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A CurtainUp in the Berkshires
Summer 2012 Schedules of Berkshire Theaters

Links to shows we'll be reviewing will be on our front page as well as our Berkshire Main Page

Berkshire Theatre Group | Barrington Stage Williamstown Theatre Festival | Shakespeare & company| Chester Theater Company | The Theater Barn| Wharton Salon


The Theater Barn in New Lebanon | #

We don't get to this country theater too often, but here's the lineup for their Summer / Fall season which begins at the end of June: The 39 Steps June 29-July 8 . . . Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None July 12-July 22 . . .Five Course Love July 26 - August 5 . . .The Great American Trailer Park Musical August 9 - August 19 . . . A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum August 23 - September 2


Wharton Salon
The Wharton Salon celebrating Edith Wharton’s 150th birthday with The Inner House, Wharton’s life in her own words, adapted by Dennis Krausnick from her 1934 autobiography, A Backward Glance. It's a solo performance featuring Randolph. The piece runs August 15-26. Performances: August 15, 16, 22, 23, at 5:30 pm (opening and members only night 8/17 at 7pm. (Friday, August 17 at 7:00pm Members Night -Private) August 24 at 5:30pm, August 25 and 16 at 3pm Tickets are $35 General Admission

Berkshire Theatre Group
The Puppetmaster of Lodz, translated by Sara O'Connor and directed by Brian Roff from (June 21-July 7th.

July 2012 A Chorus Line. July 02–July 21, Mon-Tues at 8pm, Thurs-Sat at 8pm and Sat and Sun at 2pm At The Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, Tickets • Previews: $37 All other performances: A: $60 B: $50 C: $40

A Class Act. July 10–August 04 Mon-Tues at 8pm, Wed at 7pm, Thurs-Sat at 8pm and Sat at 2pm At The Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge, Tickets • Previews: $35 All other performances: $45

A Thousand Clowns. July 16–July 28 Mon-Tues at 8pm, Wed at 7pm, Thurs-Sat at 8pm and Sat at 2pm At The Fitzpatrick Main Stage, Stockbridge, Tickets • Previews: $37 All other performances: A: $57 B: $47 C: $37

Pinocchio. July 25–August 11, Tues–Sat at 4pm; Tues & Thurs at 7pm At The Neil Ellenoff Stage, Lenox,Tickets • $15 for adults, $10 for children 16 and under

Edith a World Premiere. July 31–August 11 Mon-Tues at 8pm, Wed at 7pm, Thurs-Sat at 8pm and Sat at 2pm At The Fitzpatrick Main Stage, Stockbridge, Tickets • Previews: $37 All other performances: A: $57 B: $47 C: $37 l Monday August 06 at 2pm At The Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, Tickets • $10 Jayne Atkinson will star as Edith Bolling Wilson in Kelly Masterson's play. Jack Gilpin will be President Woodrow Wilson and Atkinson's husband Michel Gill as Vice President Marshall. Homestead Crossing. August 07–September 01 Mon-Tues at 8pm, Wed at 7pm, Thurs-Sat at 8pm and Sat at 2pm At The Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge,Tickets • Previews: $35 All other performances: $45 We Are Women: A Bernstein Cabaret. August 09–12 Thurs–Sat at 8pm; Sun at 2pm At The Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, Tickets • A: $40 B: $30 C: $20 (limited balcony)

Brace Yourself by David Epstein, another World Premiere, to be directed by James Naughton August 14–August 25 Mon-Tues at 8pm, Wed at 7pm, Thurs-Sat at 8pm and Sat at 2pm At The Fitzpatrick Main Stage, Stockbridge, Tickets • Previews: $37 All other performances: A: $57 B: $47 C: $37

Barrington Stage At Barrington's Main Stage. Fiddler on the Roof will open the season, from June 13 through July 14 (press opening is Sunday, June 17 at 5pm). The Tony Award-winning musical will be directed and choreographed by Gary John LaRosa with music direction by Darren R. Cohen. LaRosa, a Fiddler on the Roof veteran performer and director/choreographer, makes his BSC debut.

Because Arthur Miller’s The Price, is slated for a Broadway revival, Barrington will be doing another Miller play, All My Sons (which was also revived on Broadway, but in 2008), fromm July 19 through August 4 (press opening on Sunday, July 22 at 5pm.),. It will be directed by Julianne Boyd but whether Jeff McCarthy will be in it is yet to be announced. The main stage season continues with John Rando directing the 1945 British farce See How They Run by Philip King from August 9 – 26 press opening on Sunday, August 12 at 5pm. Barrington continues the season into Fal with the New England premiere of one of the 20th century’s greatest novels, William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams, from October 3 through 21. The press opening is Sunday, October 7 at 3pm.

At Barrington's Stage 2 Aaron Posner (BSC’s My Name is Asher Lev) direct the Season Opener, the New England premiere of Lungs by Duncan Macmillan from May 23 through June 10 (press opening on Sunday, May 27 at 3pm).. Pl aywright and author of BSC’s longest-running hit play, Freud’s Last Session, Mark St. Germain’s new play Dr. Ruth, All the Way will premiere on the Stage 2 from June 19 through July 15--extended before opening to July 21!. (Press opening is Saturday, June 30 at 8pm). It will be directed by Julianne Boyd, with Dr. Ruth played by Debra Jo Rupp. Next is the East Coast premiere of Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Rajiv Joseph's The North Pool, a psychological cat-and-mouse thriller about a Middle Eastern student and his assistant high school principal, fromJuly 26 through August 11 (press opening is Sunday, July 29 at 3pm. Giovanna Sardelli directs.

Barrington Stage Company’s Musical Theatre Lab, under the leadership of William Finn and Julianne Boyd kicks off its seventh season with the garage rock band musical The Black Suits from August 16 through September 2. The Black Suits—with music and lyrics by Iconis, and a book co-written with Robert Maddock—will receive a workshop production under the direction of John Simpkins It's about a high school garage band on suburban Long Island tries to win The St. Anne’s Battle of the Bands. Two teens struggle to learn how to be real friends as the inevitability of adulthood threatens to pull them apart.

BSC's Youth Theater moves to a new venue, The Berkshire Museum with the Berkshire Premiere of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast from July 25 through August 12, directed and choreographed by Christine O’Grady.

Pricing News: The return of “15@15” – fifteen tickets to every Mainstage performance available on a first-come, first-served basis for $15 each. . . Low-priced previews at $15 and $20 for the first two performances on the Mainstage and $15 on Stage 2. . . $15 tickets for youth 18 and younger will be offered again for all performances except Saturday evenings. . .new membership program, with $15 tickets available to select dates of Mainstage and Stage 2 performances for patrons ages 18-35. . . Senior discounted tickets to all Mainstage matinee performances are $38 and $25 for all Stage 2 matinees.

Chester Theatre Company Chester Theatre Company's 23rd season features variations on the theme of love. July 5th opens the season with the New England Premiere of Animals Out of Paper, by Rajiv Joseph, a comic story about Ilana, a world-renowned origami artisst. From July 18-29, The Swan brings a mysterious and comic variation on the Leda and the Swan myth, by Elizabeth Egloff Kesselring Prize winning play. From August 1 to 12, Running by Arlene Hutton author of last summer's hit trilogy, The Nibroc Trilogy, The season concludes with the Western Massachusetts Regional Premiere of The Betrothed by Dipika Guha from August 15-26.

Williamstown | The summer 2012 Williamstown Theatre Festival Season has announced new shows for its Main and Nikos stages.
At the Main stage:
June 26 – July 14, 2012. The David Hyde Pierce-directed production of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest with Marylouise Burke, Louis Cancelmi, Sean Cullen, Tyne Daly, Glenn Fitzgerald, Paul McGrane, Amy Spanger and Henry Stram.

July 19 – 29, 2012. Far From Heaven, a new musical with a book by Richard Greenberg (Take Me Out), an original score by Scott Frankel and Michael Korie (Grey Gardens) and directed by Michael Greif. Billed as a Preview Production which means that the creative team can make changes over the course of the run to further develop the musical. What it's about: It's based on the 2002 Focus Features/Vulcan Productions motion picture written and directed by Todd Haynes. Three-time Tony Award nominee Kelli O'Hara will star as a suburban housewife whose life unravels and JB Adams as ‘Morris Farnsworth’ (the same role he played in the film version); also Nancy Anderson, Quincy Tyler Bernstine (WTF’s Tough Titty), Brandon Victor Dixon, Sarah Jane Everman, Alison Fraser, Chris Hoch, Mary Stout and Tony Yazbeck.Nancy Anderson, Quincy Tyler Bernstine The production is slated to head to Off-Broadway's Playwright Horizon Theater.

August 1 – 19, 2012. A new translation of Ivan Turgenev’s A Month in the Country,. Cast: Louis Cancelmi, Jessica Collins, Sean Cullen, Kate Kearney-Patch, Paul McGrane, Jeremy Strong and Elisabeth Waterston. At the Nikos stage:
(June 27 – July 8, 2012), World Premiere of Lucy Boyle’s The Blue Deep, directed by Bob Balaban wutg Blythe Danner; also Becky Ann Baker, Jack Gilpin, Heather Lind and Finn Wittrock. What it's about. 26-year-old Lila Miller is stuck, while her mother, Grace, is perpetually in motion. When Lila returns home to her family's exquisite Hamptons house and garden with only a plastic bag and a broken heart, there's no nurturing to be found, except as pertains to horticulture. The same painful history that threatens to drive mother and daughter permanently apart ultimately evolves into the one realm where reconnection might be possible. The play was part of last summer's Fridays@3 reading series.

July 11 – 22, 2012.Neil Simon’s The Last of the Red Hot Lovers, Jessica Stone directs. Cast: Brooks Ashmanskas), Susie Essman, Lili Taylor.

July 25 – August 5, 2012. The Elephant Man from Written by Bernard Pomerance, directed by Scott Ellis and starring Patricia Clarkson and Bradley Cooper. What it's about: From a desperate existence in a Victorian freak show to his days as the toast of London high society, the life of John Merrick, the Elephant Man, has fascinated the world for well over a century, and this play has had numerous revivals.

August 8 – 19, 2012. World Premiere production of Katori Hall’s WHADDABLOODCLOT. Cast: Tina Benko, Aaron Costa Ganis, Bryan Tyree Henry, Greta Lee, Andres Muner, and Kathy Searle.

Hunter Center for the Performing Arts at MASS MoCA(87 Marshall Street, North Adams, MA.
Workshop of Here Lies Love, a new theatrical event written by David Byrne with music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim and directed by Alex Timbers. Cast: Renee Albulario, Carol Angeli, Joyelle Cabato, Joshua Dela Cruz, Debralee Daco, Evan D’Angeles. Jose Llana, Ruthie Ann Miles, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Conrad Ricamora, Janelle Velasquez, and Zach Villa.

Shakespeare & Company
At Shakespeare & Company: Five productions at the Founders Theatre will include King Lear, to be directed by Rebecca Holderness, and star Dennis Krausnick in the title role and Kevin Coleman as the Fool; and The Tempest, to be directed by Toby Simotes, and star Olympia Dukakis as Prospero and Apollo Dukakis as Gonzalo. In addition, the company will present Terry Teachout's Satchmo at the Waldorf starring John Douglas Thompson as Louis Armstrong, preparing to make his final stage appearance; also Split Knuckle Theatre's Endurance, a look at a man, who while trying to save his employees' jobs, finds himself reliving Sir Ernest Shackleton's feats of saving his men's lives in Antarctica; and Dibbledance, a new offering from choreographer Susan Dibble.

Four productions scheduled for the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre: John Logan's portrait of painter Mark Rothko, Red, to be directed by Kevin Coleman and star Jonathan Epstein; Dorothy Thompson, Cassandra Speaks, featuring Tod Randolph; Mark Roberts' examination of two very different brothers, Parasite Drag, to be directed by Steve Rothman; and Charles Busch's The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, to be directed by Jonathan Croy and starr Annette Miller. Also set is the East Coast premiere of Mark Roberts’ comedy Parasite Drag with Jason Asprey and Elizabeth Aspenlieder


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