by Mark G. Auerbach
Barrington Stage Present its 7th Annual 10×10 New Play Festival
Barrington Stage heats up the Berkshires with its 7th annual 10×10 New Play Festival, running February 15-March 4 at the St. Germain Stage in downtown Pittsfield. The Festival includes 10 new plays, each 10 minutes in length, curated by Julianne Boyd. Any way you do the math, it’s 100 minutes of new theatre by emerging voices that serves as the centerpiece of Pittsfield’s annual 10×10 Upstreet Arts Festival.
“We look forward all year to our 10X10 New Play Festival,” said Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. “It brings warmth and laughter to a very cold winter – and allows our Berkshire audience to come together and cheer on ten very talented playwrights.”
Directors for the 10X10 New Play Festival are Julianne Boyd and Matthew Penn, returning for his second year. An Emmy nominated director (Law & Order), Penn is the co-Artistic director of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab in Great Barrington. The cast features Lucky Gretzinger, Matt Neely, Dina Thomas, Peggy Pharr Wilson, and Robert Zukerman. An additional cast member to be announced at later date.
For details on the 10×10 New Play Festival: 413-236-8888 or www.barringtonstageco.org
For details on the: 10X10 Upstreet Arts Festival https://www.discoverpittsfield.com/10×10/
Think Summer! Berkshire Opera Festival Will Present Rigoletto in August
Jonathon Loy, Berkshire Opera
The Berkshire Opera Festival will present a fully-staged production of Verdi’s masterpiece, Rigoletto, August 25, 28, and 31 at the Berkshire Theatre Group’s Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, MA. The production is conducted by Artistic Director Brian Garman and directed by General Director Jonathon Loy. As with the first and second seasons, there will also be accompanying recitals and outreach events around the local Berkshire community. Rigoletto will be sung in Italian with projected English translations.
A timeless story of love, betrayal, and vengeance, Rigoletto tells the story of the young Gilda suffering at the hands of self-entitled and abusive men — a theme never more relevant than in our present day. The production follows Berkshire Opera Festival’s acclaimed first two seasons, which featured Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos.
For details: https://www.berkshireoperafestival.org/
Resources
Broadway Teaching Group offers seminars for teachers and directors of middle school, high school, and college theatre programs, including a 3-day intensive workshop on Broadway. For details: http://www.broadwayteachinggroup.com/
Anderson and Roe Piano Duo
Keep in Mind…
The Springfield Symphony Orchestra performs Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons on February 10 at Springfield Symphony Hall. Maestro Kevin Rhodes conducts the program which also includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7. Caroline Goulding is the guest violinist. For details: 413-733-2291 or www.springfieldsymphony.org.
The Hartford Symphony Orchestra’s Masterworks Series presents The Keys to Romance with the piano duo Anderson and Roe, February 16-18 at The Bushnell. Carolyn Kuan conducts. The program includes works by Mascagni, Haydn, and Poulenc, and Anderson and Roe perform “Fantasy on Bizet’s Carmen for Two Pianos and Orchestra” and other works. For details: 860-987-5900 or www.hartfordsymphony.org
Fever. Photo by Brian Rondeau
The Magical Mystery Gala, The UMass Fine Arts Center 29th Annual Gala, Auction & Preview takes place on February 3 at the UMass Amherst Campus Center Auditorium. The evening includes a kick back to the era of the Beatles, cocktails, dinner, and dancing to the Western Mass dance band Fever. Fever member include Dan Hendrix of Agawam, Jake Weiner of Westfield, Taylor Ives of Easthampton, and David Picchi of Holyoke. The proceeds benefit the Fine Arts Center Arts/Access outreach programs. For details: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS, or fineartscenter.com/gala.
BassDrumBone perorms on February 11 at the UMass Old Chapel as part of the The Magic Triangle Jazz Series, produced by the UMass Fine Arts Center.. BassDrumBone is Mark Helias (bass), Gerry Hemmingway (drums) and
UMASS Opera Workshop production of “Street Scene”
Ray Anderson (trombone.). For details: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS or www.fineartscenter.com
Hansel and Gretel, the beloved children’s opera by Engelbert Humperdinck, will be performed by the UMass Opera Workshop on February 16-18 at Bowker Auditorium on the UMass/Amherst campus. Led by Marjorie Melnick, William Hite and Jamie-Rose Guarrine, the Opera Workshop program provides students from UMass Amherst and across the Five Colleges with the opportunity to present masterworks of opera and musical theatre while gaining lyric stage and production skills. The production’s guest director is Nathan Troup, Associate Director of Opera Studies at The Boston Conservatory, who spent the past two seasons as Boston Lyric Opera’s Emerging Artist-Stage Director. For details: 413-545-2511, 800-999-UMAS or www.fineartscenter.com
Johnny Lee Davenport in Thurgood. Photo by Andrew Brilliant, Brilliant Pictures
Thurgood, George Stevens Jr’s portrait of Justice Thurgood Marshall, will be performed at the Hampshire Council-Gov Courthouse in Northampton on February 16. The New Repertory Theatre production stars Johnny Lee Davenport, and comes to Northampton, courtesy of the Academy of Music Theatre. For details: 413-584-9032 ext.105 or www.aomtheatre.com
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Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio. Mark produces and hosts ArtsBeat Radio for 89.5fm/WSKB.
