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CurtainUp  Looks Back at the Summer 2005 Season in the Berkshires . . .or How I Spent My Summer Vacation by Elyse Sommer
For some people summer means long lazy, do-nothing days. Not so in the Berkshires where an overlowing cornucopia of cultural offerings leaves little white space on summer residents' and visitors' calendars. The question artistic director at summer theaters must always ask themselves is "Do we serve up a light and frothy menu, the theatrical equivalent of a "beach read" or dare we challenge audiences with heftier, more challenging fare?" The major venues all continued their commitment to just plain good theater which is exactly why they regularly attract topnotch talent -- in terms of stagecraft as well as acting and directing. The artistic directors themselves know that a Berkshire season is not a "mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them al " contest. However, gossip and controversy sells newspapers so it's understdandable that a New York Times piece about an up and coming company like Barrington Stage prompted by the hit revival of Stephen Sondheim's Follies was done with a competitive slant and at the expense of its older neighbors like Williamstown Theatre Festival and Berkshire Theatre Festival. While Barrington Stage did have an especially strong summer season, there were enough provocative old wines in new bottles as well as a sampling of new wines at all the area stages to keep theater lovers busy and entertained -- that included Shakespeare & Company's savvy pairing of a laugh a minute Taming of the Shrew with the more serious and less often played King John, and the company's well received world premiere of Ice Glen, by Joan Ackerman. (It should be noted, that Shakespeare & Company runs most of its shows for an entire season and not just the usual ten days. Another local world premiere, Arlene Hutton's See Rock City, a sequel to Last Train to Nibroc, drew many people to the Miniature Theatre of Chester which is located in that hamlet's town hall. Typical of the can-do entrepreneurial spirit needed to live a life in the theater, director James Warwick raised enough money to give this theater's popular revival of Retreat from Moscow another week's run in a more accessible location in Pittsfield. That same spirit has given many actors like Martin Moran a chance to create their own gigs. Moran's The Tricky Part --the performance and now published memoir -- had it's regional premiere at Shakespeare & Company's Springlawn Mansion). Since all my reviews are archived (click here for CurtainUp's Berkshire archive), no need to go into any more details about plays mentioned and others seen and reviewed. At any rate, much of this season's theatrical news revolved around real estate. In Williamstown, the big new-new piece of real estate was, of course, the Williamstown Theatre Festival's new home which lumps several performance spaces under the umbrella title of the '62 Center of For the Performing Arts.
There's no missing of the imposing new theater as you drive into Williamstown. Whether you fall in love with the pagoda-like front leading the main lobby, depends a lot on whether you are open-minded about mixing architectural styles. With many newer buildings showing up in this town of ivy-covered buildings, I think this is a case of a gradually blossoming love affair. During my own numerous visits to Williamstown this summer, I found myself going from mouth-wide-open first impression, to an occasional yearning for the old "classic" look of the Adams Memorial Theatre and wondering if that flying roof wasn't a bit too much, to becoming more and more accustomed to the daring concept of William Rawn Associates -- the same architects who designed Ozawa Hall, the splendid addition to the Tanglewood Music Festival in Lenox. As for the interior of the theater -- I was immediately smitten. The inside of that dramatic boxy front is bright, warm and welcoming. The square-shaped lobby turns into a circle that leads to the box office, rest rooms and the enlarged Nikos Stage to the left, and winds around to the rear of the theater to the right. The Main Stage is a grand auditorium with a circular orchestra and two-tiered balcony seating that evokes the grandeur of an opera house but is nevertheless quite intimate. As with Ozawa Hall's thrust seating arrangement, audiences at WTF are very much aware of each other's presence so that there is a greater sense of a communal experience. Like many new theaters, the theater has some problems to iron out -- for example, the steps could easily be made into a sloped aisle which would avoid having the ushers worry about people falling. The smaller Nikos Stage has a more modern, industrial look which is appropriate for this venue's mission of showcasing new works. But WTF wasn't the only one making real estate news.
The theater community's real estate activities are reflected throughout the Berkshires. The Clark Museum in Williamstown is building a an arts conversation center. The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield has done some sprucing up. The historic Lenox Library has been gorgeously restored. Condominiums, houses and new hotels are going up everywhere. The area is definitely booming. So there you have my report on my summer "vacation." If you look at all the plays, musicals, concerts, ballet performances I reported on, you might ask "what vacation? " Maybe for a real do-nothing holiday I need to take lessons from George W. Bush. |
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