#Elivia Bovenzi

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REVIEW: "The Glass Menagerie" at Barrington Stage Company

REVIEW: “The Glass Menagerie” at Barrington Stage Company

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REVIEW: "Typhoid Mary" at Barrington Stage

REVIEW: “Typhoid Mary” at Barrington Stage

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REVIEW: "Time Flies and Other Comedies" at Barrington Stage

REVIEW: “Time Flies and Other Comedies” at Barrington Stage

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REVIEW: "If I Forget" at Barrington Stage

REVIEW: “If I Forget” at Barrington Stage

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REVIEW: "American Underground" at Barrington Stage Company

REVIEW: “American Underground” at Barrington Stage Company

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Barrington Stage Presents the Bonnie & Terry Burman New Play Award Winner “American Underground” (Pittsfield, MA) Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, continues its 25th Anniversary Season with the World Premiere of the Bonnie & Terry Burman New Play Award Winner, …

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by Barbara Waldinger

In a Study Guide for Barrington Stage Company’s production of American Underground, the playwright, Brent Askari, asserts that he likes telling “genre stories”—in this case, thrillers.  Publicity for this World Premiere, winner of a Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award, asks: “How do you put a thriller on the stage and make it topical, political and scary?” Inherently tense and surprising, the thriller format lends itself to the “kind of fever dream” that haunts Askari as the son of a Shiite Muslim father living in a culture of “anti-Middle Eastern and Islamophobic sentiment.”

American Underground takes place in a “not-so-distant” future, which imagines a sort of Underground Railroad for persecuted Muslims who seek safe houses in an attempt to leave this country before being captured and killed by government officials.  Anyone who is caught helping or harboring Muslims will suffer the same fate.  Rasha Zamamiri plays Sherri, who appears at the home of Rog (Alan H. Green) and Anna (Natascia Diaz), an interracial couple who run a safe house, while their son Jeff (Justin Withers), unaware of his parents’ activities, is visiting during a college break.  Kourtney (Kathleen McNenny) is the government official who suspects the family of treason.

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Theatre, a mirror of society, can be a powerful tool to expose injustice and advocate for action, despite the risks.  Witness Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (beginning as a novel and subsequently performed on radio, stage, screen and television), a political thriller that envisions a world in which women are subjugated by a patriarchal, fanatically religious society.  In June Barrington Stage Company produced America v. 2.1:  The Sad Demise & Eventual Extinction of the American Negro by Stacey Rose.  Atwood, Rose and Askari have all created futuristic dystopias, each targeting a particular group.

One way in which American Underground differs from the others is that Askari’s characters periodically interrupt the action by stepping forward, one at a time, to talk to the audience, each speaker highlighted by a spotlight, while the rest of the stage dims (Lighting design by Matthew Richards).  Preceding and following these interruptions is ominous music (Sound design by Fabian Obispo).  This sequence of events can become tiresome and heavy-handed to a sophisticated adult audience but doubtless works well in Barrington’s student matinees.  (Young people are probably delighted to be addressed directly, especially by young actors [Withers and Zamamiri]).  Their explanations may prove helpful to those students who are not newspaper readers or news junkies.  At a recent talkback several senior members of the audience justifiably praised Barrington Stage Company for introducing this prophetic and frightening play to 2000 students in our community.

After a reading in April, American Underground, one of three winners out of 427 submissions to Barrington’s 2019 play contest, was cut and tightened in preparation for this full production.  McNenny and Zamamiri, who participated in the reading, consequently had additional time researching and acquainting themselves with their characters.  McNenny’s government official, smartly dressed in a pants suit (Costume design by Elivia Bovenzi) that belies her purpose, is terrific as she evolves from a curious and friendly questioner (a la television’s Detective Columbo) into a life-threatening force.  For her part, Zamamiri transforms from a desperate victim into someone hardened by the horror and misery she has had to endure.  Justin Withers is effective as he wavers between childhood and adulthood, struggling to master his fear and appear independent and brave.  In the talkback, actress Natascia Diaz describes the interaction among the actors as a “five way ping pong match” or “an eighty-five minute marathon.”  This cast is certainly up to the challenge.  However, although Diaz and Green are accomplished actors, it is hard to imagine them as a couple, partly because of the disparity in their ages (Diaz appears much younger) and partly because of the different styles implicit in their roles:  Green’s Rog is a lovable, energetic cut-up and sports fan, while Diaz’s Anna is a worried, overprotective mother, desperate to save her son from himself and the world around him.  They are also unfairly burdened by having to serve as mouthpieces for the playwright, often engaging in political tracts rather than human interaction.

Mariana Sanchez has designed the family home with care, concentrating on two playing areas—the living and dining rooms.  But it is the sliding glass doors leading out to a leafy patio that catches the eye—it is there that Rog proudly photographs his barbecued salmon and from which an unknown character makes an appearance.  Cell phones play a prominent part in the action, furthering the suspense of each scene.  Director Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director of Barrington Stage Company, keeps up the tension, especially as the chilling conclusion approaches.  But the question remains as to whether Askari’s “fever dream” can satisfy the playwright’s multiple intentions.

  American Underground runs from October 2-20 on the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage.  Tickets may be purchased online at barringtonstageco.org or call 413-236-8888.

Barrington Stage Company and Carla and Ed Slomin present American Underground by Brent Askari.  Directed by Julianne Boyd.  Cast:  Justin Withers (Jeff), Alan H. Green (Rog), Natascia Diaz (Anna), Kathleen McNenny (Kourtney), Rasha Zamamiri (Sherri).  Scenic Designer:  Mariana Sanchez; Costume Designer:  Elivia Bovenzi; Lighting Designer:  Matthew Richards; Sound Designer:  Fabian Obispo; Production Stage Manager:  David D’Agostino.

Running Time:  85 minutes, no intermission.  Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield, MA., from October 2; closing October 20.

REVIEW: “American Underground” at Barrington Stage Company by Barbara Waldinger In a Study Guide for Barrington Stage Company’s production of American Underground, the playwright, Brent Askari, asserts that he likes telling “genre stories”—in this case, thrillers. 

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by Barbara Waldinger

In Time Flies and Other Comedies, Barrington Stage Company draws from the canon of David Ives, a playwright crowned by The New York Times as “maestro of the short form,” owing to the quality of his one-act plays.  The evening features six sketch comedies, varying between silly and clever, brought to life by a cast of formidable comic performers. 

The plays have been selected from three of Ives’ compilations:  All in the Timing, Lives of the Saints, and  Time Flies and Other Short Plays.  There were a couple of dozen plays to choose from but the basis for these six selections is unclear. 

Two of the plays could have been replaced by stronger one-acts from the collections.  The Mystery at Twicknam Vicarage, as the title suggests, is a parody of Agatha Christie murder mysteries, replete with a dead body at a formal dinner party, a Scotland yard inspector, multiple suspects. . . but  the comedy goes off the rails with suggestions of copulation between the victim and various pieces of furniture and rugs. Enigma Variations is a real challenge for the actors, involving different combinations of doppelgangers, requiring each of four performers to mime the speech and gestures of his/her double.  But aside from actorly acrobatics, the skit gets tired fairly quickly.

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The four other plays are much more successful, unique and cleverly rendered.  As a sample of Ives’ specialty: wordplay, Time Flies presents a mating dance between two mayflies out on a date, unaware that they only have one full day to live.  Kudos to Costume Designer Elivia Bovenzi who dresses Horace (Cary Donaldson) and May (Debra Jo Rupp) in their fancy duds, with the addition of antennae, wings and tails.  From their preferred after-dinner drinks (grasshopper, stinger or stagnant water) to their choice of movies (The Love Bug, The Fly, Travels with my Ant), these characters are funny and endearing, wonderfully embodied by Rupp and Donaldson, and we grieve with them when David Attenborough (Jeff McCarthy), dressed in safari jacket and binoculars, announces their impending demise.

Variations on the Death of Trotsky is just that:  eight different versions of a conversation between Leon Trotsky (Carson Elrod) and his wife (Rupp) in Trotsky’s Mexican study, as they attempt to analyze an encyclopedia entry describing Trotsky’s imminent murder by a Spanish Communist posing as a gardener (Donaldson).  The physical and verbal comedy is laugh-out-loud outrageous. Elrod, who has performed in All in the Timing and Lives of the Saints Off-Broadway, is the most brilliant comic actor gracing our Berkshire stages.  Remember his incomparable portrayal of a robot in Williamstown Theatre Festival’s The Chinese Room (2016) and his bumbling lawyer in Taking Steps at Barrington Stage Company (2017)?  Fortunately he is back to entertain us once again this season.

Debra Jo Rupp, following her remarkable tour de force in last year’s The Cake, is hilarious in Life Signs as a corpse who can’t seem to decide whether or not she’s dead, to the consternation of her son (Elrod) and his wife (a terrific Ruth Pferdehirt).  With its pricelessly frank sexuality, from the confessions of the mother, to the lascivious doctor (in a go-for-broke performance by McCarthy), to the couple, whose marriage may not be as perfect as it first appears, this play never fails to surprise.

Finally, The Philadelphia features Donaldson and McCarthy as customers in a restaurant served by Pferdehirt as a bored waitress who suddenly bursts from her lethargy in a lightning-fast dialogue.  The quirky concept is that the characters, for no apparent reason, find themselves caught in various moods engendered by specific cities that determine how they see and communicate with the world. A shrewd and wacky gem!

The multiple sets, moved by black-clad stagehands, change for each play (as do Bovenzi’s perfectly designed costumes), backed by scenic designer Brian Prather’s modern art construction, with its twinkling squares lit by Matthew Richards’ colorful illumination, to the tune of Eric Shimelonis lively compositions.    Director Tracy Brigden, with the help of a dream cast, keeps the evening light and quick. One has the feeling that she encouraged her actors to dive into their roles with abandon, for the onstage performers seem to be enjoying themselves as much as the offstage audience.

Time Flies and Other Comedies runs from July 5—27.  Tickets may be purchased online at barringtonstageco.org or call 413-236-8888.

Barrington Stage Company and Hal Kramer present Time Flies and Other Comedies by David Ives.  Directed by Tracy Brigden.  Cast: Cary Donaldson, Carson Elrod, Jeff McCarthy, Ruth Pferdehirt, and Debra Jo Rupp.  Costume Designer: Elivia Bovenzi; Scenic Designer: Brian Prather; Lighting Designer: Matthew Richards; Wig Designer:  Mary Schilling-Martin; Original Music/Sound Designer: Eric Shimelonis; Production Stage Maager: Richard Lundy.  

Running Time:  two hours including intermission.  St. Germain Stage, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield, MA., from July 5; closing July 27.

  REVIEW: “Time Flies and Other Comedies” at Barrington Stage by Barbara Waldinger In Time Flies and Other Comedies, Barrington Stage Company draws from the canon of David Ives, a playwright crowned by The New York Times as “maestro of the short form,” owing to the quality of his one-act plays. 

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by Macey Levin

In 1945, Tennessee Williams gave us The Glass Menagerie which earned him a number of awards and propelled him into his ranking as a major American playwright.  His canon of plays  led by A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, The Rose Tattoo, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Sweet Bird of Youth and Orpheus Descending secured his place in the pantheon of American theatre artists.   Menagerie has been revived several times on Broadway and has been performed by many major regional theatres across the country.  The current production at Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, MA is gripping.

It probably isn‘t necessary to summarize the plot of the play since it has a special place in the American theatre.  Suffice it to say that it is a memory play about the Depression era Wingfield family in St. Louis after the husband/father deserted them sixteen years earlier. The clash between Tom Wingfield (Mark H. Dold) and his mother Amanda (Caitlin O’Connell) and the fears of his profoundly shy sister Laura (Angela Janas) and their resolution, or lack of resolution, is the core of the play.

Director Julianne Boyd has made several intriguing choices starting at the very top of the show.  Dold enters and begins his opening monologue while the house lights are still on.  Perhaps the intention is to create an intimate relationship with the audience and to set him apart from the story he is about to narrate.  The same thing occurs at the beginning of the second act while the audience is still filing in and talking amongst themselves.  Only a loudly projected first line of this monologue sent the audience scampering to their seats.

Dold is omni-present as the narrator.  When he is not directly involved in a scene he remains onstage sitting on the floor leaning against the stage left proscenium, watching his life and relating the story to us.  His performance is controlled and affecting.  We understand his need to break away from his crushingly routine existence which, ultimately, he cannot escape.  He carries the memory of his sister wherever he goes, pleading with her to “Blow out your candles, Laura.”  Dold carries the burden of Tom’s life in his well-rounded, insightful performance.

Amanda is often portrayed as a nag, attacking Tom and scolding Laura while reminiscing about her past as a southern belle in Blue Mountain and her seventeen gentleman callers to stave off the darkness of her current life.  O’Connell creates a more sympathetic Amanda who has a truly heartfelt concern for her children rather than being a harridan.  She exudes an engaging  charm that is not always utilized in other productions.

Angela Janas is a moving Laura, her entire body is evidence of the diffident nature of her character.  At the same time her sensitivity and concern for both mother, whom she some times fears, and brother is palpable.  In the candlelight scene with Jim (Tyler Lansing Weaks,) the gentleman caller, she is charming as she lets down her guard and her hidden personality shines until he informs her of Betty, his steady girl friend, soon to be wife.  Dismay pushes her once again into the shy, pained young woman she will always be. Weaks’ gentleman caller is softer and less arrogant than is usually seen in other productions.  There is a sincerity and a fondness for Laura that emanates from him.   The entire cast brings a richness of insight and astuteness to their characterizations.,

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In the original, and probably most productions, background music was prerecorded.  Here, a violist (Susan French) is perched on a fire-escape platform above the set.  Composer Alexander Sovronsky’s original music is delicate and subtly enhances the dramatic tones of the play.  Though French’s performance is essential and effective, she is unobtrusive.  This choice is a powerful alternative to canned music.

Director Boyd has also mined the humor of the play.  Where the work is often performed wrapped in dramatic gravity, she has brought different textures to this production that makes the manifold confrontations even more painful, while evoking an awareness of the Wingfields’ humanity.  Her staging on Brian Prather’s set is well-balanced, producing interesting pictures.  However, there seems to be too much openness in the apartment, compromising the claustrophobia that provokes many of the arguments between Tom and Amanda.

Matthew Richards’ lighting is evocative, including the neon “Paradise” ballroom dancing sign that hovers over the apartment.  The candlelight scene is beautifully sculpted lending the stage and the scene an intimacy and warmth.  The costumes by Elivia Bovenzi capture the time and the characters.  Amanda’s dress for the gentleman caller’s dinner is atrociously fetching.

The Glass Menagerie is an American classic… deservedly so.  One of the beauties of the play is the opportunity to listen to Williams’ virtually poetic language.  With a phrase he touches upon searing emotions that help to delineate his characters’ personalities.  The play is autobiographical material which add to the perception that the Wingfields and Jim O’Connor are real people.

This is a beautiful production that enhances the play’s already radiant reputation.

The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, Directed by Julianne Boyd.  Cast:  Mark H. Dold (Tom Wingfield) Caitlin O’Connor (Amanda Wingfield) Angela Janas (Laura Wingfield) Tyler Lansing Weaks (Jim O’Connor) Susan French (Violist); Scenic Designer: Brian Prather; Costume Designer: Elivioa Bovenzi; Lighting Designer: Matthew Richards; Sound Designer: Joel Abbott; Hair and Wig Designer: Caitie Martin; Composer: Alexander Sovronsky; Production Stage Manager: Patrick David Egan; Barrington Stage Company, Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, Pittsfield, MA; Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes, one intermission. 10/3/18-10/21/18

              REVIEW: “The Glass Menagerie” at Barrington Stage Company by Macey Levin In 1945, Tennessee Williams gave us The Glass Menagerie which earned him a number of awards and propelled him into his ranking as a major American playwright. 

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Barrington Stage Company Presents “The Glass Menagerie” (Pittsfield, MA) Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in the Berkshires under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, presents Tennessee Williams’ …

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by Roseann Cane

Typhoid fever, a life-threatening bacterial illness, is still fairly common throughout the world, with about 5,700 cases developing annually in the U.S. Today typhoid fever can be prevented and treated with antibiotics, but at the turn of the 20th Century, typhoid fever was often akin to a death sentence, terrifying in its rapid spread throughout households.

By the end of the 19th Century, physicians had determined that bacteria caused the disease, and they believed it was spread by contaminated drinking water. Even so, in 1900 about 20,000 Americans succumbed to typhoid fever, and the victims were often grouped in a specific location. An outbreak in the summer of 1906 struck the inhabitants of a Long Island home rented by a banker; of the four family members and seven servants, six people were infected. Public officials were at a loss in determining the cause. The owner of the house hired sanitary engineer George Soper from the New York Department of Health to investigate.

Soper learned that the cook, Mary Mallon, had started working for the family just three weeks before the first family member became ill. Three weeks, the engineer knew, was the average incubation period for typhoid fever. Soper checked the files at the domestic service agency where Mallon had been hired, and learned that Mallon had changed jobs regularly over a seven-year period. At every one of the seven homes where Mallon had worked previously, typhoid had struck.

When Soper showed up at Mallon’s home to request samples of her urine, feces, and blood, she chased him away with a sharply pronged meat fork. The Department of Health dispatched an ambulance containing three police officers, two interns, and Dr. Josephine Baker. After chasing Mallon for three hours, the team was able to drag her into the ambulance, where Dr. Baker had to sit on Mallon to control her.

Keri Safran & Tasha Lawrence. Photo: Carolyn Brown

Kevin O’Rourke. Photo: Carolyn Brown

Keri Safran. Photo: Carolyn Brown

Kevin O’Rourke & Tasha Lawrence. Photo: Carolyn Brown

Miles G. Jackson & Tasha Lawrence. Photo: Carolyn Brown.

Miles G. Jackson & Tasha Lawrence. Photo: Carolyn Brown.

Keri Safran & Tasha Lawrence

Kevin O’Rourke & Tasha Lawrence. Photo: Carolyn Brown

Tasha Lawrence. Photo: Carolyn Brown.

Kevin O’Rourke & Keri Safran. Photo: Carolyn Brown

Kevin O’Rourke & keri Safran. Photo: Carolyn Brown

Miles G. Jackson & Tasha Lawrence. Photo: Carolyn Brown.

Tasha Lawrence. Photo: Carolyn Brown.

Keri Safran. Photo: Carolyn Brown

Miles G. Jackson. Photo: Carolyn Brown.

Frances Evans. Photo: Carolyn Brown

Award-winning playwright Mark St. Germain has expertly fashioned a study of the woman who became infamous as Typhoid Mary, and the people who worked to contain her and the spread of typhoid. Tasha Lawrence crackles in the title role. An Irish immigrant who had little formal education, Mallon was an intelligent, literate woman who read The New York Times and had a fondness for the works of Charles Dickens. Lawrence makes Mallon’s frustration, anger, dignity, and even tenderness palpable, and she is maddeningly, wonderfully complex.

The characters orbiting around Mallon are, I assume, representations of the people and ideas, institutional and spiritual, who try mightily to rein in the threat Mallon poses. Kevin O’Rourke, as Riverside Hospital Administrator Dr. William Mills, delivers a well-honed portrayal of a man determined to do what he concurs is in the best interest of the population. As Dr. Ann Saltzer, Keri Safran’s tightly-wound physician provides a satisfying performance as a woman who has learned to harden herself during a period when female doctors were generally regarded as inferior to their male counterparts. Her prickly relationship with Mallon, and their resentment of each other, lends an enlightening dimension to the story. Miles G. Jackson’s Father Michael McKuen’s gradually weakening struggle to lend spiritual guidance and companionship to Mallon is deeply touching.

Brian Prather’s clever, handsome set morphs gracefully through scene changes. The costumes, designed by Elivia Bovenzi, are authentic, evocative, and attractive, and Scott Pinkney’s lighting design seamlessly enhances the onstage action. Kudos, too, to Alexander Sovronsky for his finely wrought sound design.

Typhoid Mary is not an easy play to watch because St. Germain has not only tackled a difficult subject, he has explored the complexity of human thought and behavior. There are no heroes or villains in this play, and the big questions about ethics are left to the audience to ponder. As Mallon says, “Doctors must despise exceptions, they keep them from being right all the time.”

Typhoid Mary by Mark St. Germain, directed by Matthew Penn runs from May 23-June 16, 2018, on the St. Germain Stage in the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center at Barrington Stage Company, 36 Linden Street in Pittsfield, MA. Set design by Brian Prather; costume design by Elivia Bovenzi, lighting design by Scott Pinkney, and sound design by Alexander Sovronsky. Production stage manager Geoff Boronda .Cast: Tasha Lawrence as Mary Mallon, Keri Safran as Dr. Ann Saltzer, Kevin O’Rourke as Dr. William Mills, Frances Evans as Sarah, and Miles G. Jackson as Father Michael McKuen

Performances: Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30pm; Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00pm. Opening night May 27 at 3:00pm. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). Tickets: $15-$48. Barrington Stage Box Office: (413) 236-8888 or online at www.barringtonstageco.org.

Playwright Speaks Series: History Seen Through The Eyes of Mark St. Germain. Saturday, June 2 at 1:00pm at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). FREE. Barrington Stage Box Office: (413) 236-8888.

REVIEW: “Typhoid Mary” at Barrington Stage by Roseann Cane Typhoid fever, a life-threatening bacterial illness, is still fairly common throughout the world, with about 5,700 cases developing annually in the U.S.

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(Pittsfield, MA) Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, is proud to announce the return of The Creative Place International/And Theatre Company production of Kunstler by Jeffrey Sweet, from September 13 – 24 at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street).

Directed by Meagan Fay, Kunstler stars BSC veteran Jeff McCarthy (BSC’s Broadway Bounty Hunter, All My Sons, Sweeney Todd) as the self-described “radical lawyer” and civil rights activist, William Kunstler and Erin Roché (BSC debut) as the whip-smart student who opposes him.  The colorful, perpetually rumpled defense lawyer whose best-known clients include the Chicago Seven, inmates involved in the Attica prison riots, and members of the American Indian Movement, makes a case for his often unconventional style, in this wise and revealing play.

(Read Barbara Waldinger’s review of the production when it ran in May, 2017 at BSC.)

An American Civil Rights pioneer and attorney so famous he played himself on “Law & Order,” William Kunstler’s career defending “social outcasts” was as colorful as the man himself. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the ACLU from 1964 – 1972, he gained prominence serving as defense attorney for the Freedom Riders and the Chicago Seven as well as members of the Black Panther Party, Attica Prison rioters, the American Indian Movement, and Weather Underground. As an attorney in private practice in NYC, he continued to court headlines with controversial clients, from defending Omar Abdel-Rahman for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing to notorious mafia figures like John Gotti.

Jeff MaCarthy as William Kunstler.

Curtain call for “Kunstler” at BSC this past May. Jeff McCarthy and Erin Roché. Photo: Stephen Sorokoff.

The production is designed by James Fenton (sets), Elivia Bovenzi (costumes), Betsy Adams (lights), and Will Severin (sound). Production stage manager is Leslie Sears.

Kunstler performances: Evenings Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30pm; matinees Saturday at 2:00pm and Sunday at 3:00pm. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt  Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). Tickets: $15-$48. Barrington Stage Box Office: (413) 236-8888 or online at www.barringtonstageco.org.

Jeff McCarthy (Kunstler) At BSC: Kunstler, Broadway Bounty Hunter, Man of La Mancha, Southern Comfort, All My Sons, Sweeney Todd, Follies, Mack & Mabel and a staged reading of Kunstler. Jeff recently starred Off-Broadway in Kunstler at 59E59 Theater. Broadway: Chicago (Billy Flynn), Urinetown (Lockstock), The Grinch Who… (Grinch), The Pirate Queen (Dubdhara), Side Show (Terry), Beauty and the Beast (Beast), Smile (Big Bob), Zorba (Niko), The Pirates of Penzance (Pirate King). L.A.: Les Misérables (Javert), The Three Sisters (Vershinin), A Little Night Music (Frederick), City of Angels (Stone). Off Broadway: Southern Comfort (Public Theater), Sympathetic Magic (Second Stage), Dream True (Vineyard), On the 20th Century (York). Regional: My Fair Lady (Guthrie), Kunstler (Hudson Stage), Fox on the Fairway (Signature Theater), Mame (Kennedy Center), Oliver! (Arena Stage), The Price and The Front Page (Long Wharf), Buried Child and Pantegleize (ACT, San Francisco), A Lie of the Mind (Denver Center). International: Iphenigia in Aulis (Athens Theater Center), Lady Be Good (La Fenice, Italy) TV: “Elementary”, “The Good Wife”, “Schweitzer” (title role), “Letterman”, “Love Monkey,” “Star Trek: TNG” and “Voyager,” “Ed,” “Law & Order(s),” “Cheers,” “Designing Women,” “L.A. Law,” “In the Heat of the Night.” Film: Starting Out in the Evening, Consent, RoboCop 2, Eve of Destruction, Rapid Fire, Cliffhanger. Jeff is the voice of the great Chuck Jones’ creation, Michigan J. Frog. Jeff recently starred in A Legendary Romance at Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Erin Roché (Kerry) Regional credits include: All’s Well That End’s Well, Othello, Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, Pygmalion (The Old Globe), Heist!, Post Wave Spectacular (Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville), Henry IV, pts. I & II (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), Done (Providence Black Repertory). Television: Forever (ABC). Training: BA, Brown University. MFA, Old Globe/University of San Diego.

Jeffrey Sweet (Playwright) plays include The Value of Names, The Action Against Sol Schumann, Bluff, Flyovers, American Enterprise, and Court-Martial at Fort Devens — have been presented in Chicago, New York and around the country. Awards include prizes from the American Theatre Critics Association, the Jeff Award, the Audelco Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award. Books include Something Wonderful Right Away (about Second City), The O’Neill (about the O’Neill Center), The Dramatist’s Toolkit and What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and EST and is an alum of New DramatistsMeagen Fay (Director) is a multiple Jeff Award-winning Best Actress (Chicago’s The Second City), as well as A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Court Theater), who has appeared on and off Broadway, and been a regular on countless TV series, and films. Meagen can currently be seen as regular, and recurring regular on “Transparent” (Amazon), “Good Girls Revolt” (Amazon), and “Shrink” (Seeso). Meagen is an L.A. Critics Award winning director of Private Stories Public Schools, and Future Boyfriend (Los Angeles SCi-Fest.) Meagen first directed Kunstler for the New York Fringe Festival in 2014.

ABOUT BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY

Barrington Stage Company is a professional award-winning Equity regional theatre located in the heart of the Berkshires, in Pittsfield, MA.  It was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and has a three-fold mission: to present top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways of bringing new audiences into the theatre—especially young people. Barrington Stage garnered national attention in 2004 when it premiered William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee which later transferred to Broadway where it won two Tony Awards. In 2009, Mark St. Germain’s Freud’s Last Session ran more than ten weeks on Stage 2 and later moved Off Broadway and played for two years. St. Germain’s Becoming Dr. Ruth (which premiered at BSC as Dr. Ruth, All the Way in 2012) played Off Broadway at the Westside Theatre in fall 2013. BSC’s all-time record-breaking musical, On the Town, was originally produced at BSC in 2013.  In 2014, it opened on Broadway with BSC as a co-producer, where it was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival.  In 2016, Barrington Stage swept the​ first Annual Berkshire Theatre Awards by winning 20 out of the 25 awards.  In 2016, BSC produced three World Premieres; Presto Change-O, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and American Son, which won the Laurents/Hatcher Award for Best New Play.

Barrington Stage Brings Back “Kunstler” in September by Popular Demand (Pittsfield, MA) Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, is proud to announce the return of…

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by Macey Levin

To be clear!  The title of the short story The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier written in 1952 is the only thing the play, currently at Barrington Stage Company’s St. Germain Theatre, has in common with Alfred Hitchcock’s classic thriller of 1963.

The play has a prescient quality in that the human race is doomed due to climate change, a phrase that does not occur in the play.  Because of a change in environmental conditions nature has turned on itself creating an uninhabitable planet.  Birds, whose migratory patterns have been disrupted because of a change in global warmth and tides, cluster by the thousands seeking food and devastating the landscape, ultimately attacking animals and humans.  Tierney (Rocco Sisto,) a farmer, says, “The bluejays killed my dog.”

Diane (Kathleen McNenny) and Nat (Stevie Ray Dallimore) stumble across each other after they have abandoned their cars on a road.  They wend their way through woods attempting to avoid an assault until they discover a run-down lakeside cottage.  They become aware that the birds’ aggressive actions come only during high tide, giving them an opportunity to leave the house to scavenge for food and other supplies in a local village that has been ravaged by the birds; their acquisitions are meager.  They have also seen Tierney carrying a shotgun on the other side of the lake, but it appears to be too far to travel to contact him.  After they establish a routine and modify their intake of food and water, they are joined by Julia (Sasha Diamond) a young woman who says that she has fled a group of predatory humans.  Her entrance into their lives changes the dynamic of Diane and Nat’s daily existence.

The problem with the play is that it is a predictable science-fiction melodrama.  Written by Conor McPherson, based on Du Maurier’s short story, the play’s events evolve through numerous scenes, some only a moment or two in length, several being anti-climactic, and several voiceovers from Diane that telegraph coming moments.  Though the audience fears for the characters’ lives, it is difficult to have an affinity for any of them.  They, much like the birds, attack each other as they try to fight against the inevitability facing them.

The core of the production is Ms. McNenny.  She holds the stage and the play with forceful control as she attempts to find the most plausible means to face the imminent disastrous conflicts awaiting them.  She allows Diane’s vulnerabilities to show through in moments of doubt and frustration but finds the strength to move forward.  She does commit one fearful act that she embraces with quiet acceptance as a necessity.

At first, Ms. Diamond’s Julia is charming as the Bible-touting, palm-reading naif.  But her penchant for self-protection and deception introduces corruption into Diane and Nat’s well-ordered search for sanity in the midst of horrendous circumstances. It is a performance of mercurial changes that Diamond does so well.

Rocco Sisto is a chilling and pathetic Tierney.  He looks like a man to be feared with his scraggly beard, deep-set eyes, scruffy clothes and shotgun in hand.  Despite his offer of sustenance his plea for help is spurned.

The weak point in the play is Mr. Dallimore.  Many of his line readings sound like line readings instead of a response to what has been said or is happening around him.  There’s a sense of artificiality in his work.  He’s much more effective in those scenes where he can be taciturn.

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Director Boyd is undermined by the script and a weak performance.  Her staging is effective and the creation of most of the relationships is dramatically sound.  Because of the numerous scenes some of the set changes are a touch too long interrupting the flow of the play.  This, again, is the script.  But, Boyd does know how to stir an audience.

What is effective is the technical work.  The set, this cluttered, claustrophobic cottage, designed by David M. Barber, is chilling, literally and figuratively, and helps to create the tension the characters sense.   His work is complemented by Brian Tovar’s light design that underlines the stress surrounding the characters in their dilapidated dwelling.

On each side of the stage there are floor-to-ceiling screens for various projections, created by Alex Basco Koch, of marauding swarms of birds, forests, rain and clouds, all contributing to the eerie, frightening atmosphere of The Birds.  David Thomas’s sound design has disquieting bird noises throughout the running of the play, many of which emanate from around the theatre creating a disquieting mood.

This may not be the most dynamic play you will see this summer, but it has enough to recommend it for an interesting and evocative evening in the theatre.

The Birds by Conor McPherson, based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier; Directed by Julianne Boyd; Cast: Kathleen McNenny (Diane) Stevie Ray Dallimore (Nat) Sasha Diamond (Julia) Rocco Sisto (Tierney); Scene design: David M. Barber; Lighting design: Brian Tovar; Costume design: Elivia Bovenzi;  Sound design: David Thomas; Projection design: Alex Basco Koch; Stage Manager: Michael Andrew Rogers; Running Time: 90 minutes; no  intermission; Barrington Stage Company, St. Germain Stage in the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield, MA; From 6/15/17; opening 6/18/17; closing 7/8/17; Reviewed by Macey Levin at June 20 performance.

REVIEW: “The Birds” by Macey Levin To be clear!  The title of the short story The Birds by Daphne Du Maurier written in 1952 is the only thing the play, currently at…

[larryland]

by Barbara Waldinger

KUNSTLER:  A showman’s portrayal of a showman

In this year of political unrest, Barrington Stage Company has elected to open their 2017 season with the story of William Kunstler, the renowned radical lawyer and civil rights activist.  Jeff McCarthy, a longtime Associate Artist with Barrington Stage who plays Kunstler, describes him in a WAMC interview as a “wild and woolly character” accused of being a “showboater and a grandstander.”  In fact, Kunstler himself acknowledged:  “I’ve been accused of being a showman, to which I plead guilty.”  His aim was to use his notoriety to attract attention to his clients’ causes.   McCarthy, in a perfect blend of physicality and verbal dexterity, resurrects the colorful Kunstler in body and spirit.

Produced by The Creative Place International/AND Theater Company, Kunstler was first performed at the Hudson Stage Company in 2013, followed by a sold-out run at 59E59th, and will go on to a National Tour with Jeff McCarthy in 2018/19.

Jeff McCarthy as William Kunstler. Photo Carol Rosegg.

Jeff McCarthy as William Kunstler. Photo Carol Rosegg.

Jeff McCarthy as William Kunstler. Photo Carol Rosegg.

More than two decades after his death, the subject of the play still provokes conversation and controversy, in which BSC does not shrink from taking part.  Playwright Jeffrey Sweet appeared at the theatre to discuss the process of writing Kunstler in a talk-back following the May 20th evening performance.  On June 3rd, Karin Kunstler will engage in Barrington’s “Conversations With” series, delivering an “Up-Close Portrait” of her father.  It’s a family industry:  two other daughters, Emily and Sarah Kunstler, have produced a documentary about their father entitled:  “William Kunstler:  Disturbing the Universe,” screened at Sundance in 2009.

The conceit of Sweet’s play is that it takes place at an unnamed university where Kunstler is scheduled to speak in 1995.  As we enter the theatre, we find on our seats an orange leaflet, supposedly distributed by protesting students, depicting Kunstler with the word BOYCOTT in bold black letters. With misspellings that testify to the state of higher education in the United States, the dissidents accuse him of defending traitors, terrorists and rapists.  On the stage hangs an effigy of Kunstler, dressed in the suit that McCarthy will wear, with the sign “Traitor” around his neck.  The floor is strewn with garbage and overturned chairs. The set, designed by James J. Fenton in accordance with Sweet’s stage directions, consists of a series of whitish stone slabs in a semi-circle (which Kunstler comically likens to Kubrick monoliths), a white stone floor, and a circular ceiling fixture interspersed with lights.   The use of multi-colored lights (designed by Betsy  Adams) and sounds (by composer and sound designer Will Severin) are used to great effect in adding tension to the play.  A podium stands upstage.

We meet Kerry Nicholas, played by Erin Roché, the law student who is assigned to introduce Kunstler, despite the fact that she voted against his appearance at the school.   She clears the stage, listens to Kunstler’s description of some of his most well-known cases, and is even talked into participating at times.  She embodies the angry students whose chanting voices outside the room are often heard.  After Kunstler regales us with stories of the cases in which the rights of minorities were clearly trampled, including the Freedom Riders, the Catonsville 9, the Chicago 8, the prisoners at Attica and the American Indian Movement, it falls to Kerry Nicholas to let us know why Kunstler was so controversial and even hated.  What lends dramatic irony to this confrontation between them is that Kerry Nicholas is a woman of color.  She takes issue with Kunstler representing unpopular clients like mobster John Gotti, but she also cites his defense of Colin Ferguson, who turned his gun on fellow Long Island Railroad passengers, a crime Kunstler justified as resulting from “black rage.”  Nicholas is incensed by this excuse for racism and likewise offended by Kunstler’s willingness to represent the young black man who orally confessed to attacking and raping a Central Park jogger.   Though she is a student, she seems to hold her own in this debate and Roché does her character proud.

But it is McCarthy who wins the day, using every theatrical means at his disposal to take us on Kunstler’s journey.  Directed by the creative and capable Meagen Fay, this production employs the St. Germain Stage to become part of the action—its aisles, stairs, the area in front and below the stage and even the audience.  McCarthy is a tremendously exciting and energetic presence, who rarely remains behind the podium, except for the times when he becomes a stand-up comic, trying out the jokes he will tell at his upcoming birthday party at Caroline’s Comedy Club.   He interacts with the audience, sings, uses accents, gestures and movements to play many different characters, is a compelling storyteller, quotes Shakespeare, is a ‘”hugger,” and is as passionate about defending due process as he is horrified by the crimes committed in the name of the law.   Although we can see the physical toll of Kunstler’s lifetime of struggle to “change the system,” as McCarthy closes and opens his fingers and massages his legs to get the circulation going, he refuses to admit his weakness.  Kunstler affords us the opportunity to witness the meeting of a master actor and a master litigator.

Kunstler runs from May 18 –June 10 Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30pm; Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00pm; St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center.  For tickets and information call the Barrington Stage Box Office at 413-236-8888 or visit www.barringtonstageco.org.

The Creative Place International/AND Theatre Company presents Kunstler by Jeffrey Sweet.  Cast:  Jeff McCarthy (Kunstler), Erin Roché (Kerry).  Lighting Design:  Betsy Adams, Costume Design:  Elivia Bovenzi, Scenic Design:  James J. Fenton, Composer and Sound Design:  Will Severin, Production Stage Manager:  Mary Jane Hansen.  Running Time:  90 minutes without intermission; St. German Stage (36 Linden Street, Pittsfield).  Tuesdays through Sundays from 5/18; closing 6/10.

REVIEW: “Kunstler” at Barrington Stage by Barbara Waldinger KUNSTLER:  A showman’s portrayal of a showman In this year of political unrest, Barrington Stage Company has elected to open their 2017 season with the story of William Kunstler, the renowned radical lawyer and civil rights activist. 

[larryland]

(Pittsfield, MA) Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Michele Weathers, presents The Creative Place International/And Theatre Company production of Kunstler by Jeffrey Sweet, from May 18 through June 10 at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). Opening night is May 21 at 3:00pm.

  Directed by Meagan Fay, Kunstler stars BSC veteran Jeff McCarthy (BSC’s Broadway Bounty Hunter, All My Sons, Sweeney Todd) as the self-described “radical lawyer” and civil rights activist, William Kunstler and Erin Roché (BSC debut) as the whip-smart student who opposes him.  The colorful, perpetually rumpled defense lawyer whose best-known clients include the Chicago Seven, inmates involved in the Attica prison riots, and members of the American Indian Movement, makes a case for his often unconventional style, in this wise and revealing play. 

An American Civil Rights pioneer and attorney so famous he played himself on “Law & Order,” William Kunstler’s career defending “social outcasts” was as colorful as the man himself. He was a member of the Board of Directors of the ACLU from 1964 – 1972, he gained prominence serving as defense attorney for the Freedom Riders and the Chicago Seven as well as members of the Black Panther Party, Attica Prison rioters, the American Indian Movement, and Weather Underground. As an attorney in private practice in NYC, he continued to court headlines with controversial clients, from defending Omar Abdel-Rahman for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing to notorious mafia figures like John Gotti.

  The production is designed by James Fenton (sets), Elivia Bovenzi (costumes), Betsy Adams (lights), and Will Severin (sound). Production stage manager is Mary Jane Hansen.

  On May 20 following the 7:30pm performances there will be a special post-show (at 9:00pm) talk-back with playwright Jeffrey Sweet, who will discuss the process of writing Kunstler. Artistic Director Julianne Boyd will moderate.

BSC’s popular Conversations With… series kicks off June 3 at 1pm with Conversations With…Karin Kunstler: An Up-Close Portrait of Her Father, William Kunstler, which will be moderated by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd.

  While all Conversations With… events are free, reservations are highly recommended.  All seating is general admission. Call the Box Office at 413-236-8888.

Kunstler performances: Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30pm; Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00pm. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt  Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). Tickets: $15-$48. Barrington Stage Box Office: (413) 236-8888 or online at www.barringtonstageco.org.  

Jeff McCarthy as William Kunstler. Photo: Carol Rosegg

Jeff McCarthy (Kunstler) At BSC: Broadway Bounty Hunter, Man of La Mancha, Southern Comfort, All My Sons, Sweeney Todd, Follies, Mack & Mabel and a staged reading of Kunstler. Jeff recently starred Off-Broadway in Kunstler at 59E59 Theater. Broadway: Chicago (Billy Flynn), Urinetown (Lockstock), The Grinch Who… (Grinch), The Pirate Queen (Dubdhara), Side Show (Terry), Beauty and the Beast (Beast), Smile (Big Bob), Zorba (Niko), The Pirates of Penzance (Pirate King). L.A.: Les Misérables (Javert), The Three Sisters (Vershinin), A Little Night Music (Frederick), City of Angels (Stone). Off Broadway: Southern Comfort (Public Theater), Sympathetic Magic (Second Stage), Dream True (Vineyard), On the 20th Century (York). Regional: My Fair Lady (Guthrie), Kunstler (Hudson Stage), Fox on the Fairway (Signature Theater), Mame (Kennedy Center), Oliver! (Arena Stage), The Price and The Front Page (Long Wharf), Buried Child and Pantegleize (ACT, San Francisco), A Lie of the Mind (Denver Center). International: Iphenigia in Aulis (Athens Theater Center), Lady Be Good (La Fenice, Italy) TV: “Elementary”, “The Good Wife”, “Schweitzer” (title role), “Letterman”, “Love Monkey,” “Star Trek: TNG” and “Voyager,” “Ed,” “Law & Order(s),” “Cheers,” “Designing Women,” “L.A. Law,” “In the Heat of the Night.” Film: Starting Out in the Evening, Consent, RoboCop 2, Eve of Destruction, Rapid Fire, Cliffhanger. Jeff is the voice of the great Chuck Jones’ creation, Michigan J. Frog.

  Erin Roché (Kerry) is thrilled to be making her BSC debut! Regional credits include: All’s Well That End’s Well, Othello,Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Winter’s Tale, Pygmalion (The Old Globe), Heist!, Post Wave Spectacular (Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville), Henry IV, pts. I & II (Actors’ Shakespeare Project), Done (Providence Black Repertory). Television: Forever (ABC). Training: BA, Brown University. MFA, Old Globe/University of San Diego.

Jeffrey Sweet (Playwright) plays include The Value of Names, The Action Against Sol Schumann, Bluff, Flyovers, American Enterprise, and Court-Martial at Fort Devens — have been presented in Chicago, New York and around the country. Awards include prizes from the American Theatre Critics Association, the Jeff Award, the Audelco Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award. Books include Something Wonderful Right Away (about Second City), The O’Neill (about the O’Neill Center), The Dramatist’s Toolkit and What Playwrights Talk About When They Talk About Writing. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild and EST and is an alum of New DramatistsMeagen Fay (Director) is a multiple Jeff Award-winning Best Actress (Chicago’s The Second City), as well as A Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Court Theater), who has appeared on and off Broadway, and been a regular on countless TV series, and films. Meagen can currently be seen as regular, and recurring regular on “Transparent” (Amazon), “Good Girls Revolt” (Amazon), and “Shrink” (Seeso). Meagen is an LA Critics Award winning director of Private Stories Public Schools, and Future Boyfriend (Los Angeles SCi-Fest.) Meagen first directed Kunstler for the New York Fringe Festival in 2014.

  ABOUT BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY

  Barrington Stage Company is a professional award-winning Equity regional theatre located in the heart of the Berkshires, in Pittsfield, MA.  It was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and has a three-fold mission: to present top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways of bringing new audiences into the theatre—especially young people. Barrington Stage garnered national attention in 2004 when it premiered William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee which later transferred to Broadway where it won two Tony Awards. In 2009, Mark St. Germain’s Freud’s Last Session ran more than ten weeks on Stage 2 and later moved Off Broadway and played for two years. St. Germain’s Becoming Dr. Ruth (which premiered at BSC as Dr. Ruth, All the Way in 2012) played Off Broadway at the Westside Theatre in fall 2013. BSC’s all-time record-breaking musical, On the Town, was originally produced at BSC in 2013.  In 2014, it opened on Broadway with BSC as a co-producer, where it was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival.  In 2016, Barrington Stage swept the​ first Annual Berkshire Theatre Awards by winning 20 out of the 25 awards.  In 2016, BSC produced three World Premieres; Presto Change-O, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and American Son, which won the Laurents/Hatcher Award for Best New Play.

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WWW.BARRINGTONSTAGECO.ORG

Barrington Stage Presents Jeff McCarthy in “Kunstler” (Pittsfield, MA) Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Michele Weathers, presents…