theater

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. – It must be some sort of reviewer’s jinx that the play in a season you are most looking forward to experiencing is often the most disappointing.

“Animals” is the third play of the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s season recorded as an audio book.  It is actually the first that make me realize how much I missed live theater at Williamstown this summer.

It’s impossible to know if the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s gamble to do their 2020 season as a series of audible books will pay off financially.   However, with the release of the first two plays of the seven-play series it has become clear it is an artistic success.

In March, when it became apparent that live theater would be almost impossible to produce during the Covid-19 pandemic, many theaters either shut down or experimented with streaming platforms.

The ideal situation for any artist is when you can develop a quality product and use it for the good of the community.

We welcome New York Post theater columnist Michael Riedel to the Roundtable this morning with the publication of his second book, Singular Sensation: The Triumph of Broadway.

With over 150 insider interviews, Singular Sensation portrays the people, money, and power that created the blockbuster shows and aesthetic spectacle that has dominated not only a couple of acres of real estate in the heart of Manhattan but has also captured the hearts and minds of millions of people around the world.

Michael Riedel has been the theater columnist for the New York Post since 1998. Michael’s first book, Razzle Dazzle: The Battle for Broadway was a New York Times bestseller.

WAM Theatre will be presenting the second digital production of their re-imagined fall season beginning later this week, the wickedly funny satire "The Thanksgiving Play" by Larissa FastHorse, directed by Associate Artistic Director Talya Kingston. The production will be available online November 19-22.

The play is fast-paced satire where good intentions collide with absurd assumptions, as a troupe of white Liberal teaching artists scramble to devise a grade school theatre performance that somehow manages to celebrate Turkey Day, while also honoring Native American Heritage Month.

To tell us more, we welcome Director Talya Kingston and actress Molly Parker Myers.

BERKSHIRES – There was once a television series called “The Millionaire.” The concept was that one unassuming person who lived a humble but exemplary life was given a million dollars by a mysterious benefactor.

As the pandemic continues into its eighth month in the U.S. and an administration rails against the fact-based findings of doctors and medical advisors, the Barrington Stage Company is revisiting Mark St. Germain’s play, "Typhoid Mary," where arguments between God and science take center stage.

The virtual reading of "Typhoid Mary," a play by BSC Associate Artist Mark St. Germain, stars two-time Tony Award winner Judith Ivey as Mary Mallon aka ‘Typhoid Mary.’ The reading also features actors: Frances Evans, T.R. Knight, Kate Mac Cluggage and Joe Morton. The production is directed by Matthew Penn.

This is the true and turbulent story of Mary Mallon, known better as Typhoid Mary. As one of the most infamous women in America, her career as a cook left deaths in her wake. A carrier of typhoid, Mary refused to believe she was responsible, citing God’s will and the lies of science instead. Imprisoned on North Brother Island, the conflicts between her and the doctors were as impassioned then as they are today.

The reading will be available to stream on October 30 & 31 at 7:30 pm. Judith Ivey won two Tony Awards as Best Featured Actress in a Play for "Steaming" in 1983 and "Hurlyburly" in 1985. She was also nominated for "Park Your Car in Harvard Yard" in 1992 and a revival of "The Heiress" in 2013.

Ayad Akhtar is a novelist and playwright, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. His latest work is novel, "Homeland Elegies," a deeply personal work about identity and belonging in a nation coming apart at the seams. It blends fact and fiction to tell an epic story of longing and dispossession in a world that 9/11 made.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Every theater has a ghost. Why else is it that the last thing done when leaving a theater is to turn on the “ghost light?” A “ghost light” is a standing lamp with a single bulb placed in the middle of the stage. It’s left on all night.

An eviction sign, cruel games and rituals of death, a documentary film crew, and a campaign launch. Brother and Sister have lived on this door step for as long as they can remember. Soon, Brother and Sister are forced to migrate as the environment violently disintegrates. But sister isn't ready to leave home behind.

Troy Foundry Theatre presents the world premiere of "Models of Perfection." The show begins performances on Wednesday and runs through November 1. It will happen in the E. Stewart Jones parking lot directly next to the Trojan Hotel in Troy, New York.

David Girard is the Artistic Director of the Troy Foundry Theatre and co-curator and devisor of the show. Niya Colbert is collaborator with Theatre in the X out of Philadelphia and co-curator and devisor of "Models of Perfection."

Two Women. Multiple Truths. One Landmark Supreme Court Case. "ROE," by Lisa Loomer, is an historically sweeping play with a large ensemble cast that illuminates the history of one of the most polarizing social issues of the modern era, the Roe v. Wade, U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established a woman’s right to an abortion.

The play provides a reminder of the human stories behind the debates and how hard we have to work to compassionately communicate with people with whom we may disagree.

"ROE" will be presented as a creatively designed, digital production by WAM Theatre. Performances will be available October 17 through October 20. To tell us more, we welcome WAM Producing Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven and Scenic Designer Juliana von Haubrich.

In a collaboration devised to meet the challenges posed by the global health pandemic, the 2020 Williamstown Theatre Festival season will be the first-ever complete theatre season released by Audible, the world’s largest producer and provider of original spoken-word entertainment and audiobooks.

The 2020 WTF Season on Audible is being produced in an audio-only format safe to elevate, entertain, and transform audiences from the comfort of their homes. While this season is different, it is being made with the spirit of invention that has long been a hallmark of the Festival.

The new work looks to transport you into the world of Blanche DuBois in 1940s New Orleans, into a hotel in Thailand where Kina prepares for gender confirmation surgery, onto Tori McClure’s rowboat as she rows solo across the Atlantic Ocean, and so much more.

To tell us about it – we welcome Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director of WTF.

  Berkshire Theatre Group presents “An Intimate Performance with Brian Stokes Mitchell” on September 5 at 8 p.m. at The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

Stokes is a Tony Award winning actor whose Broadway credits include “Ragtime,” “Kiss Me Kate,” “Man of La Mancha,” and “Shuffle Along.” Television credits include Trapper John, MC and The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Glee, Mr. Robot, Billions, and The Good Fight - among many others.

He is serving his 16th term as The Chairman of The Board of The Actors Fund and is a co-founder of the Black Theatre United Coalition.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The learning curve of creative people never ceases to amaze.  Six months ago, when live entertainment, including theater, shut down, I never thought I’d be writing about how well new material can work on Zoom, and other digital platforms.

Shakespeare & Company and Cherry Orchard Festival are co-presenting the Arlekin Players Theatre’s "State vs. Natasha Banina," a live online interactive art experiment directed by Igor Golyak, winner of the 2020 Elliot Norton Award for best director and featuring Darya Denisova, winner of the 2020 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Actress.

"State vs Natasha Banina" began as an online experiment from Golyak's living room and became an overnight international sensation, bringing in virtual audiences from around the globe and garnering a New York Times Critic's Pick.

The live performance will be projected on the big screen at the Berkshire Drive-in at Shakespeare & Company’s campus, 70 Kemble Street in Lenox, MA. It can also be watched from home on ZOOM.

SARATOGA - When attending theater, I always think of a conversation I had with a world-class Shakespearean scholar many years ago.  She made a point of saying that in Shakespeare’s time, people going to the theater would say they were “going to hear a play.”

Sue Frost is founding partner of Junkyard Dog Productions, which is the lead producing entity of the Broadway musical "Come From Away." They currently have 5 productions around the world - Broadway, North American Tour, Toronto, London and Australia - on hiatus. 

She is also an active member of the Broadway League, working on multiple task forces aimed at bringing Broadway and touring Broadway back. 

NEW YORK, NY - Not long ago, on television, every evening you could see a clip of people standing on their balconies in major urban areas throughout the world, clapping, applauding and banging pots to salute health care workers during the height of Covid-19 crisis.

Adirondack Theatre Festival Producing Artistic Director, Chad Rabinovitz, will be here to tell us about their entire season of interactive virtual experiences beginning this September through February 2021. 

The first ever of its kind, these experiences include a from-your-couch cruise, hands-on-insane magic shows, a holiday talent show with live voting, an interactive hunt for a criminal, a film festival, and a “wine and canvas” night gone wrong.

The full season of performances will be branded as IN THE BOX ENTERTAINMENT presented by ATF.  All shows will include a box mailed to the ticket holder prior to the show which will fuel their at-home experience. 

If ever a show deserved to be termed a “tragic musical,” its “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grille.”  

It’s common to call a puzzling mystery a head scratcher.

“Switzerland” is a mystery, playing at Curtain Call Theatre in Latham through March 14.   The play centers about famed mystery writer Patricia Highsmith.    It’s a head scratcher in a way that is not entirely complimentary.

  Derek McLane is an award-winning production and set designer for stage and screen. He’s designed for The Academy Awards, NBC’s live musical productions, and nearly countless theatrical productions around the country - including on and Off-Broadway.

His work is currently represented on Broadway in the opulent Bohemian-Parisian spectacular of the set for “Moulin Rouge!” at the Hirschfeld Theatre and in Roundabout Theatre Company’s production of “A Soldier’s Play” at The American Airlines Theatre.

The Berkshire Theatre Group has announced its 2020 summer theatrical season, with a casting sneak-peek. And Kate Maguire - Artistic Director, CEO, and new WAMC panelist – is here to tell us more.

The 2020 season – which marks ten years since the announcement of the merger between The Colonial Theatre and Berkshire Theatre Festival – includes classics, three world premieres, and plenty in between.