Berkshire Playwright Lab: Robin Amos Kahn & Gary Richards

Print Story | Email Story

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.

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Dalton Board Signs Off on Land Sale Over Residents' Objections

By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff

Residents demanded the right to speak but the agenda did not include public comment. Amy Musante holds a sign saying the town now as '$20,000 less for a police station.'
DALTON, Mass. — The Select Board signed the sale on the last of what had been known as the Bardin property Monday even as a handful of residents demanded the right to speak against the action. 
 
The quitclaim deed transfers the nine acres to Thomas and Esther Balardini, who purchased the two other parcels in Dalton. They were the third-highest bidders at $31,500. Despite this, the board awarded them the land in an effort to keep the property intact.
 
"It's going to be an ongoing battle but one I think that has to be fought [because of] the disregard for the taxpayers," said Dicken Crane, the high bidder at $51,510.
 
"If it was personal I would let it go, but this affects everyone and backing down is not in my nature." 
 
Crane had appealed to the board to accept his bid during two previous meetings. He and others opposed to accepting the lower bid say it cost the town $20,000. After the meeting, Crane said he will be filing a lawsuit and has a citizen's petition for the next town meeting with over 100 signatures. 
 
Three members of the board — Chair Robert Bishop Jr., John Boyle, and Marc Strout — attended the 10-minute meeting. Members Anthony Pagliarulo and Daniel Esko previously expressed their disapproval of the sale to the Balardinis. 
 
Pagliarulo voted against the sale but did sign the purchase-and-sale agreement earlier this month. His reasoning was the explanation by the town attorney during an executive session that, unlike procurement, where the board is required to accept the lowest bid for services, it does have some discretion when it comes to accepting bids in this instance.
 
View Full Story

More Great Barrington Stories