Berkshire Theatre Festival Announces 2006 Season

Berkshire Theatre Festival  |  berkshiretheatre.org
P.O. Box 797, Stockbridge, MA 01262
Box Office: 413-298-5576
E-mail:info@berkshiretheatre.org

Stockbridge, MA – The Berkshire Theatre Festival Executive Director Kate Maguire today announced the company’s 78th season at a press conference held at The Red Lion Inn. Highlights include two Tony Award-winning dramas, Amadeus and The Heidi Chronicles, and a world premiere by the writing and directing team behind last year’s hit play, Souvenir. She also announced that BTF will commission a new play about Abraham Lincoln by Emmy Award-winning playwright Rick Cleveland tentatively titled The Rail Splitter that will receive a workshop reading this summer (date TBA). Present at the press conference were directors Anders Cato, Eric Hill, Vivian Matalon, Mark Nelson, and E. Gray Simons III and playwright Stephen Temperley.

Main Stage

Amadeus by Peter Shaffer
Directed by Eric Hill
With Jonathan Epstein and Randy Harrison
Previews: June 20, 21, 22
Opens: June 23
Postscript: June 26 Closes: July 8

Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, this provocative drama weaves a confrontation between mediocrity and genius. Pious composer Antonio Salieri sets out to destroy his rival, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, a foul mouthed, graceless libertine who effortlessly hears the music of the spheres.

Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe
Directed by Mark Nelson
With Jeremy Davidson
Previews: July 11, 12, 13
Opens: July 14
Postscript: July 17
Closes: July 29

Handsome lifeguard Leo and eccentric photographer Holly Dancer meet on a private beach in Massachusetts and attempt a romance in this inspired comedy by contemporary playwright Tina Howe.

The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams
Directed by Anders Cato
Previews: August 1, 2, 3
Opens: August 4
Postscript: August 7
Closes: August 12

Legendary playwright Tennessee Williams reveals the souls of four outcasts: a defrocked minister, a randy widow, a free-spirited girl and "the oldest living and practicing poet" who find themselves trapped together one stormy night in a desolate Mexican hotel.

The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein
Directed by TBA
Previews: August 15, 16, 17
Opens: August 18
Postscript: August 21
Closes: September 2

Winner of the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize, this witty, moving play traces the coming of age of professor Heidi Holland and her Baby Boomer friends as they struggle to reconcile their feminist ideals with the realities of careers, lovers, and motherhood.

Unicorn Stage

The Illusion by Pierre Corneille; Freely adapted by Tony Kushner
Directed by Richard Corley
Previews: May 25, 26
Opens: May 27
Postscript: June 2 and June 19
Closes: June 24
Playing: Thursday through Saturday at 8pm;
In addition there will be special Monday through
Wednesday performances, June 19-21 at 8pm
and a Sunday matinee, May 28 at 2pm 

The show that closed the original Unicorn Theatre is restaged for the new Unicorn’s 10th anniversary. A 17th century folk tale adapted by Pulitzer Prize-winner Tony Kushner, The Illusion is both a story of an old man's search for his long-lost son and a powerful meditation on the value of theatre.

Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone? byTerrence McNally
Directed by E. Gray Simons III
Previews: June 28
Opens: June 29
Postscript: July 3
Closes: July 22

Alternately zany and slightly vulgar one minute and tender and touching the next, this biting comedy portrays the 1960s life of one Tommy Flowers--irrepressible cut-up, determined freeloader, and disenchanted rebel against society.

The Pilgrim Papers by Stephen Temperley
Directed by Vivian Matalon
Previews: July 28-August 1
Opens: August 2
Postscript: August 7
Closes: August 26
World Premiere

From the team behind last-year’s hit play, Souvenir, comes a rousing political satire that will overturn all your preconceptions not only about the Pilgrims—Turkeys, Thanksgiving, Plymouth Rock—but also about Hippies, the C.I.A., religious fundamentalism, and same-sex marriage. Any similarities to present-day America are...?

Via Dolorosa by David Hare
Directed by Anders Cato
With Jonathan Epstein
Previews: August 29
Opens: August 30
Postscript: September 1
Closes: October 21
Playing: August 29- September 2,
September 29-30, October 6-7,
October 12-14,
and October 19-21 at 8pm.
Matinees September 3 at 2pm and
September 28 and October 5 at 11am.

In this one-man play, David Hare reflects on his extraordinary journey to Israel and Palestine. Forced to question his own values, he discovers unexpected similarities between his personal prejudices, passions, and suspicions and those he finds in the Middle East.

Family Programming

BTF PLAYS!
James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl;
Dramatized by Richard R. George
Directed by TBA
At the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield
June 28 through July 22
Playing: Wednesday through Saturday 11am

James was stuck with his horribly selfish and hopelessly lazy aunts, Spiker and Sponge. But when a peach is magically transformed into a giant movable dwelling, James is off on a sweet adventure with his new insect friends.

The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum;
Music and lyrics of the MGM Motion Picture Score
by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg;
Background music by Herbert Stothart; Book adaptation by John Kane
from the Motion Picture Screenplay
Directed by E. Gray Simons III
September 8 at 7:30pm and September 9 at 2pm and 7pm
Proceeds to benefit Berkshire Taconic Community
Foundation Educational Enrichment Initiative

Dorothy’s classic journey over the rainbow comes to BTF’s Main Stage performed by students from public schools across Berkshire County. She’ll follow the yellow brick road with the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion and finally come to realize "there’s no place like home."

Tickets and Schedules

Main Stage performances are Monday through Saturday
evenings at 8pm with matinees at 2pm on Thursdays and Saturdays.
Tickets range from $37-$64.

Unicorn performances are Monday through Saturday
evenings at 8pm with matinees at 2pm on Saturdays for most shows.
Prices range from $28-$43.

Group rates available for 25 or more.

Opening Nights are also Press Nights.

Tickets to James and the Giant Peach will be sold through the Berkshire Museum.
Tickets to The Wizard of Oz will be available through the BTF Box Office
and through local schools.

Contact the BTF Box Office at 413-298-5536 ext. 33 or visit www.berkshiretheatre.org.