Barrington Stage Buys Former VFW For Performance Space
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Barrington Stage Company has purchased the former Veterans of Foreign Wars post at 36 Linden St. on April 19 for $340,843.The company has been using the building since 2008 for rehearsal and for performances as "Stage 2." It is about two blocks from the Main Stage at 30 Union St. and will be home for new plays, musicals and cabarets.
"Having our own home on Linden Street will allow us to create a true community arts center," said Artistic Director Julianne Boyd in a statement. "Not only will we be producing new plays, musicals and cabarets but also we will have spaces for local arts organizations to rent — a rehearsal space, the 110-seat theater and the 50-seat cabaret — at reasonable costs. We want the burgeoning artistic community in Pittsfield to feel BSC is their home."
Boyd said the purchase was made possible because of a gift from longtime supporters Sydelle and Lee Blatt. Sydelle Blatt has been a member of the BSC board of trustees since 2002. The former Lt. John L. Truden VFW Post 448 will be renamed the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center. The VFW club will move to the American Legion.
The Blatts were instrumental in the company's move from Sheffield to Pittsfield in 2005 and sponsored last season's world premiere production of associate artist and resident playwright Mark St. Germain's "The Best of Enemies."
The 12,602 square-foot, air-conditioned, 40-year-old building has two levels. The upper level houses a cafe and the 110-seat Stage 2 theater, which will be named the St. Germain Stage after Mark St. Germain. The lower level houses rehearsal space, offices and a 50-seat cabaret space with a bar, which will be named Mr. Finn's Cabaret after Tony-winner and associate artist William Finn, artistic producer of BSC's Musical Theatre Lab.
The building will be dedicated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, May 26, at 2 p.m.
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