Joshua Henry at Barrington Stage Company
10th Anniversary of the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center
By: Barrington - May 10, 2022
Barrington Stage Company (BSC), celebrates the 10th Anniversary and Re-Opening of the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center with Broadway’s Joshua Henry (The Scottsboro Boys, Hamilton, Carousel) in an Encore Concert, Joshua Henry Up Close, on Sunday, May 29 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $60, by calling 413-236-8888 or online at barringtonstageco.org.
The concert will honor long-time supporters of Barrington Stage since its early years, Sydelle and Lee Blatt, who were instrumental in BSC’s move from Sheffield to Pittsfield in 2005. The Blatts were honored in 2011’s annual Gala for their outstanding support. Sydelle has been a member of the BSC Board of Trustees since 2003.
Sydelle and Lee’s support of Barrington Stage through the years has been a tremendous example of personal giving. In 2012, The Blatts gifted the VFW building in Pittsfield to Barrington Stage, now the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, which houses a newly renovated 136-seat St. Germain Stage and Mr. Finn's Cabaret, a 99-seat cabaret. This gift enabled Barrington Stage to have a permanent home for new works, which is what the Blatts are passionate about.
In 2020, the Blatts inaugurated the Sydelle Blatt New Works Commissioning Program with a transformational $1 million dollar gift, which will commission new work as well as support the development and production of new work.
When asked what the Blatts favorite shows they’ve seen at their Performing Arts Center, Sydelle and Lee replied, “Anything written by Mark St.Germain (Freud’s Last Session; Dr. Ruth, All the Way), directed by Julianne Boyd (Dr. Ruth, All the Way; Broadway Bounty Hunter), and plays that feature Associate Artist Mark H. Dold (Freud’s Last Session).”
Built in 1972 as Lt. John L Truden Local V.F.W. Post 448, the 50-year-old building, which BSC leased as Stage 2 from 2008-2011, was renamed the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center and dedicated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 26, 2012.
The 12,602 square-foot air-conditioned building has two levels. The upper level houses a café and the 136-seat St. Germain Stage named after BSC Associate Artist and Berkshires playwright Mark St. Germain, acclaimed author of Freud’s Last Session and The Best of Enemies. The lower level houses rehearsal space, offices and a 99-seat cabaret space named Mr. Finn’s Cabaret after Tony Winner William Finn, Artistic Producer of BSC’s Musical Theatre Lab. In 2014, a major renovation took place with the addition of an enlarged backstage space with dressing rooms and a green room for the acting company.
This season, programming at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center will include three world premieres: Andy Warhol in Iran by Brent Askari; ABCD by May Treuhaft-Ali; The Supadupa Kid by Sukari Jones and Joel Waggoner, based on Ty Allan Jackson’s book; and Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett.
For more information on programming at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, visit barringtonstageco.org.