BTF Receives NEA Grant

Berkshire Theatre Festival is the recipient of a $10,000 “Access to Artistic Excellence” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in support its upcoming production of Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot. The play will be directed by Anders Cato, feature actors David Adkins, Stephen DeRosa, David Schramm, and Randy Harrison, and be performed at the Unicorn Theatre this summer from July 29 to August 23.

Berkshire Theatre Festival Artistic Director Kate Maguire calls Waiting for Godot “arguably the greatest play ever written about humanity questioning the very nature of existence.” She says, “The questions it asks, such as why we are here and who we are as human beings, are as relevant today as when the play premiered in Paris in 1953.” This NEA grant will help provide extra rehearsal time for the cast and artistic staff.

The National Endowment for the Arts is a public agency dedicated to supporting excellence in the arts, both new and established; bringing the arts to all Americans; and providing leadership in arts education. Established by Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government, the Endowment is the nation's largest annual funder of the arts, bringing great art to all 50 states, including rural areas, inner cities, and military bases. The NEA’s Access to Artistic Excellence grants program is designed to encourage and support artistic excellence, preserve our cultural heritage, and provide access to the arts for all Americans.

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Free 80th Festival Series

Fridays at 2pm--June 27, July 11, July 18, July 25, August 1, August 8, August 15

Join us at the Unicorn Theatre for theatre talks, play readings, and symposiums. These events are free, but seating is limited. Reserve tickets at 413-298-5576.

Samuel Beckett and Harold Pinter
June 27th
These brilliant 20th-century playwrights changed the way plays are written. We will discuss how the absurd and unstated elements of their plays examine the human condition from different perspectives.

Arts in Education Forum
July 11th
Why is arts education important? Learn about the role Berkshire Theatre Festival plays in the education of children in our local schools.

New Play Reading
July 18th
Join playwright Chris Newbound for a reading of his new play, Morning, Noon and Night, a funny and poignant drama about a Los Angeles family in transition.

Suzuki Method of Actor Training and Linklater Voice Approach
July 25th
A lecture-demonstration about the foundations of BTF's Summer Performance Training Program.

New Play Reading
August 1st
Join actress and playwright Patricia Buckley for a reading of her new work, Evolution, a tragi-comic solo play that unearths an unlikely connection between family relations, modern science, and the evolution of whales. Directed by Leslie Noble.

Art and Politics
August 8th
A discussion of Robert Bolt's A Man for All Seasons and Rhoda Lerman's Eleanor: Her Secret Journey. Where does art separate from politics? How much truth is manipulated for the sake of political commentary by playwrights?

History of the Berkshire Theatre Festival
August 15th
What has this theatre meant to our community for the past 80 years? Emotionally, intellectually, economically?

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BTF hosts Rachel Schroeder Moving Theater

Berkshire Theatre Festival hosts Rachel Schroeder Moving Theater for residency 8/11 - 8/23 with apprentice workshop and work-in-progress performance.

HELIANTHA
Saturday, August 23
2:30pm at the Unicorn Theatre
Followed by Q&A and reception with the artists and Kate Maguire

HELIANTHA is a solo movement-theatre allegory with puppetry, music, and video about finding light in a world of darkness. Conceived, choreographed, and performed by Rachel Schroeder, developed and directed by Josh Hecht, and produced by Abby Schroeder with video appearances by the legendary Marge Champion and Shakespearean actor Danny Camiel.

When the aged widow, Agatha reaches the depths of loneliness and despair, Heliantha, a sunflower girl-child magically blooms and fills the widow’s emptiness. Will this strange mother-daughter relationship restore Agatha’s vitality and teach her to live and love again? Or will the widow's obsessions and yearnings stifle any hope of renewal and stunt her young companion’s growth?

Rachel Schroeder is a Berkshire grown, movement-theatre artist who choreographs, writes, performs, directs and teaches. Primarily a solo artist, she aims to entertain audiences while challenging the confines of the one woman show to highlight the power and responsibility of the individual in the world: how change begins with one person, and how the world lives inside of each of us as much as we all live in it. Rachel has collaborated on projects in France, England, Wales, Zimbabwe, and the United States. No stranger to the BTF, she grew up in our theaters on both sides of the footlights: as an audience member, apprentice, intern and guest artist.

Drama Desk Award-winning director Josh Hecht's work has been seen in New York (MCC Theater, New World Stages, The Cherry Lane, WET at the DR2, 13P, the Ontological), regionally (The Guthrie, TheatreWorks, the O'Neill Theater Center, the Geva Theatre Center), and internationally (Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Dublin Arts Festival). He has developed the work of some of the most exciting and honored playwrights in the city, is an alumnus of the SoHo Rep Writer/Director Lab and the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, and is the former Director of Playwright Development at MCC Theater.

Josh and Rachel will jointly teach the apprentices a workshop in movement-theater composition culminating with a class open to the public on Wednesday, August 20th at 3:30pm.

SNEAK PREVIEW
Check out two scenes from HELIANTHA:

Ghastly Waltz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHjsW8Osw5M

Birth of Heliantha
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WYLi55jEwA

HELIANTHA PRODUCTION TEAM
Conceived, choreographed, and performed by Rachel Schroeder
Developed and directed by Josh Hecht
Produced by Abby Schroeder
Guest Performers: Marge Champion and Danny Camiel
Costume Design: Maiko Matsushima
Puppet Design: Frankie Cordero
Puppetry Consultant: Kevin Augustine
Video Design: Kevin Frech
Set Design: Shoko Kambara
Soud Design: Tei Blow
Stage Manager: Susan Whelan
Assistant Stage Manager / Production Assistant: Alex Ruhland-Syquia

Tickets are $20. Students with valid ID receive fifty percent discount. Contact the BTF Box Office at 413-298-5576 or purchase tickets online.

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Elizabeth Norment plays Eleanor Roosevelt

Elizabeth Norment plays the title role in by Rhoda Lerman’s Eleanor: Her Secret Journey. Stephen Temperley directs the production, which plays in the Unicorn Theatre August 26 - 30 and then reopens on September 25, playing through November 9.

Elizabeth Norment is well known to both theatre and television audiences. Her New York credits include A Picasso and No End of Blame (Manhattan Theatre Club), A Touch of the Poet (Roundabout), The Man in the White Suit (N.Y. Stage & Film), Sganarelle (Public), Cloud Nine (Lucille Lortel), and Plenty (Broadway). Other recent stage appearances include The Night is a Child (world premiere, Milwaukee Rep), Third (TheatreWorks, Bay Area), Dead City (world premiere, N.Y.), Homebody/Kabul (Ace Morgan Theatre, Ohio), and The Clean House (world premiere, Yale Rep). Nationally she has performed with the Guthrie Theater, Philadelphia Theatre Company, American Rep (founding member/three seasons), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (four seasons), Milwaukee Rep (five seasons), Berkeley Rep; Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum, and South Coast Rep (world premiere, Sight Unseen). Her television appearances include Law & Order (recurring), Law & Order: SVU, ER, The Marshal, Mad About You, Nothing Sacred, Doogie Howser, L.A. Law, and St. Elsewhere among others. Ms. Norment is also a proud survivor of the Yale School of Drama.

Order tickets online or call the BTF Box Office at 413-298-5576.

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THANK YOU!!

We wish to thank you all for making this a fantastic 80th Season for BTF! From the bizarre world of The Caretaker to the elegance of Noël Coward In Two Keys we have been able to share a multitude of experiences with you this season. Our 80th year has proven to be one of our best, featuring groundbreaking new works like Pageant Play and The Book Club Play alongside classic plays like Candida and A Man for All Seasons. Waiting for Godot was an unbelievable success, charming critics and audiences alike. And our timely production of Eleanor: Her Secret Journey proved the perfect cap to a perfect summer. From the bottom of our hearts, we wish to thank each and every one of our loyal patrons, subscribers, and donors for helping to make this 80th season so special. Whether you’ve been with us for one show or for 80 years worth of shows, we could not do this without you. Please make your plans to help us wrap up a fabulous 80th birthday with our holiday production of A Christmas Carol this December. It’s a family treat you won’t want to miss.