10X10 New Play Festival at Barrington Stage Company
Tenth Season of Popular Festival Now Virtual
By: BSC - Feb 22, 2021
Barrington Stage Company (BSC) in Downtown Pittsfield, MA, announces casting for the 10-minute plays for the 10th Annual 10X10 New Play Festival, part of the 2021 10X10 Upstreet Arts Festival.
BSC’s 10X10 New Play Festival will be filmed live on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage with no live audience and will stream by demand March 11–14 & 18–21, 2021. Tickets are $35 for one viewer, $55 for a household viewing are available at barringtonstageco.org/10x10.
“Who knew when we started our 10x10 New Play Festival ten years ago that it would become one of our most popular events of the year?” said Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. “We started with two weeks of performances and as of last year, we ran our 10x10 Plays for one month in the middle of the winter. This year, we have the added challenge of filming the plays in an empty theatre and streaming them into our patrons' homes. While this is not the challenge we were looking for, we hope to reach an even larger audience than ever before!”
The 10X10 New Play Festival cast features 10X10 veterans Doug Harris (10×10 ’20), Maya Loren Jackson (10×10 ’20), Matt Neely (10×10 ’12–’18), Keri Safran (10×10 ’18–’20), Peggy Pharr Wilson (all 10 years of 10×10!) and Robert Zukerman (10×10 ’12, ’14, ’15, ’18, ’19).
Directors for the 10X10 New Play Festival are BSC Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and returning for his fifth year, Matthew Penn (BSC’s Typhoid Mary). An Emmy-nominated director (Law & Order), Penn has been co-Artistic Director of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab for the last 13 seasons in Great Barrington and directed the Off Broadway play Mother of the Maid starring Glenn Close.
The creative team includes Azalea Fairley (costume design), Joseph Martin (scenic design), Scott Pinkney (lighting design) and Alex Sovronsky (sound design). Renee Lutz is the production stage manager. Hannah Katz is the 10X10 New Play Festival Line Producer.
The 2021 10X10 New Play Festival is sponsored by Pittsfield Cooperative Bank. Sponsored in part by Dr. Stephanie Beling, Jadwiga and Donald Brown, Moe England, Linda and Robert Noonan, Diane and Arthur Provenz, Judy and Bruce Grinnell & Nancy McIntire, Laurie and Bob Forman & Jane and Win Stuebner.
BSC’s 2021 10X10 New Play Festival:
Protecting the Innocent
By Brent Askari
Directed by Julianne Boyd
What will it take to keep the kids upstairs!? Being Santa’s Helper is harder than anticipated for these two parents.
Finding Help
By Marj O’Neill-Butler
Directed by Julianne Boyd
Daphne and her Mother are at loggerheads concerning assisted living or a caregiver. When Daphne tries to solve the problem, she is surprised by her Mother’s attitude.
Don’t Call Me Cupid
By Jonathan Cook
Directed by Julianne Boyd
What could go wrong if Cupid shoots his arrow? Well… it turns out quite a lot.
People Will Talk
By Scott Mullen
Directed by Matthew Penn
When Martha and Owen both wind up on the same building ledge together, they find themselves talking about what brought them there.
Lizzie Borden Gets Engaged
By Ellen Abrams
Directed by Julianne Boyd
After her name is cleared, Lizzie Borden goes looking for love.
Speed Play
By Alex Dremann
Directed by Matthew Penn
One park bench, two people and a tiny hourglass might tell you a lot about the world.
Blind Larks
By Christine Foster
Directed by Matthew Penn
When four teachers on a field trip are trapped in a rockfall, they find that their thoughts can affect their very chance of survival.
A Dateless Bargain with Engrossing Death
By John Minigan
Directed by Matthew Penn
When the Messenger of Death comes to visit in the form of an old acquaintance from college, database administrator Bobby has to do some quick and computational thinking to stay alive.
Happy Birthday Leonard
By Walter Thinnes
Directed by Matthew Penn
Eleanor has got quite the present for Leonard on his 70th Birthday. But the fun only starts when the clock hits midnight.
On the Rocks
By Jessica Provenz
Directed by Julianne Boyd
It’s a miracle! Grandma’s out of the hospital and recovering after her stroke, but something’s amiss — grandpa’s stoned on pot brownies and won’t let anyone near her…
Tickets to the 10X10 New Play Festival are on sale now. For more information, call the Barrington Stage Box Office at 413-236-8888 or visit www.barringtonstageco.org.