Stockbridge - Berkshire Theatre Festival’s 2003 Main Stage season is, according to Executive Director Kate Maguire, "all in the family." From the season opener, "Enter Laughing", to the final production, "Peter Pan," the joys, torments, secrets and passions of family life are the glue that holds the theatre’s 75th Main Stage anniversary season together.
"Family is the essential drama of our lives," says Maguire. "Our character, the pattern of our life, all the things we need to resolve, and all our attempts to do so, reflect back to our family."
Maguire’s choice for the first Main Stage production, "Enter Laughing" (June 17-July 5) is a comedy about a young man trying to extricate himself from overly protective parents and two too many girlfriends, while struggling to meet the challenge of an insufficient amount of time and a dearth of acting talent. If the equation doesn’t total up, the consequences in Joseph Stein’s comedy adapted from Carl Reiner’s autobiographical novel of the same name, do add up to an evening of hilarity. David (the young Carl) wants to be an actor, a Casanova, a man of the world. His parents want him to be a married druggist. Set in Depression-era Bronx, this cutting-the-cord, coming-of-age, Tony-Award winning comedy is, Maguire says, "the perfect opener."
Scott Schwartz, the director of last season’s award-winning production of "The Foreigner", co-directed Jane Eyre on Broadway with John Caird. His Off-Broadway credits include Bat Boy: The Musical (Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards, Best Off-Broadway Musical) Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick…Boom!, The Castle and No Way To Treat A Lady. Mr. Schwartz recently directed new American and Bristish tours of Godspell and the national tour of tick, tick…Boom! He is directing William Gibson’s "Golda’s Balcony," which is opening at the Manhattan Ensemble Theater on March 13. Mr. Schwartz is also opening the Goodspeed Opera House’s 30th season with "Me and My Girl" in late April.
Richard Chamberlain returns to the Berkshire Theatre Festival for the season’s second production, the American premiere of acclaimed Canadian novelist and playwright Timothy Findley’s "The Stillborn Lover" (July 8-26). The play, to be directed by Martin Rabbett, is set in 1972 Canada where Harry Raymond, a career diplomat and the ambassador to Russia, has been recalled to a safe house under suspicion of murdering a young male prostitute in Moscow. His wife Marian is sinking into Alzheimer’s, his best friend is betraying him and his daughter is confused about who her real father is underneath all his impervious, uptight, pin-striped restraint. Perched on the far edge of denial, Harry is confronting the painful reality of his stillborn life. "Lover" is that rare treat – a tense, literate mystery, a superb drama and an unforgettable and forbidden tale of love.
"It’s a play about how people love one another and how that love is or is not able to stretch when confronted by the viccisitudes of life," explains Maguire.
Director Rabbett began his professional career as an actor, moved on to being a writer-producer and finally became a director. His credits include: executive producer of the CBS mini-series "Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke," executive producer for the CBS movie "All the Winters That Have Been," co-creator and co-exectutive prodercer of CBS’ "Island Son" and the ABC mini-series "The Bourne Identity." He has served as producer for various Broadway productions, as well as national and European tours of "My Fair Lady" and "The Sound of Music." He directed Chamberlain at the BTF in the 2000 Main Stage premiere of "The Shadow of Greatness."
Mr. Chamberlain has created a singular position in the world of the miniseries, having starred in some of the most dramatic and powerful productions in the history of television, including "Shogun," "Wallenburg: A Hero’s Story," "The Thornbirds," "Dream West," "The Bourne Identity," "Centennial" and "Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke." In 1959 he became a household name overnight as the star of Dr. Kildare. His film credits include "The Madwoman of Chaillot" with Katharine Hepburn, "Julius Caesar," "Lady Carolyn Lamb," "The Last Wave" and "The Three Musketeers." His stage credits include "Hamlet," "The Lady’s Not for Burning," "Richard II," "Cyrano de Bergerac," "The Night of the Iguana," "Blithe Spirit," "Fathers and Sons," "My Fair Lady" and "The Sound of Music."
Lanford Wilson’s Pulitzer-Prize winning play "Talley's Folly" (July 29-August 9) directed by Anders Cato, is third up on the Main Stage. The second of his trilogy of plays -- Talley and Son and Fifth of July -- "Talley's Folly" is a duet, a classic American romance between a love struck Jewish immigrant and a love lorn spinster with a secret. The 97-minute play takes place in real time, and is set in a crumbling boathouse (folly) in Lebanon, Missouri (playwright Wilson’s hometown) on July 4, 1944. The world is in turmoil, Sally’s family is anti-semetic and Matt (Mark Nelson) is full of false bravado and cynicism. They are an odd couple, but their brief hour and a half together is rich with wisdom, warmth, tenderness and humour.
Lanford Willson has been compared to Tennessee Williams, and along with Eugene O’Neill, Edward Albee, David Mamet and August Wilson is considered one of the greatest American playwrights of the 20th Century. The playwright’s long list of plays includes Book of Days, Burn This, A Sense of Place, Balm in Giliad, Home Free, Hot L Baltimore and Angels Fall. In addition to the Pulitzer, "Talley's Folly" won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award.
A native of Sweden, Anders Cato who directed Craig Lucas’ adaptation of his own literal translation of Strindberg’s Miss Julie last summer in the BTF’s Unicorn Theatre and Beckett’s Texts for Nothing in 1999, attended Tisch School of the Arts at New York University, and studied with Stella Adler, Bobby Lewis, Riszard Cieslak, James Tripp and many others. He has directed in New York, Seattle, San Francisco, Boston and Europe. His list of directing cedits include: When the World Was Green (American Repertory Theater, Moscow Art Theater and Singapore Festival); Texts for Nothing (Royal Court Theatre in London, The Magic Theater in San Francisco, A Comtemporary Theater in Seattle and Emilia Romagna Teatro in Italy);
The War in Heaven (La Jolla Playhouse, Eixiles Theater in Ireland); Two Modern No Plays (Edinburgh Arts Festival). In New York Cato has directed at Lincoln Center Institute, Westbeth Theater Center, the Judith Anderson Theatre, Cherry Lane Alternative, La Mama, and Theater Icarus. He has collaborated with many artists, including Joseph Chaikin, Arthur Miller, Edward Albee, Sam Shepard, Craig Lucas and Beth Henley.
Mark Nelson plays FOLLY’S hero, Matt, and he comes to the BTF with an impressive list of Broadway credits including the original productions of The Invention of Love, A Few Good Men, Rumors, Biloxi Blues, Brighton Beach Memoirs and Amadeus. Mr. Nelson won the Lucille Lortel Award for Directing June Moon (Ohio Theater). Recent acting credits include Picasso at the Lapine Agile (Obie Award, Drama Desk nomination), As Bees in Honey Drown and Three Sisters (Roundabout). Mr. Nelson has appeared often on television in shows such as Spin City and Suddenly Susan. He is a founding member of the Drama Dept.
The BTF’s fourth Main Stage production is "Peter Pan" (August 12-29) written by J.M.Barrie and director Eric Hill (BTF productions of Moby-Dick Rehearsed, Einstein Project, A Dream Play, Camelot, My Fair Lady). Hill has once again deftly scupted a well-loved classic for the Main Stage. Applauded for his innovative and evocative productions, Hill brings to "Peter Pan" a fresh look and the stunning theatricality BTF audiences have come to expect of him. Although the whimsical and charming story of the boy who wouldn’t grow up remains intact, the BTF’s production of John Caird & Trevor Nunn’s adaptation has greatly enhanced its allure for adults. Indeed, the play’s new character, the authorial Storyteller, brings an ironical and ambiguous voice that speaks as clearly to adults as it does to children.
Maguire explains, "There is no doubt that to Barrie, who continued to write and rewrite this play for years, "Peter Pan" was not just a delightful fairy tale for children. Like ALICE IN WONDERLAND, the play had many layers."
Isadora Wolfe (Zorba, Brownstone) is "Peter Pan" and BTF Executive Director Kate Maguire is Mrs. Darling in this memorable play about family, friendship and the unfailing excitement of flight. Maguire assures that "Peter Pan" is a fitting production for the 21st Century and the Festival’s 75th season.
Gerry McIntyre, who did the choreography for the 2001 production of My Fair Lady returns to the BTF as Captain Hook. In addition to his extensive choreographic credits, McIntyre’s acting credits include Once on This Island, Anything Goes, Uptown It’s Hot and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat on Broadway, Chicago: The musical (LA and Las Vegas companies). He is the recipient of the National Irene Ryan Award.
His choreography credits include Once On This Island, Bells Are Ringing, Damn Yankees, Broadway Jukebox, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf and DreamGirls.
"I am happy to be offering a highly theatrical production of 'Peter Pan', which creates an opportunity for families to share a theatrical experience," says Maguire. "We have also changed the time of our evening performances for this show only to 7:30 because we want it to be as convenient as possible for parents to bring their children with them. We are also discounting tickets for children 12 and under. Depending on the section they sit in tickets will range between $15-$25."
THE UNICORN SEASON
The Unicorn Theatre opens with AMERICAN PRIMITIVE (John and Abigail), the words of John and Abigail Adams, put into a sequence for the theatre, with addenda in rhyme by William Gibson, and directed by Gary English. The American Revolution is at its most dangerous stage, and caught in the middle are John and Abigail Adams. Through excerpts from their personal letters, the play illuminates their private struggle and the sacrifices they made to help create a new nation.
"We have not men fit for the times," Adams laments to his wife. "I am melancholy for the public and anxious for my family."
A touching tale of duty, courage and true love in the midst of internal disputes and impending invasion, AMERICAN PRIMITIVE is an intimate glimpse into the lives of the first great American couple, as well as a portrait of a time that is stunningly relevant in 2003.
Playwright and Stockbridge resident William Gibson is best known for The Miracle Worker and Two for the Seesaw. Other plays include, I Lay in Zion, A Cry of Players, the musical of Clifford Odets’ Golden Boy, Dinny and the Witches and Golda, which is presently in Boston and due to open in New York later this spring. Gibson’s Miracle Worker is presently having a revival on Broadway, and stars Hillary Swank.
Director Gary English is the head of the Department of Dramatic Arts and Artistic Director of Connecticut Reperory Theatre at the University of Connecticut. His CRT directing credits include, Wings:The Musical, Our Country’s Good, West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, A Little Night Music, Carousel, Man of La Mancha (Ct. Critics’ Circle Award, Outstanding Production of a Musical, 1997/8 season), Iphigenia and Other Daughters and Company.
Norman Allen’s NIJINSKY’S LAST DANCE with Jeremy Davidson as Nijinsky is directed by Joe Calarco. A mad genius, a prisoner of war, the first male icon of ballet, Nijinsky changed the face of dance and in changing it became one of the first international celebrities of the 20th Century. The great Russian-born dancer spent half his life dancing, and the other half in and out of mental hospitals. But while he danced, leaping high into the air, poising for what seemed like long seconds before drifting gracefully back to earth, most of the world watched in awe.
"Nijinsky's Last Dance" is set in an asylum where at 30 years old, the man who was considered to be one of the greatest dancers who ever lived, reviews his extraordinary and tragic life in a series of flashbacks. He never danced again.
Director Joe Calarco is best known for his direction and adaptation of R & J, the stunning version of Romeo and Juliet that won him a raft of awards and rave reviews both in the United States where it ran Off-Broadway for more than a year and in the UK. Calarco received stellar reviews for his direction of Sarah Plain & Tall (Theatreworks) and won the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Director for "Nijinsky's Last Dance" (Signature Theatre).
Norman Allen, an Emmy-award-winning playwright, has served as playwright-in-residence for the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA, where he produced "Nijinsky's Last Dance", McArthur Slept Here, In the Garden and Here To Stay. His play Never the Sinner was produced at the Signature before it moved Off-Broadway.
Jeremy Davidson, who received his MFA at Rutgers University, is Nijinsky. The actor first came to the Berkshire Theatre Festival where he was featured as the Maquis de Sade in Quills and Wilder, Wilder in 1997. He later returned to Stockbridge for Desire Under the Elms, and in 2002 for the American premiere of Athol Fugard’s Dimetos. His New York credits include Epic Proportions and La Terrasse. Jeremy first appeared in "Nijinsky's Last Dance" at the Signature Theatre where he won a nomination for the Helen Hayes Best Actor award. Other stage credits include "The Foreigner" and "A Christmas Carol", both at Virginia Stage Company. Television credits include Law & Order, NYPD Blue, Ally McBeal, Roswell, Crossing Jordan, and Strangers with Candy. He has appeared in the films Skeletons in the Closet and Deprivation.
Pete Townshend’s semi-autobiographical "Tommy" is the Unicorn’s third production. One of the most pivotal musicals ever produced The Who's "Tommy" is a roaring rip of a ride through the 60s, a tale of drugs, celebrity and painful, illusory transcendence. Eight-year-old "Tommy" is rendered catatonic after witnessing his father murdering his mother’s lover. For the next 14 years, he is tempted, taunted, used, abused and emotionally abandoned. Director Jared Coseglia paints a darkly vibrant canvas of the violence and meaningless acquisition of celebrity in Western culture, then and now, in this contemporary vision of Townshend’s revolutionary rock opera. Coseglia’s production is an updated take on the playwright’s prophetic view of the future we now live in and is just as hard driving, exciting and complex as it was in 1969. With music and lyrics by Pete Townshend and book by Townshend and Des McAnuff, and additional music and lyrics by John Entwistle and Keith Moon, "Tommy" is a collaborative masterpiece.
Jared Coseglia received his BFA at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. An actor, sound designer and director, Coseglia directed MAHOGANY: Reflections on Vanity Prt II which is being produced later this month at Joe’s Pub in a benefit performance for "Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS". Other directing credits include "Mahogany: Reflections on Vanity Part I" (Washington Productions), "Precious" (Pelican Studio Theatre), "Rockwell" (The Blue Heron Arts Center), "Erostratus" (The Gene Frankel Theatre), "Six Degrees of Separation," "A Lie of the Mind," and "Godspell" (all at Shop Theatre), and "The Valentine Fairy" (The Riot Theatre Company).
John Weidman and Stephen Sondheim’s "Assassins", the final production of the Unicorn’s 2003 season, are John Wilkes Booth, Leon Czolgosz, Guiseppe Zangara, John Hinkley, Charles Guiteau, Sara Jane Moor, Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme and Lee Harvey Oswald, who all had two things in common – they were malcontents and they all thought killing the President of the United States would make things better. "Assassins" is a strange hybrid. Part fact, part fiction, a musical as well as a searing, black comedy, the play explores the psyches of some of America’s most heinous criminals and the culture that spawned them.
Stephen Sondheim’s playwrighting credits are formidable and include "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (Tony-Award for best musical), "Anyone Can Whistle," Follies, Company, "A Little Night Music," "Sunday in the Park with George" (Pulitzer Prize), "Sweeney Todd," "Into the Woods" and "Passion."
"I don’t think it’s much of a stretch to say that both "Tommy" and "Assassins" continue to be relevant. The first begins with WWII and ends With Vietnam and the second confronts the rage born of hopelessness that creates political assassins," Maguire explains. "The work of the Berkshire Theatre Festival is to present theatre that is not only entertaining but that illuminates and defines what it means to be human. Theatre began when people went into caves with their priest to tell their story, their truth. We still hunger for that truth and we still find it by telling the story of who we are through theatre."
Nijinsky was a prisoner of war during WWI, John Adams was one of the leaders of the American Revolution, the hero in "Talley's Follys" is a German Jewish immigrant whose family was destroyed in the camps, and "Stillborn Lover" is set during the Cold War. Three of the BTF’s playwrights this season are recipients of the William Inge Playwright Award for Outstanding Contributions to the American Theatre – Stephen Sondheim, William Gibson and Lanford Wilson.
Also on board this spring, is BTF’s production manager Foster Durgin’s play, CASH AND CHANGE. Produced by the Town Players of Pittsfield, the premiere of Durgin’s play will be directed by BTF artist-in-residence Richard Johnson. The collaborative production between the BTF and the Town Players is noteworthy in that the Pittsfield acting company is the oldest non-professional performing arts venue in the Berkshires while the BTF is the oldest professional PA institution. Durgin’s beautifully crafted comedy, set in Atlantic City, explores how the prospect of winning the lottery impacts eight characters. The relationships and circumstances in CASH AND CHANGE may unfold at a dizzying pace, but the play never loses the coherence surrounding the issues of human fallibility and virtue in this lively, clever and funny comedy. CASH AND CHANGE will run at BCC’s Koussevitzky Arts Center May 9, 10, 16 and 17.
The BTF is also proud to announce the W. E. B. Du Bois Theatre Project, which it is producing in collaboration with the Berkshire Country Day School. The BTF is celebrating its 75th but Du bois’ powerful book, The Soul of Black Folks, is a solid 100 years old! Mickey Friedman is the author of The World Beyond The Hill: The Life and Times of W.E.B. Du Bois about Great Barrington native, scholar and civil rights activist W. E. B. Du Bois. The first African American to be awarded a Ph.D. from Harvard, Du Bois was also a founder of the NAACP. Students from BCD will be featured in the show along with a professional actor in the role of Du Bois. The play runs on May 13, 15, 16,18, 23 and 24.
"A major part of the BTF’s mission," says Maguire, "is to reach out to the community as often and in as many different ways as possible. These two collaborations with the Town Players and BCD reaffirm that commitment."
The Berkshire Theatre opens its 75th Main Stage season with "Enter Laughing". Preview is on June 17, opening is on the 18th, the talk back is on June 23,and it runs through July 5.
THE STILLBORN LOVER previews on July 8, opens on July 9, has a Talk Back on July 14, and runs through July 26.
TALLEY’S FOLLY previews on July 29, opens on July 30, has a Talk Back on August 4 and closes August 9.
PETER PAN previews on August 12, with a press opening on Aug. 15, has a Talk Back on August 18 and runs through August 29. With the exception of "Peter Pan", all Main Stage performances are Monday through Saturday evenings at 8pm and Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2 PM. "Peter Pan" runs Monday through Saturday evenings at 7:30, with matinees on Thursday and Saturday at 2 PM.
The Unicorn Theatre opens with William Gibson’s AMERICAN PRIMITIVE previewing on May 23, opening on May 24 and closing on June 7. NIJINSKY’S LAST DANCE previews on June 11, opens on June 12, has a talk back on June 16 and runs through July 12. "Tommy" previews on July 16, opens on July 17, has a talk back on June 21 and closes on August 2.
The Unicorn’s final production, ASSASSINS previews on August 6, opens on August 7, has a talk back on August 11 and runs through August 29. Main Stage productions range in price from $25-$60. Childrens prices for "Peter Pan" range from $15-25; Unicorn tickets are $25-$30.
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North Adams Double Murder Case Continued to March
By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The case of a city man charged with killing his parents was continued to March on Monday.
Darius Hazard, 44, was scheduled for a detention hearing on Monday in Northern Berkshire District Court.
Prior to the start of the court's business, the clerk announced that Hazard's case was continued to Monday, March 2.
Hazard is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and one count of arson in connection with the Nov. 24 fire that claimed the lives of Donald Hazard, 83, and Venture Hazard, 76.
Police say Hazard confessed to the killings and starting the fire and fled the Francis Street home where he lived with his parents.
Samuel Currence served his country in the Air Force with distinction, professionalism and unparalleled humility from 1962 to 1985, retiring as a technical sergeant. click for more
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
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