Berkshire Theatre Group

How theater is presented this summer continues to expand. TheaterWorks in Hartford, West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park and Ridgefield’s Thrown Stone Theater are exploring what are called “site-specific” productions – where the production’s content has a relationship to the site where it is performed.

Berkshire Theatre Group announcees a gift of just over $1 million dollars from the family of the late Mary Anne Gross in honor of her lifetime love of both theatre and the Berkshires

A work in progress, "Eleanor," by Mark St. Germain was commissioned by Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota. It was given a reading there. Recently it had a reading with another actress, Harriet Harris, for Barrington Stage Company. With two performances in an empty theatre it was viewed by subscription. By phone we discussed the new work and its intriguing character who was superly portrayed by a remarkable actress.

In collaboration with Actor's Equity, Barrington Stage Company and Berkshire Theatre Group have finalized a path forward. Barrington Stage Company is producing Harry Clarke, a one-man show that will employ two Equity members, a performer and a stage manager. It begins performances in August. Berkshire Theatre Group is mounting the musical Godspell, an outdoor production with a cast of about ten and two stage managers.

This week Jacob's Pillow cancelled its coming season. Can Tanglewood be far behind? Today Williamstown Theatre Festival pulled back from selling tickets with a note for further review of seasonal plans. Berkshire Theatre Group announces the launch of its season on August 1. We have yet to hear updates from Shakespeare & Company, Barrngton Stage Company or other regional theatres. As non essential business Berkshire museums are closed with no time line for resumed programming.

On a night that was colder than a witch's tit the faithful packed the pews of Zion Lutheran Church in Pittefield. We gathered for the fourth annual Berkshire Theatre Awards. Because the heating system failed baby it was cold inside. But an evening in honor of great theatre proved to be a stellar and heart warming occasion.

The only Jewish family in a rural Texas town struggles with issues of illness and faith. How can the Jewish Yaweh allow the young and innocent to die of cancer while Jesus Christ offers cure and redemptio. Written and directed by Mark Harelik What the Jews Believe asks questions for which there are no answers.

Gershwin Alone by Hershey Felder has been performed on Broadway and toured globally. Too briefly this remarkable musical seance is at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. Felder is actor/ entertainer, musicologist and biographer switching from schtick to instructive. With a "that's not all folks" surprise the ninety minute performance was followed by an eclectic engagement with the audience. That included a couple of sing alongs from The Great American Songbook.

The structure of Kathleen Clark's world premiere comedy What We May Be, at Berkshire Theatre Group, is a play within a play. Actually, four plays within a play. That makes for a hard to follow , count them, five plays. It's confusing and not particularly funny. The writing of Clark and misdirection of Gregg Edelman squander generally fine performances by a terrific cast.

For a deliciously entertaining evening of theater it is hard to top Working: A Musical at Berkshire Theatre Group. Last night the intimate Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge was filled to capacity by a thoroughly delighted audience.

Clocking in at three acts and three hours it's a long, tough slog through Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth at Berkshire Theatre Group. Having endured an epic assault on the senses we much appreciated the experience. There is far too much relevance to this grim, Pulitizer Prize winning 1942 play. Then America was facing fascism abroad and now we are confronted by racism and fascism within.

For a change of pace Barrington Stage Company has opted not to give us yet another social justice scolding. Summer escapism with a belly full of laughs is provided by David Ives's Time Flies and Other Comedies. An all star cast of Barington actors are off the leash with total gonzo performances. They are anchored by the comedic genius of Debra Jo Rupp. Just wait till you see her paired with Cary Donaldson. With wings and buggy butts as Mayflys they wll be born, meet, mate, hatch and die all on one hilarious day. And that's just the first of six outrageous skits.

Berkshire Theatre Group and its Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield is producing the world premiere of Rock and Roll Man: The Alan Freed Story. The jukebox musical, rumored to be headed to Broadway, has a book by Gary Kupper, Larry Marshak and Rose Caiola with original music and lyrics by Gary Kupper. A cast of nineteen performs some 47 musical interludes. The music was fun but the long and often slow production needs a lot of work.

The Irish American playwright, John Patrick Shanley, crafted a small intimate drama, Outside Mulligar, set in bleak rural Irish cottages. The dark, ironic tale of heritage and inheritance has been given as richly detailed production directed by Karen Allen.

On his 50th birthday the architect Martin (David Adkins) is on the cusp of loss and gain. He is forgetting things like why he has entered a room. A lifelong friend Ross (Josh Aaron McCabe) is taping a TV interview. He is young to win the Pritzker Prize. But Martin is too distracted. Probing the problem Ross pushes Martin to admit to an affair. No biggie. But, it ensues, his beloved Sylvia is a goat. The late play by Edard Albee The Goat or Who is Silvia? won a Tony for best new play in 2002. Since then it has been regarded as controversial and problematic. We discover why in a tsunami production directed by Eric Hill for Berkshire Theatre Group.

The 2019 program of Bwerkshire Theatre Group will occur at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield and on the Fitzpatrick Mainstage as well as Unicorn in Stockbridge. The season starts with previews of The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? by Edward Albee on May 24 in Stockbridge.

For the third annual Berkshire Theatre Awards, at the Zion Luteran Church in Pittsfield, it took two hours to present trophies in 21 categories. Some 27 critics voted on awards to companies in the Berkshires extending into New York, Connecticut and Vermont. The top honors went to Barrington Stage Company with nine awards and Williamstown Theatre Festival which took home five.

This week the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association is voting on the final award list in preparation for the Third Annual Berkshire Theatre Awards. Winners will be announced at the awards ceremony to be held on Monday, November 12 at 7 pm at the Zion Lutheran Church, 74 First Street (Route 7) in Pittsfield, MA. --

The avant-garde master and Nobel Prize winner, Luigi Pirandello, was a prolific writer including some 40 plays. Other than the iconic Six Characters in Search of an Author they are rarely produced today. Notably Berkshire Theatre Group is presenting a new translation of the 1922 melodrama (his term) Naked.

An evening with Christopher Durang is never boring. These two one-act plays are hilarious and different. The first, The Actor's Nightmare, reminds us all of what it feels like to be lost - uncomfortable - amid many laughs and great performances. The second, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For Us, is a scathing, hilarious and extreme indictment of the force of any fundamentalist, controlling dogma. In this case, the Catholic Church and Sister Mary are its targets. All the performances are stellar.

During the 1930s in media, movies and popular culture gangasters and bank robbers were regarded as Robin Hood folk heroes. That's a theme of this revival of Robert Sherwood's depression era drama The Petrified Forest. It is being given an entertaining production by Berkshire Theatre Group.

If you plan to see Hair at the Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, as well you should, a few tokes of medical marijuana will help to set the mood. Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair. On opening night we spotted a granny with a crown of woven daisys.

It's Christmas Eve at the NY apartment of Irving Berlin. He is joined by fellow masters of the Great American Songbook Jimmy Van Heusen and Harold Arlen. With just a piano we get 35 of their songs in Berkshire Theatre Group''s world premiere of Coming Back Like a Song by Lee Kalcheim,

There has been yet another school slaughter just days before a close election for the incumbent Senator from North Carolina. He attends a funeral for kids who were classmates of his children. A blog reporter asks if he turned to God and prayer in a time of grief. An honest unfiltered answer threatens to sabotage his campaign. This leads to suprising and provocative results. The brief one act play is followed by a talkback after each performance.

In his final months theatre critic, Larry Murray, founded Berkshire Theatre Critics Association. In its first annual presenttation of awards "The Berkies" he rallied to enjoy the occasion and to present the first award in his name, for service to the community. We were packed into Mr. Finn's Cabaret last year but last night the event occured before a capacity, attentive audience in the Mark St. Germain Stage of the Pittsfield company. Many more regional companies were nominated and participated in the awards evening. Next year three more companies will be eligible.