Berkshire Bright Focus

There has been extensive media coverage of the First Annual Berkshire Theatre Awards. The winners of The Berkies have been announced. There will be an awards celebration 5 pm on November 13 at Mr. Finn’s Cabaret in Pittsfield. In this first round of awards Barrington Stage Company and Shakespeare & Company dominated in most categories. The smash hit Pirates of Penzance ran the table. The Larry Murray Award, named for the founder, will be the only suprise of the gathering of critics, media and theater mavens.

Berkshire theatre critic reviews for the weekly paper The Advocate. He also posts overnight for his on line site Berkshire Bright Focus. His reviews are also syndicated nationally. He started covering Broadway at the age of fourteen and now in his 60s had been doing it ever since.

Writing reviews of some dozen theatre companies within a two hour radius of her home in Williamstown is just one aspect of Gail Burns. Since 1997 her site GailSez has become an invaluable documentary resource of theatre in the region. This is part two of a critical discourse.

It is that time of year when we look back at the highlights and insights of the past season. Take a deep breath and anticipate what lays ahead for 2012. There is much to remember as well as look forward to.

In this third installment of a dialogue with Julianne Boyd, artistic director of Barrington Stage Company, we discussed the value and impact of reviews and critical dialogues. Is theater more of a life than a profession? What happens when boundaries get blurred?

The production of Ten Cents a Dance based on a reworking of Rodgers and Hart by John Doyle is provoking a firestorm of controversy. The musical in which five women sing and play instruments with a male piano player is inspiring praise and scorn from audiences and critics. Everyone emerges from Williamstown Theatre Festival with an opinion. Here are links to positive and negative reviews. Don't miss the chance to wade in on this. See it while you can.

Increasingly the marketing and pr strategy of theatre companies has turned to social networking sources like Facebook and Twitter to drown out the negative reviews of established print and on line critics. Today Williamstown Theatre Festival sent out an e mail blast with raves from unattributed sources. The majority of Berkshire theatre critics were less than thrilled by the world premiere of Touch(ed) by Bess Wohl. But, hey, who cares what critics think?

In this final installment of their dialogue Murray and Giuliano discuss cutting edge theatre which is a mainstay of America Repertory Theatre in Cambridge. And why there is nothing like that in the Berkshires. Murray defines an approach as providing information to readers to help in making informed choices. With so much being offered this summer it is less about competition and more about a critical mass of superb theatre.

For most of us right now its jingle bells. With the announcement of the 2011 Tanglewood schedule this week, however, Berkshire arts organizations are hard at work planning a fast launch to the season on the Fourth of July. But, like Abbott and Costello, come summer, let's hope they aren't wondering about "who's on first." There is desperate need for branding, pooled resources, and a marketing strategy for the Berkshires.

For an opportunity to see the new generation of theatre at its best check out "Speech & Deliver" which is having its premiere at Lyric Stage in Boston. The very young Stephen Karam has written an awesomely hilarious play.