Annette O'Toole & Jeff McCarthy to Lead Barrington Stage's SOUTHERN COMFORT, Begin. 7/19

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director, and TriStan Wilson, Managing Director, presents the BSC Musical Theatre Lab (William Finn Artistic Producer) world premiere production of Southern Comfort, a new musical with book and lyrics by Dan Collins and music by Julianne Wick Davis, directed by Thomas Caruso (Associate Director of Broadway's Matilda).

Southern Comfort begins previews Friday, July 19, opens Wednesday, July 24 and will run through Saturday, August 10 at the St. Germain Stage, at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

A musical with a folk/bluegrass score, Southern Comfort is a true story based on Kate Davis' 2001 Sundance Award-winning documentary about transgender friends in rural Georgia.

Winner of the Jonathan Larson Award, Southern Comfort is the story of male transgendered Robert Eads (Annette O'Toole) and his trans girlfriend Lola Cola (Jeff McCarthy) as they navigate life and its challenges in the back hills of 'Bubba Land' Georgia. A celebration of a uniquely American family living life openly, honestly and courageously in the community they have grown to love.

The company features Annette O'Toole (TV: "Smallville", Academy Award Best Song nominee for A Mighty Wind) and Jeff McCarthy (BSC Associate Artist: All My Sons, Sweeney Todd, Follies, Mack & Mabel), along with Todd Cerveris (South Pacific) as Sam, Lizzie Hagsteadt (Sweeney Todd national tour), Natalie Joy Johnson (Legally Blonde) as Carly, Jeffrey Kuhn (The 39 Steps) as Jackson, Elizabeth Ward Land, David Lutken (Inherit the Wind), Robin Skye (Parade) as Melanie, and Joel Waggoner.

"From contemporary country to Appalachian bluegrass, the score mines the country's heart, and unveils, along its way, surprising pathways to a new world," said William Finn. "The remarkable "Southern Comfort" is about transformation, love, and redefining family."

Music direction is by Emily Otto and choreographed by Shea Sullivan.

The creative team of Southern Comfort includes James Fenton (scenic design), Patricia Doherty (costume design), Ed McCarthy (lighting design). Joan Cappellois production stage manager. Shakina Nayfack is associate producer. The production is conceived by Robert DuSold and Thomas Caruso.

Dan Collins (Book) Dan Collins' other work with Julianne Wick Davis includes Wood (NYMF, starring Tony Award winner Cady Huffman), Our Lady of the Viaduct andTime to Kill (The York Theatre Company), and When We Met (co-conceived with performers Sally Wilfert and Michael Winther), which was selected for development at The O'Neill this summer. Other recent projects include book for Our Country with composer/lyricist Tony Asaro (produced at NYMF and Planet Connections Theater Festivity, where it was honored with awards for Best Book and Best Musical), and lyrics for Professor Von Awesome's Traveling Caravan of Cautionary Warnings and Johnny 15, both with composer Nick Sula and The Serious Theater Collective. Dan's work has been published in Plays and Playwrights 2010 (NYTE Small Press) and he was selected along with Julianne Wick Davis as a 2011-2012 Dramatist Guild Fellow. Dan holds an MFA in Musical Theatre Writing from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU and a BFA in Playwriting from The Theater School of Depaul University.

Julianne Wick Davis (Composer) wrote music for Southern Comfort with Dan Collins (book & lyrics) based on the Sundance award-winning documentary by Kate Davis; 2012 Jonathan Larson Award; reading Playwrights Horizons 2010; showcase production Cap21 2011; NAMT 2012 Festival of New Musicals. Julianne wrote music and lyrics for When We Met with Dan Collins (book) 2012 O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference; developmental readings at TriArts Playhouse, Williams College Summer Theatre Lab and Two River Theater. Wood (music) with Collins (book & lyrics), 2008 New York Musical Theatre Festival Next Link Series. Our Lady of the Viaduct and Time to Kill (music), Collins (book & lyrics), An Orchestra Imagined (music) with Sophia Chapadjiev (book & lyrics) for York Theatre's 4@15 series. Julianne's songs have been performed in the Broadway's Future Concert Series at Lincoln Center's Bruno Walter Auditorium and the New Voices series with Joel Fram, was selected for TheatreWorks Palo Alto 2013 Writer's Retreat and for the York Theatre's NEO 9 year-long program supporting emerging writers. Graduate NYU's Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, a Dramatist Guild Fellow, and ASCAP member.

Join the cast for a Free Post-Show Discussion following the Wednesday, July 31, 7:30pm performance of Southern Comfort at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

Southern Comfort was presented in a workshop production at CAP 21 in the fall of 2011 and at the National Alliance for Musical Theatre's 24th Festival of New Musicals, October 2012. Southern Comfort is sponsored by The Claudia and Steven Perles Family Foundation. Southern Comfort is also sponsored in part by The Gregory E. Bulger Foundation / Gregory Bulger and Richard Dix. Southern Comfort is a production of the Musical Theatre Lab, which is sponsored in part by Elayne Bernstein and Sol Schwartz, and The Elayne P. Bernstein Foundation. Southern Comfort is supported in part by the National Fund for New Musicals, a program of the National Alliance for Musical Theatre www.namt.org.

July 25: Free Conversations with... Event: With Southern Comfort Lyricist Dan Collins and Composer Julianne Wick Davis Join Julianne Wick-Davis and Dan Collins, along with members of the Berkshire transgendered community, as they discuss gender identity and social acceptance in today's world, will be held Thursday, July 25 at 4pm at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. While all Conversations with..." events are free, reservations are highly recommended. All seating is general admission. Call the Box Office at 413-236-8888.

Performances of Southern Comfort will take place at Barrington Stage Company's St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Performances are Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 4pm and 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm. Press Opening: Wednesday, July 24 at 7:30pm. Tickets start at $40. Tickets to performances July 19 & 20 are $15. Seniors: $32 all matinees.

Barrington Stage Company, a professional award-winning Equity regional theatre located in the heart of the Berkshires, in Pittsfield, MA, was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. Barrington Stage's mission is three-fold: to present top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways to bringing new audiences into the theatre-especially young people. Barrington Stage garnered national attention in 2004 when it workshopped, and premiered William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin's musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which later transferred to Broadway, where it won two Tony Awards. In 2009/2010 Barrington Stage produced the world premiere of Mark St. Germain's Freud's Last Session, which later moved Off-Broadway and played for two years. Barrington Stage was voted "Best Live Theatre" by The Berkshire Eagle readers in 2011 and 2012 and was named "Best Theatre Company" in Metroland's Best of the Capital Region 2009-2012.

Photo by Walter McBride