,"date":"2009-04-17T14:47:41","date_gmt":"2009-04-17T18:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.berkshirelinks.com\/berkshires-news\/?p=1421"},"modified":"2009-04-17T14:47:41","modified_gmt":"2009-04-17T18:47:41","slug":"berkshire-playwrights-lab-benefit-may-29-at-mahaiwe-performing-arts-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/berkshire-playwrights-lab-benefit-may-29-at-mahaiwe-performing-arts-center\/","title":{"rendered":"Berkshire Playwrights Lab benefit May 29 at Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Berkshire Playwrights Lab<\/strong> announces that award-winning contemporary playwrights <strong>Joan Ackermann, Eric Bogosian, Larry Gelbart, and David Mamet<\/strong> will write original short plays to be read by celebrated actors <strong>Karen Allen, Elizabeth Franz, Dan Lauria, Wendie Malick, Peter Riegert, Jay Thomas<\/strong>, and others at the organization\u2019s <strong>Gala Season Opening<\/strong> on Friday, May 29, 2009, 8pm at the <strong>Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center<\/strong> (14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, Mass.).<\/p>\n<p>Proceeds from the Gala Season Opening will benefit the Berkshire Playwrights Lab Free Staged Reading Series, which will take place on Wednesdays at 8pm on June 10, July 1, July 15, July 29, August 12, August 26, and September 16 at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center.  Specific play titles and casts TBA.<\/p>\n<p>Founded in 2006 by theater professionals <strong>Joe Cacaci, Bob Jaffe, Jim Frangione, and Matthew Penn<\/strong>, Berkshire Playwrights Lab is dedicated to encouraging, developing, and presenting new plays.  Through readings, workshops, and fully-staged productions, the Lab provides emerging and established writers with a professional and creative environment, while offering audiences the unique and provocative opportunity to share in the dramatic evolution of premiere works.  For more information about this new organization, see <a href=\"http:\/\/www.berkshireplaywrightslab.org\/\">www.berkshireplaywrightslab.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The Gala Season Opening will feature original material written by <strong>Pulitzer Prize<\/strong>-winning playwright <strong>David Mamet<\/strong> (<em>Glengary Glen Ross<\/em>) and Pulitzer Prize finalist <strong>Eric Bogosian<\/strong> (<em>Talk Radio<\/em>).  <strong>Larry Gelbart<\/strong> is best known for writing the musical, <em>A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum<\/em>, the television series, <em>M*A*S*H<\/em>, and for co-writing the Oscar-nominated screenplay, <em>Tootsie<\/em>.  Playwright <strong>Joan Ackermann<\/strong> is the co-founder and artistic director of <strong>Mixed Company<\/strong>, a twenty-five-year-old theater in <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.berkshirelinks.com\/great-barrington-mass.php\">Great Barrington, Mass<\/a><\/strong>., and she was a long-time writer and producer for the television series, <em>Arli$$<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>The evening\u2019s actors are equally accomplished as the playwrights.  <strong>Karen Allen<\/strong> is best known for starring in the films, <em>Raiders of the Lost Ark<\/em> and <em>National Lampoon\u2019s Animal House<\/em>.  <strong>Elizabeth Franz<\/strong> won the <strong>Tony Award<\/strong> and was nominated for an <strong>Emmy<\/strong> for her performance as Linda Loman in <em>Death of a Salesman<\/em>.  <strong>Dan Lauria<\/strong> played Jack Arnold (the dad) on the television series, <em>The Wonder Years<\/em>.  <strong>Wendie Malick<\/strong> was twice nominated for an Emmy and once for a Golden Globe for playing <strong>Nina Van Horn<\/strong> on the sitcom, <em>Just Shoot Me!<\/em>.  <strong>Peter Riegert<\/strong> starred in the films, <em>Local Hero and Traffic<\/em>, and in many David Mamet plays on Broadway.  <strong>Jay Thomas<\/strong> is a two-time Emmy winner for playing Jerry Gold on television series, <em>Murphy Brown<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Playwrights Joan Ackermann, Eric Bogosian, Larry Gelbart, and David Mamet write short plays to be read by actors Karen Allen, Elizabeth Franz, Dan Lauria, Wendie Malick, Peter Riegert, Jay Thomas at the Berkshire Playwrights Lab benefit May 29, 2009 at Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Gt. Barrington, MA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1421\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/idealpoetry.com\/rwc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}