Berkshire Theatre Group

On Cedar Street is an intimate, compact musical compressed into one long act on a busy, cluttered set. On Cedar Street which entails the late life romance of widow and widower in rural Colorado is having its world premiere at the Unicorn Theatre of Berkshire Theatre Group.

Straw hat is old hat. Summer once meant shows performed in actual barns by talented and young kids. Or tours led by well-known movie and TV stars whose popularity had diminished. Not anymore.

During raucous encores Million Dollar Quartet blasted the audience up out of their seats at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. By popular demand Berkshire Theater Group revises its prior production at the smaller Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge.

The taut, austere, information crammed, one act play “Photo 51” rights a wrong. It dramatizes the true life story of the unaccredited role played by Rosalind Franklin (Rebecca Brooksher) in the discovery of the double helix pattern in DNA.

Treat Williams, the actor known for his roles in the movies “Hair” and “Deep Rising” and the TV show “Everwood,” has died. He was 71. A  S.U.V. crashed into his motorcycle in Dorset, Vt. He was 71. We spoke with him in 2013 following a performance as King Henry in “Lion in Winter.”

Barrington Stage Company (BSC) announces full casting for the world premiere of Mark St. Germain’s new play The Happiest Man on Earth (May 24-June 17) and a new production of the legendary Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret (June 14-July 8).

The hit Broadway jukebox musical “Million Dollar Quartet” Book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux. Original concept and direction by Floyd Mutrux; inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins launches the official Berkshire Theatre Group season on June 29. It's the main event of the season at the Colonial Theatre. While the Main Stage continues renovation the rest of the season is programmed for the Unicorn in Stockbridge.

Top honors at the Berkies were Outstanding Musical Production to Barrington Stage Company for their production of A Little Night Music. Barrington Stage shared the Outstanding Play Production award with Bridge Street Theatre, for productions of Waiting for Godot and A Long Day’s Journey Into Night respectively.

The purpose of the BTCA and the Berkshire Theatre Awards is to promote and celebrate the quality and diversity of theatre in the region. The winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on the evening of November 14 at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield.

Leapin Lizards! Berkshire Theatre Group has mounted Seascape Edward Albee's absurdist answer to Beckett's masterpiece, Waiting for Godot. Albee, one of America's leading playwrights won a Pulitizer for it (one of three) but it was a flop with critics and audiences. The Broadway run ended after just 65 performances. Hit or miss you can draw your own conclusions based on the production directed by Eric Hill.

We happened to be in Dublin for Halloween. In the library of Trinity College there was a special exhibition in honor of Bram Stoker the author of Dracula. The story of the vampire is so familiar that there are no surprises in the hilarious and outrageous production by Berkshire Theatre Group at its Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. It was a great evening of summer fun.

The playwright, Tara L. Wilson Noth, has taken on a lot as the program notes state: Racism, incarceration, justice, and relationships. There can be turmoil trying to follow and resolve this mélange of subplots.

Participating cultural organizations include Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire Botanical Garden, Berkshire International Film Festival, Berkshire Theatre Group, Community Access to the Arts, The Clark, Hancock Shaker Village, Jacob’s Pillow, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, MASS MoCA, The Mount, Norman Rockwell Museum, Shakespeare & Company, The Trustees and Williamstown Theatre Festival. 

The true story of six-time world champion prizefighter Emile Griffith is told in Boston Lyric Opera’s (BLO) new production of Champion: An Opera in Jazz by Grammy Award-winning composer Terence Blanchard (Fire Shut Up in My Bones), with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Cristofer.

On March 6, the Black Legacy Project will make its world premiere at  the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. The evening includes a preview screening of the documentary short about the Project produced by OUTPOST, a concert, and a community conversation. Wanda Houston, Billy Keane, Gina Coleman, Matt Cusson, Rufus Jones, Annie Guthrie, Diego Mongue, and Eric Reinhardt are just some of the performers.

The big winners of the Berkies were A Crossing: A Dance Musical, presented by Barrington Stage Company, which won the Sally and Robert Sugarman Award for a World Premier of a New Work as well as many acting and design awards, and Nina Simone: Four Women, presented by the Berkshire Theatre Group. 

How theater is presented this summer continues to expand. TheaterWorks in Hartford, West Hartford’s Playhouse on Park and Ridgefield’s Thrown Stone Theater are exploring what are called “site-specific” productions – where the production’s content has a relationship to the site where it is performed.

Berkshire Theatre Group announcees a gift of just over $1 million dollars from the family of the late Mary Anne Gross in honor of her lifetime love of both theatre and the Berkshires

A work in progress, "Eleanor," by Mark St. Germain was commissioned by Florida Studio Theatre in Sarasota. It was given a reading there. Recently it had a reading with another actress, Harriet Harris, for Barrington Stage Company. With two performances in an empty theatre it was viewed by subscription. By phone we discussed the new work and its intriguing character who was superly portrayed by a remarkable actress.

In collaboration with Actor's Equity, Barrington Stage Company and Berkshire Theatre Group have finalized a path forward. Barrington Stage Company is producing Harry Clarke, a one-man show that will employ two Equity members, a performer and a stage manager. It begins performances in August. Berkshire Theatre Group is mounting the musical Godspell, an outdoor production with a cast of about ten and two stage managers.

This week Jacob's Pillow cancelled its coming season. Can Tanglewood be far behind? Today Williamstown Theatre Festival pulled back from selling tickets with a note for further review of seasonal plans. Berkshire Theatre Group announces the launch of its season on August 1. We have yet to hear updates from Shakespeare & Company, Barrngton Stage Company or other regional theatres. As non essential business Berkshire museums are closed with no time line for resumed programming.

On a night that was colder than a witch's tit the faithful packed the pews of Zion Lutheran Church in Pittefield. We gathered for the fourth annual Berkshire Theatre Awards. Because the heating system failed baby it was cold inside. But an evening in honor of great theatre proved to be a stellar and heart warming occasion.

The only Jewish family in a rural Texas town struggles with issues of illness and faith. How can the Jewish Yaweh allow the young and innocent to die of cancer while Jesus Christ offers cure and redemptio. Written and directed by Mark Harelik What the Jews Believe asks questions for which there are no answers.

Gershwin Alone by Hershey Felder has been performed on Broadway and toured globally. Too briefly this remarkable musical seance is at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield. Felder is actor/ entertainer, musicologist and biographer switching from schtick to instructive. With a "that's not all folks" surprise the ninety minute performance was followed by an eclectic engagement with the audience. That included a couple of sing alongs from The Great American Songbook.

The structure of Kathleen Clark's world premiere comedy What We May Be, at Berkshire Theatre Group, is a play within a play. Actually, four plays within a play. That makes for a hard to follow , count them, five plays. It's confusing and not particularly funny. The writing of Clark and misdirection of Gregg Edelman squander generally fine performances by a terrific cast.