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by Elyse
Sommer
| I hope you'll have a good time --- James Levine at an open rehearsal, advice followed not only by Tanglewood audiences, but Berkshirites attending the many and varied entertainment events that make up summer '05 in the Berkshires. |
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Williamstown's Main Stage and Nikos Stage Offerings for Summer 2010
Note: More productions TBA soon
On the Main Stage:
June 30-July 11: Burt Shevelove/Larry Gelbart/Stephen Sondheim musical, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (June 30 – July 11). Directed by Jessica Stone and featuring Tony Award-nominee Christopher Fitzgerald as Pseudolus.
July 28 – August 8 hornton Wilder’s quintessentially American play Our Town, directed by Nicholas Martin (Present Laughter, Hedda Gabler) will direct T (). The citizens of this Grovers Corners will include Williamstown favorites Becky Ann Baker and Dylan Baker, Jessica Hecht, Campbell Scott. On the Nikos Stage
June 23 – July 4, funny-woman Judy Gold in her new one-woman play, It’s Jewdy’s Show! , directed by Festival Artistic Associate Amanda Charlton. Amy Herzog’s new play After the Revolution makes its journey from the Festival’s fellowship project last summer to the Nikos Stage this summer. It's 1999, and three generations of a radical leftist family meet in New York to celebrate the law school graduation of Emma, the family's youngest torch-carrier. A public revelation about her late grandfather, a victim of the blacklist, sends Emma reeling as the family begins to fracture. Shaken and betrayed, she must weigh her fierce politics and family loyalty to decide if the ends really justify the means.
In another homegrown production, Samuel J. and K. by Mat Smart (The 13th of Paris; The Hopper Collection) arrives on the Nikos Stage after a hugely successful reading as part of WTF’s Fridays @ 3 last summer. In this hard-charging play, Samuel J. surprises his adopted brother, Samuel K., with a trip back to his birth country of Cameroon for college graduation—but Samuel K. has no desire to face a place and a past that abandoned him. Samuel J. and K. challenges the traditional definitions of family and asks if a place we’ve only imagined can become home overnight. Festival Artistic Associate Justin Waldman directs.
Two additional Main Stage productions and one additional Nikos Stage production, as well as performance dates, casting and full creative teams for the Williamstown Theatre Festival 2010 Season TB
The Chester Theater's Summer Season: A Brian Friel favorite and a Trilogy
The Chester Season launches its summer 2010 season with Brian Friel's MOLLY SWEENEY - June 30-July 11 Like other Friel plays, this is a triple monologue of interwoven stories: Molly, blind since early infancy, who undergoes an operation to restore her sight. . .Frank, her husband, a dreamer and crusader who encourages her to take the risk.. . . Dr. Rice, trying to recapture the brilliance that once made him an internationally famous eye surgeon. As their stories interweave a poignant, engaging and deeply human tapestry is created that is both compelling and touching.
Arlene Hutton's Nibroc plays can be enjoyed as standalones but this year, Chester offers all three. LAST TRAIN TO NIBROC . . .SEE ROCK CITY. . .GULF VIEW DRIVE The three plays begin with May and Raleigh's meeting, move on to their marriage and finally their move to Florida. On Saturday, August 14 and Saturday, August 28, CTC will present the complete Trilogy in one day, with performances beginning at 1pm and concluding at 10pm and a Kentucky style Ice Cream Social, a Box Dinner and discussions with CTC's Artistic Director Byam Stevens.in between
The Berkshire Theatre Festival has announced its summer 2010 season, which leaves one other major theater in the area to announce it's plans. The BTF season, its 82nd, is quite diverse and brings back some BTF favorites to make older plays new again. The opening nights will once again also be press night and take place on Saturdays. Due to popular demand, a 2pm matinee has been added on Thursdays for all Unicorn Theatre shows. Wednesday night shows are still at 7pm, not 8, at both theatres. Also, this season full-time Berkshire residents get 20% off to all shows except Main Stage Saturday night performances. Cast, unless included in listings below TBA
BTF Main Stage
The Last Five Years, a 2-person musical by Jason Robert Brown will be directed by Anders Cato. Previews: June 22 to July `10th, opening June 26. For a preview of what to expect, here's a link to my review of the show's premiere in New York: Last Five Years.
July 13-July 31 on the Main Stage in Stockbridge, MA. The Guardsman by Ferenc Molnár, directed by John Rando; with Jayne Atkinson, Richard Easton, Michel Gill, Tara Franklin, Stephen deRosa and Mary Louise Wilson From July 13 to July 31; opening July 17. A favorite that inspired 3 films.
Macbeth by William Shakespeare, directed by Eric Hill. From August 3 to August 14; opening August 7 With Brandy Caldwell, Jeremy Davidson, Keira Naughton, and C.J. Wilson. One of Shakespeare's most produced tragedies.
A Delicate Balance by Edward Albee, directed by David Auburn. From August 17 to September 4 ; opening August 21. Albee's first Pulitzer Prize winner which deserves to be revived more often than it is.
BTF's Unicorn Theatre
K2 by Patrick Meyers, directed by Wes Grantom. From June 17 to July 3; openingJune 19. Your chance to experience a daring mountain climbing adventure second hand. It played on Broadway before Curtainup.com was launched but I still remember sitting at the edge of my seat.
Endgame by Samuel Beckett, directed by Eric Hill, with David Chandler and Randy Harrison. From July 6 to July 24; opening July 10. Follow up to the summer 2008 Waiting for Godot, with enougher group of memorably miserable characters.
Babes in Arms. Music by Richard Rodgers, Lyrics by Lorenz Hart, Book by George Oppenheimer. Directed by E. Gray Simons III. From July 27 to August 28; opening July 31. With a hit parade of songs this is a musical dessert for a challenging season. (The Lady Is A Tramp,My Funny Valentine, Johnny One Note.)
No Wake world premiere by William Donnelly, directed by Kyle Fabel. From September 1 to October 24, opening. September 4 . It's about an estranged couple struggling to cope with the death of their daughter.
Winter's in full swing, but it's not too early to think about summer theater in the Berkshires. The following announcements will migrate to our Berkshire Main page as we get closer to the season. And of course we'll review most of the shows when they open. For starters, below a list of what's on the agenda at Barrington Stage and Shakespeare & Company.
Barrington Stage's Summer 2010 lineup:
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
June 17 ~ July 17
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
From an adaptation by Christopher Bond
Musical Direction by Darren Cohen
Directed by Julianne Boyd
Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical thriller takes the stage just in time to celebrate Sondheim's 80th birthday.
Barrington Main Stage Art
July 22 ~ August 7
By Yasmina Reza
Translation by Christopher Hampton
Director-TBA
Three men's friendships are tested in extraordinary and hilarious ways when one of them buys an expensive white (on white) painting. A thought-provoking and deliciously witty play.
Absurd Person Singular
August 12 ~ 29
By Alan Ayckbourn
Directed by Jesse Berger
Three couples on three successive Christmas Eves in three different kitchens as they spin out of control to a darkly hilarious ending.
Barrington's Stage 2
The Whipping Man
May 27 ~ June 13
By Matthew Lopez
Directed by Christopher Innvar
New England Premiere!
At the end of the Civil War, a Jewish Confederate soldier returns home to Richmond to be greeted by his two black servants, reared Jewish and now free men.
June 22 – July 3 marks the return of Barrington Stage's longest running ever hit two-hander, Freud's Last Session with Martin Rayner as Dr. Sigmund Freud and Mark H. Dold as C. S. Lewis. The show was seen by more than 5000 patrons during the 2009 season. This reprise precedes an Off-Broadway run at The Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre at 5 West 63rd Street.
Pool Boy
July 13 ~ August 8
Music and Lyrics by Nikos Tsakalakos
Book and Lyrics by Janet Allard
Directed by Kevin Del Aguila
World Premiere! A pool boy's summer turns upside down when he's seduced by L.A. glitz and glam and a sexy older woman. Love and chaos ensue in a rocking new musical about a pool boy's hopes and dreams at the Hotel Bel-Air.
Musical Theatre Lab (MTL) Productions
August 26, 27 and 28th
The Memory Show by Zachary Redler and Sara Cooper.
This 2-hander received a staged reading during the 2009 season and a full production this season, directed by Joe Calarco (BSC’s The Burnt Part Boys & The Mysteries of Harris Burdick). This is a two-person comic tragedy about the troubled relationship of a woman who has just been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and her estranged daughter who moves back home to Brooklyn’s Brighton Beach to take care of her. As the mother starts forgetting the present, her daughter begins remembering the past.
August 26 and Fri., August 27 at 9:30 p.m. and Sat., August 28 at 10 p.m.
3-day reprise for Bill Nelson’s popular All-Male Revue that made its debut in 2009 summer season
Barrington's Youth Theatre
Into The Woods
July 14 ~ August 15
Book by James Lapine
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed and Choreographed by Christine O'Grady
Fractured retelling of several well-known fairy tales (Cinderella, Rapunzel, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and The Baker and his Wife). The beloved fairy tale characters enter the woods, each looking for something.
Shakespeare & Company Main Stage
Richard III by William Shakespeare, directed by Tony Simotes featuring John Douglas Thompson in the title role and Tod Randolph as Queen Elizabeth.
Begins July 2.
The Winter's Tale by William Shakespeare directed by Kevin G. Coleman
featuring Elizabeth Aspenlieder
Begins July 15
The Taster by Joan Ackerman, directed by Tina Packer
featuring Rocco Sisto
A dark comedy by Berkshire playwright Joan Ackerman, makes its world premiere.
Begins July 28.
At the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre The Comedy of Errors
by William Shakespeare directed by Dennis Krausnick featuring actors from the Performance Intern Program Begins July 3.
Other shows TBA
Retold by Tina Packer of Shakespeare & Co.
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