Berkshire Playwright Lab: Robin Amos Kahn & Gary Richards

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – Berkshire Playwrights Lab announces that Matthew Penn will direct a staged reading workshop production of Scrambled Eggs by Robin Amos Kahn and Gary Richards on Wednesday, July 29, 2009, 8pm at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center (14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, Mass.).

Admission is free. To reserve tickets, call the Berkshire Playwrights Lab office at 413.528.2544 or the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center box office at 413.528.0100.
 
Scrambled Eggs is a play about a woman reevaluating her world at a time of crisis. She struggles to create a meaningful life while coping with crazy parents, inner doubt, marital strife, familial responsibilities, and hormonal hysteria.

Playwright Robin Amos Kahn’s plays include Here is My Life, a one-act performed at Playwrights Horizons; Unraveling, Selling Your Bones, and numerous other one acts. Her solo show, Not My Mother, was presented at the Midtown International Theatre Festival 2009. Her screenplays include The Wives, which won the Wisconsin Screenwriters Award for Best Screenplay; Claudia and Isabelle, Cold Feet Warm Heart, and Helix. Television writing credits include The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives, Guiding Light, Search for Tomorrow, and a television pilot, One Thing Well. She has been nominated for five Emmys and won a Writers Guild Award for Guiding Light. She is currently at work on another solo show, The Marriage Manifesto.

Playwright Gary Richards’s plays include The Root (five Drama-Logue Awards, four Carbonell nominations), Children at Play, Slambook, Social Studies, Dividends, Stag, Shiva, Tropical Depression, Second Summer Two Piece, and Somebody’s Somebody. His screenplays include In Scoring Position, Kickback, Beating Hearts, Doin’ Time, Two Regular Guys, Butch and Kiki, Garage Band, The Other Shoe, Mista, Second Summer, The Feygellah, Thunder From Sunny Skies, Never Up-Never In, The Florida Room, and Two Moms and a Baby.
 
As the Managing Producer of the Actors Studio Free Theatre, Richards produced many world and New York City premieres, including Power Failure by Larry Gelbart, Trudy Blue by Marsha Norman, starring Judith Ivey, and Awake and Sing! with Anne Jackson. He is currently on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts where he teaches screenwriting, creative writing, and story telling. He is also on the faculty of Borough of Manhattan Community College where he teaches composition.
 
Matthew Penn has had roots in the Berkshires for over 40 years. He began his career as an actor appearing in a half-dozen films and more than 30 plays. He started directing for the stage at Ensemble Studio Theater in NY. Ed Sherin gave Penn the opportunity to direct Law & Order 14 years ago. Since then he has directed over 50 prime time dramas. He directed the 200th episode of Law & Order starring Julia Roberts, for which he was nominated for an Emmy. He subsequently spent four seasons as the Executive Producer of Law & Order, during which time he produced over 90 episodes. His other notable dramatic work has included Damages, The Closer, House, NYPD Blue, and The Sopranos.

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Pittsfield Council Passes $232.7M Budget

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The City Council unanimously approved a $232.7 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year. 

It is a modest, almost 2.9 percent increase from FY26. 

"I do want to give the community kind of a heads up as we move forward on budgets. What we see coming out of the federal government that's trickling down to the states, it's going to be harder and harder for us as a community to meet our needs under the Proposition 2 1/2," Councilor at Large Alisa Costa said. 

"We're going to have challenges, as we've seen communities across the state trying to override the Proposition 2 1/2, because we have dwindling amounts of money coming from the state and federal government." 

She pointed out that, at the same time, utility bills are going up for both residents and the city, as are the costs of pavement and other items. 

The amended budget of $232,777,720, down from the $232,782,090 originally proposed, includes cuts to the Department of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and the restoration of funds for councilors to attend the annual Massachusetts Municipal Association conference. 

The Pittsfield Public Schools' $86,855,061 budget includes $68,886,061 in state Chapter 70 funding and $18 million from the city. With $345,000 in school choice and Richmond tuition revenues, it totals $87,200,061 and is an approximately $300,000 increase from the Pittsfield Public Schools' FY26 budget of $86.9 million. 

The district's budget will fund 13 schools, as Morningside Community School will retire in the fall, and includes the middle school restructuring. 

Councilors also approved the use of $2 million in certified free cash to reduce the tax rate, and appropriated $450,551 for parking-related expenditures. 

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