Artney Jackson

Artney Jackson is having its world premiere at the Nikos Theatre at the Williamstown Theatre Festival through June 22.  The play takes place in 2016 in the Break Room at The Cable Company in Las Vegas, Nevada.  This is the playwright, James Anthony Tyler’s first play for The Williamstown Theatre Festival although he has had many other plays performed at other theatres. It is always exciting to see a new work and the Williamstown Theatre Festival offers many opportunities to enjoy the work of new playwrights this season.

The play is ninety minutes long without and intermission. Bob and I discuss that and other aspects of the play which you can hear about, by clicking below.

Artney Jackson Discussion 

For tickets and other information about the season, click on Williamstown Theatre’s website

Williamstown Theatre Festival website

For reviews of the play, click below

Berkshire Theatre Critics Association

 

 

The Closet

The opening production of the Williamstown Theatre Festival, ruinning through July 14, is the world premier of The Closet, a comedy for our time starring Matthew Broderick. Set in a religious supply company, it tells the tale of a man who is on the brink of losing everything until a stranger enters his life and offers him a unique way out of his dilemma . This comedy     is a commentary on some of our contemporary shibboleths and shows how, with the right moves, matters can be flipped and everything swung  in a different direction. .

Bob and I talked about the play.  Click below for our discussion of the play

Discussion of The Closet

Click on the picture below for a video about the play

The Closet

For tickets and more information about the season

Williamstown Theatre Festival website

For reviews of the play, click below

Berkshire Theatre Critics Association

The Cake

The Cake runs at Barrington Stage’s St Germain Theatre through July 15. This comedy provides a look at complicated relationships made more so by political positions. Debra Jo Rupp’s baker, Della, aspires to be on “The Great American Baking Show.”  When the daughter of an old friend asks her to bake a cake for her wedding, Della is delighted until she discovers that the female journalist she has been instructing about baking is the daughter’s intended..  Della is a devout Southerner who plays by the rules  she has known all her life. The play shows us what happens next.

Bob and I discuss our reactions to the play in the link below

The Cake Discussion

Click below to see Debra Jo Rupp’s opening monologue

Opening Monologue

Click Barrington Stage’s website for tickets and information about other plays

Barrington Stage website

To read reviews of The Cake, click below

Berkshire Theatre Critics Association

Love’s Labor’s Lost

Love’s Labor’s Lost,  one of Shakespeare’s early comedies,   has been performed more frequently in recent years perhaps  because it raises significant gender issues.  Shakespeare and Company is presenting it in The Dell outdoors at the Mount of the Edith Wharton estate July 10 to August 18. These outdoor performances are special as the audience of all ages sits in lawn chairs or on blankets on the grass watching the story unfold much as Shakespeare’s original audiences saw it in the daylight and open air.

Love’s Labor’s Lost is a comedy about young love and earnest scholarship and whether the twain will ever meet. The King of Navarre and his noble kinsmen want to study for three years and to do so they will abjure the company of women. The arrival of the  Princess of France and her court of young women  on a diplomatic mission sets the action of the play in motion.

Bob and I had the opportunity to interview the director, Kelly Galvin, and three of the actors early in the rehearsal period to discuss the  process of creating this production. After you listen to the interview by clicking on the link below, you will be as eager as we are to see it.

Love’s Labor’s Lost Interview

Then go to Shakespeare and Company’s website for tickets and information about their other productions.

Shakespeare and Company website

For more information about The Mount check out their website

The Mount

For reviews after the play opens, click on the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association

Here are some rehearsal photos

 

 

 

 

10 x 10 new Play Festival Barrington Stage 2018

For the past seven years Barrington Stage has presented ten ten minute plays to cheer up everyone during the winter.  Six actors play all the parts in the  plays in different combinations. This year all ten plays are comedies. Five are directed by the Artistic Director, Julianne    Boyd and five are directed by Matthew Penn, who has directed  television, film and stage productions. He is an Emmy nominated director who directs at a number of regional theatres including Shakespeare and Company, The Berkshire Playwrights Lab as well as at Barrington Stage.

There is only one more week of performances after this week. Since the first two weeks have been sold out, we recommended you call for tickets as quickly as you can ( the box office at 413-236-8888).  Bob and I talk about the plays in the discussion below, sharing our favorite moments as well as the interesting history of the ten minute play. Besides enjoying the play, we are always impressed by the versatility of the actors as they shift from role to role.

10×10 Discussion

10×10 in 10 seconds

Barrington Stage website

 

 

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Each year The Dorset Players offer a show that brightens  the holiday season. This year they are presenting The Twelve Days of Christmas, a family friendly production with a cast primarily of children and a few adults. Putting together the participants of the  twelve days song is a challenge for this year’s partridge in a pear tree. She  gets some help from the audience. Having a cast primarily of children also presented challenges to Sheila Childs which she shares in our interview with her.

Click on the link below to hear about that and more.

Interview with Sheila Childs

 

Click on the link below to get tickets

The Dorset Players

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Broadway Bound

Broadway Bound by Neil Simon is playing at the Oldcastle Theatre Company until October 15. This production of the third play in Simon’s semi-autobiographical trilogy should not be missed. Bob and I interviewed Eric Peterson, the director of the play, and four of the six cast members; Sarah Corey who plays Kate, the mother, Anthony Ingargiola and Robbie Rescigno who play brothers, Eugene and Stanley, and Amy Gaither Hayes who plays Aunt Blanche.

Listening to actors and directors talk about the challenges of a particular play is always informative and interesting. If you have already seen the play. you will enjoy hearing how the actors approach bringing their characters to life. If you have not yet seen it, listening will deepen your appreciation of their performances.

Click below to listen to the discussion

Broadway Bound actors and director talk about the play

Then click below to order your tickets

Oldcastle Theatre website