Shakespeare & Company sets stage for summer season

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Ice Glen - Images by Kevin Sprague
The Taming of the Shrew and King John in Founders’ summer-long rep * Two regional premieres in Spring Lawn * Free Outdoor Bankside Festival expands * F. Murray Abraham performs in the Fall Lenox – Artistic Director Tina Packer and Executive Director Mark W. Jones today announced Shakespeare & Company’s 28th performance season in the Berkshires, playing June 3 through October 30, 2005. Sparks ignite in Padua during Carnivale as feisty Kate takes on cocky Petruchio in Shakespeare’s controversial comedy, The Taming of the Shrew. The Founders’ Theatre acting company also doubles into late 13th century England as it unravels in murder, tyranny, madness, and a bloody war that sets the stage for Shakespeare’s intriguing King John, being given its first professional production at the Company and directed by Ms. Packer. The intimate Spring Lawn Theatre presents two regional premieres, including Berkshire resident Joan Ackermann’s Ice Glen and Martin Moran’s Obie Award-winning one-man play, The Tricky Part. Also back by popular demand are The Wharton One-Acts and DibbleDance. The Free Outdoor Bankside Festival this season expands to include two plays by Shakespeare’s contemporaries and many discussions and demonstrations, including the return of Tina Talks, led by Ms. Packer. And during the weekend before Halloween, award-winning stage and screen actor F. Murray Abraham is featured in The Tell-Tale Poe, celebrating the works of the master of suspense, Edgar Allen Poe. To receive a 2005 season brochure, purchase tickets, and inquire about discounts and further information, please contact the Shakespeare & Company Box Office at (413) 637-3353 or visit the website at www.shakespeare.org or by e-mail boxoffice@shakespeare.org. Through April 15, ticket orders will be accepted and processed by mail, e-ticketing, and fax. From April 16 through October 30 the Box Office will be open for walk-up sales and phone orders (see website for Box Office hours). “We are calling this our ‘Faith Mounts Up’ season,” says Packer. “They are words from a powerful line in King John, but they are also a grateful acknowledgement of our audience, who, since we moved to our new home, have demonstrated year after year their unyielding and incomparable faith in us and our programming. Their dedication means that this year we are able to expand our free Bankside Festival, which brought even more first-time theatre-goers and young families to us last year; and it encourages us to produce more of what we think we do best: Shakespeare and other thought-provoking work. In Founders’ we are adding four weeks of rotating repertory of two very different Shakespeare plays. Audiences will be able to see our company of actors in outrageous throes of love in The Taming of the Shrew and in blood-soaked throes of upheaval in King John on back-to-back nights throughout the summer. In Spring Lawn Joan Ackermann has written a story especially for us, so we can explore together with the audience what we’ve inherited from those who have gone before us in its complexity. Ice Glen is a funny, moving tale, which makes a profound statement about nature and art. Martin Moran’s The Tricky Part deals with subject matter that is tragically timely but told with such grace, humor, courage, and forgiveness that I felt it was absolutely essential for our audiences to have an opportunity to see it. And Dennis Krausnick has chosen two of our favorite short stories by Edith Wharton for a long-overdue return of the Wharton One-Acts to the sun-dappled salon. Then in the autumn, once you’ve heard F. Murray Abraham read Poe’s The Raven, I assure you it will be hard to hear it the same way again!” “The range of work in the 2005 Season is challenging, inspiring, and comprised of important plays that we all wanted to produce,” adds Jones. “It’s also a season that allows us to take risks -- a season in which our audience has faith in us to produce.” Ice Glen a Berkshire romantic comedy by Joan Ackermann directed by Tina Packer Spring Lawn Theatre June 3 – September 4 Regional Premiere Press Opening: Friday, June 10 at 8:30 pm Writing specifically for Shakespeare & Company, local playwright Joan Ackermann (Off the Map, The Batting Cage) sets her new romance at the end of the Gilded Age in a decaying, elegant Berkshire manse now for sale. Among the quirky family of servants soon to be evicted is Sarah Harding, a gifted and unknown poet enthralled with Stonegate’s rolling countryside and wildlife. When neighbor Edith Wharton passes Sarah’s poems on to a Boston publishing firm, editor Peter Woodburn comes calling. Though initially shocked at her refusal to have her words read by the public, Woodburn discovers a heart in her poetry, and in the Berkshires, that beats outside the commercial world – in its own creative home. Featuring Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Michael Hammond (Peter Woodburn), Dennis Krausnick, Gillian Seidl, and Kristin Wold (Sarah Harding). The Wharton One-Acts: The Mission of Jane and The Promise adapted from Edith Wharton by Dennis Krausnick Spring Lawn Theatre June 25 – September 4 Press Opening: Saturday, July 2 at 4:00pm In Wharton’s 1904 comedy of manners, The Mission of Jane, Lethbury, a childless New York husband, basks in the beige blandness of his marital bliss. While he is at ease with his serenity, his wife’s disquiet grows. When she suggests to her acquiescing husband that they adopt a baby, little did they expect the most unusual prodigy, named Jane, they would raise. And only in hindsight, many years later at Jane’s intended nuptial moment, do they learn what must have always been her Mission. In The Promise, adapted from Les Metteurs en Scene, a resourceful American woman, in partnership (and in love) with a penniless French aristocrat, arranges marriages between wealthy American girls and the titled families of Europe – until that fateful day when they step too far into the lives of the matches. Featuring Jason Asprey and Corinna May. The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare directed by Daniela Varon Founders’ Theatre July 8 – September 3 Press Opening: Friday, July 15 at 7:30 pm It’s Carnivale time in the Veneto and the spring winds blow warm, then cold. Change is in the air as traveling players roam the hills, gentlemen journey to Padua in search of education and fortune, and wily lovers disguise, deceive, and clown their way to their hearts' desires. Fierce and outspoken Katharina has always been a spectator at the game of love. When cocky but cash-poor Petruchio (Rocco Sisto) comes to town, she unwillingly finds herself in the field of play -- and in the fight of her life. Before Lent is out and the honeymoon is over, more than one proud heart may find itself transformed. Shakespeare's early comedy, and one of his funniest, The Taming of the Shrew today is also one of his most controversial. Featuring Jonathan Croy, Dave Demke, Susannah Millonzi, Barbara Sims, Rocco Sisto, Meg Weider, and Walton Wilson. King John by William Shakespeare directed by Tina Packer Founders’ Theatre July 21 – September 3 Press Opening: Friday, July 29 at 7:30 pm What is the price of Power? Can the leader of a country, or the free world, legislate and deliver peace without political compromise, without cronyism, deception, religion, even thousands of lives lost in war? Shakespeare & Company brings to the stage its first professional production of King John and with it an internationally explosive world of political maneuvers hanging in the balance. Ms. Packer (King Lear, Macbeth, Coriolanus) turns her directorial hand to the search for peace amid the chaos – a chaos that gives birth to the Magna Carta. Featuring Bill Barclay, Allyn Burrows as King John, Mel Cobb, Jonathan Croy, Dave Demke, Annette Miller, Susannah Millonzi, Diane Prusha, Barbara Sims, Meg Weider, and Walton Wilson. The Tricky Part written and performed by Martin Moran directed by Seth Barrish Spring Lawn Theatre August 16 – September 4 Regional Premiere Press Opening: Friday, August 19 at 8:30 pm Obie Award Winner Drama Desk Nominations for Best Play and for Outstanding Solo Performance Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Outstanding Solo Performance Thirty-three years after his childhood faith in God and himself was shattered, Martin Moran now brings his harrowing personal story to the stage full of such grace and compassion that even amidst the recent revelations of the Catholic church, forgiveness is more than possible. It’s what there is. Told with disarming humor and candor, The Tricky Part is a riveting journey through the complexities of Catholicism, sexuality, and human trespass. Shakespeare & Young Company on the tented Rose Footprint August 24, 26 at 5:00 pm Adolescence is the Renaissance and Shakespeare is its playwright. At no other time in our lives do we encounter the world with such unbridled passion for friendship, love, justice, and hope. Join the Young Company actors aged 13 – 17 as they perform Shakespeare’s works with a passion to match his own. Studio Festival of Plays September 4 Founders’ Theatre This workshop is not open for review but media are welcome to attend. An all-day, all-night festival of five different compelling plays presented as readings or staged readings by Company artists. Studio scripts that have gone on to full productions in the past include Golda’s Balcony, The Scarlet Letter, A Tanglewood Tale, and Wit. Seating is general admission, and tickets are a $15 suggested donation. Free Outdoor Bankside Festival July 4 – September 3 generously sponsored in part by Teddi and Francis Laurin directed by Mel Cobb and Associate Director Michael Burnet In 1590 in Shakespeare's London, the southern shore of the Thames River – called The Banksyde - was home to brigands, brothels, rogue businesses, and an explosion of theatrical creativity not seen before or since. Londoners would cross the river to experience plays, contests, shows, and to participate in the creation of a new language and a new way of looking at the world. Join the festivities at the south end of the property and on the banks surrounding Founders’ Theatre, Founders’ Alley, and the Rose Footprint, where you’ll find poets, dancers, musicians, and capering clowns. Josie’s Place will be open before and after all performances, offering light fare and drinks for purchase. Picnickers are welcome on the grounds. The walking trails will be open at the north end of the property, near Spring Lawn. All events are ideal for all ages and include: The Declaration of Independence Monday, July 4 on the tented Rose Footprint at 2:00 pm This is the Company’s traditional community reading of the document that heralded the birth of democracy in the New World. With eloquence that Shakespeare might have envied, inspired by the philosophical thought springing directly from the intellectual ferment of the English Renaissance, the 18th century American colonist Thomas Jefferson penned a political statement as complex and controversial as history itself. Preludes July 8 – September 3 outdoors on the Prelude stage beside Founders’ Theatre at 6:45 pm prior to all Founders’ Theatre shows Dances, combats, Shakespeare, and other ten-minute surprises presented by Company members. The Tamer Tamed by John Fletcher (c.1624) directed by Michael Burnet with Mel Cobb July 9 – August 27 on the Tented Rose Footprint In the sequel to The Taming of the Shrew, Shakespeare’s friend and writing partner John Fletcher has killed off Kate and married Petruchio to the gentle Maria. Yet, when she locks Petruchio out of the house as punishment for his being a “brave wife-breaker,” the once-proud tamer finds himself agreeing to new terms of marriage – this time set down by the woman of the house. Many of Shakespeare’s Shrew characters return for the madness and fun in this one-hour, rarely-seen romp that provides an ideal appetizer to the Founders’ Theatre production. Featuring Robert Lohbauer and Catherine Taylor-Williams. Jack the Juggler July 20 – 24 on the tented Rose Footprint by Anonymous (perhaps Nicholas Udall, c. 1562) performed by England’s renowned Dulwich College Drama Troupe directed by Peter Jolly “An Enterlude for Chyldren to playe, both wytte, very playsent, and merye” presented by eight male actors from Dulwich College Drama, ranging in age from 14-17. Running time is about one hour. Wild and Whirling Words directed by Kevin G. Coleman July 30 – August 27 on the tented Rose Footprint An outrageous splash of Shakespeare, this fast-paced performance creates thematic contexts with a feast of language that is accessible and immediate. Presented by the Company’s renowned Education Program, the show runs under one hour. The Bankside Humanities Series July 8 – August 19 on the tented Rose Footprint A series of lecture/demonstrations on cultural aspects of the tumultuous centuries that shaped Shakespeare’s poetry and drama. Each is a perfect compliment to any theatre experience during the season: Kingly Combat: The Field of Honor Higgins Armory Museum July 8 at 5:00 pm The weapons and battlefield swordplay of Shakespeare’s time – was all fair in love and war? Early Music in the Elizabethan Playhouse July 15 at 5:00 pm Love, the Lute, and Shakespeare – the affect of musical composition and instrumentation on the Elizabethan audience. The Boy’s Companies: Yesterday and Today Professor Peter Jolly, Director of Drama at England’s Dulwich College July 22 at 5:00 pm The astonishing story of the all-boys performance companies told in concert with Dulwich College’s own performance history and tradition, which began in 1621. Feasting in Shakespeare’s Time: Food, Forks, and Table Talk Francine Segan, author of “Shakespeare’s Kitchen” July 28 at 5:00 pm A taste of the foods, dining customs, and dietary habits of Shakespeare’s day through a lively presentation from 400-year-old cookbooks. Kate and Petruchio’s Lives Together with Phyllis Jaffe August 2 at 5:00 pm The Taming of the Shrew: who has been tamed? Different perspectives on Kate and Petruchio’s relationship. Tina Talks Join Shakespeare & Company Artistic Director Tina Packer for engaging discussions on a variety of topics: Engendering Life with Language (and vice versa) August 5 at 5:00 pm How the Reign of the Phallus and the Vagina Monologues can make a Marriage: Tales from Shakespeare August 9 at 5:00 pm The Leadership of Art and Artists: Is it a lost cause? Or the only answer? August 12 at 5:00 pm The Rebirth of the Renaissance - Being Born Again in a Humanist World August 16 at 5:00 pm A Rose by any other Name August 19 at 5:00 pm Director’s Vision The directors of The Taming of the Shrew and King John on the Rose Footprint stage engage in an informal, one-hour conversation about the plays: The Taming of the Shrew July 24 at 12:30 pm with Daniela Varon King John July 30 at 12:30 pm with Tina Packer Actor’s Craft Join members of the Shakespeare repertory company on the Founders’ stage for a compelling conversation about the plays: King John July 30 at post-show, approximately 5:00 pm The Taming of the Shrew August 3 at post-show, approximately 5:00 pm The Renaissance Garden Open daily across from Founders’ Alley adjacent to Founders’ Theatre A traditional Elizabethan garden composed of flowers and plants taken from Shakespeare’s imagery in his plays. Created by Shakespeare & Volunteer Company in cooperation with students from the Berkshire Union Free School District in Canaan, NY. Tickets are required for all Rose Footprint shows and lectures. Seating is limited, and events usually sell out. Please note that programming, scheduling, and artists are subject to change. Educational and free programs are partially supported by a Congressionally-directed grant administered by the Institute for Museum and Library Services. The Autumn Gala October 8, 2005 Founders’ Theatre Join Company members and friends for cocktails, dinner, and a performance by young actors to celebrate and support Shakespeare & Company’s renowned Education Programs, which immerse students in the world of classical theatre in the most active, engaging, and personally meaningful ways. Through the process of rehearsing and performing the plays of William Shakespeare for themselves, for each other, and for the community, young people inhabit a Renaissance world of beautiful language, profound thoughts, and passionate feelings that articulate and celebrate the full spectrum of human experience. Call (413) 637-1199 ext. 105 for more information The Tell-Tale Poe adapted from the writings of Edgar Allan Poe Founders’ Theatre October 29 - 30 featuring F. Murray Abraham Award-winning stage and screen actor F. Murray Abraham leads Founders’ audiences on a trip through the macabre with three different programs from the master of horror, Edgar Allan Poe. A dozen of Poe’s most chilling tales will be interpreted by Mr. Abraham and friends, including scenes from The Tell-Tale Heart, The Cask of Amontillado, and The Raven. Box Office, Discounts, Subscriptions, Pricing Through April 15, ticket orders will be accepted and processed by mail, e-ticketing, and fax. From April 16 through May 14, the Box Office will be open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm for phone sales; walk-up sales will also be available during the same times on the weekends. From May 15 through September 4 the Box Office will be open every day from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm or curtain time of the day’s final performance. From September 5 through October 30 the Box Office will be open Wednesday through Sunday from 11:00 am – 2:00 pm or curtain time of the day’s final performance. Convenient e-ticketing is available anytime at www.shakespeare.org. To request a brochure (with order form) contact the Box Office at (413) 637-3353 or by fax (413) 637-4274 and by e-mail is boxoffice@shakespeare.org.
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Lanesborough Fifth-Graders Win Snowplow Name Contest

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — One of the snowplows for Highway District 1 has a new name: "The Blizzard Boss."
 
The name comes from teacher Gina Wagner's fifth-grade class at Lanesborough Elementary School. 
 
The state Department of Transportation announced the winners of the fourth annual "Name A Snowplow" contest on Monday. 
 
The department received entries from public elementary and middle school classrooms across the commonwealth to name the 12 MassDOT snowplows that will be in service during the 2025/2026 winter season. 
 
The purpose of the contest is to celebrate the snow and ice season and to recognize the hard work and dedication shown by public works employees and contractors during winter operations. 
 
"Thank you to all of the students who participated. Your creativity allows us to highlight to all, the importance of the work performed by our workforce," said  interim MassDOT Secretary Phil Eng.  
 
"Our workforce takes pride as they clear snow and ice, keeping our roads safe during adverse weather events for all that need to travel. ?To our contest winners and participants, know that you have added some fun to the serious take of operating plows. ?I'm proud of the skill and dedication from our crews and thank the public of the shared responsibility to slow down, give plows space and put safety first every time there is a winter weather event."
 
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