Giovanna Sardelli to Direct Barrington Stage's World Premiere of MUCKRAKERS, 6/13-7/6

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director TriStan Wilson, presents the world premiere production of Muckrakers, a new play by Zayd Dohrn, directed by Giovanna Sardelli (BSC's The North Pool and Lord of the Flies). Muckrakers begins previews Thursday, June 13, opens Wednesday, June 19 and will run through Saturday, July 6 at the St. Germain Stage, at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

Muckrakers, starring Kate Rogal and Kahan James in their BSC debuts, centers around a young female activist who brings an older man - a famous political hacker/journalist - home to her Brooklyn apartment to spend the night. But as they start to expose each other's secrets, personal and political desires collide, testing the limits of privacy in the modern world.

Muckrakers has sets by Brian Prather, costumes by Amy Clark, lighting by Scott Pinkney, and sound by James Kluger. Paul Vella is production stage manager. Shakina Nayfack is associate producer.

Kate Rogal (Mira) Stage: Arok of Java at Exit Pursued by a Bear, Cherry Smoke at Clockwork Theater Company, and Boygirlboygirl at the Roy Arias Theater. Film: Concussion, Safe, Coming up Roses, Date Night, The Narrows. Television: Psych, Law and Order, Law and Order SVU, Law and Order CI, Crash, As the World Turns, Cashmere Mafia, The Kill Point, All My Children, Guiding Light, The Sopranos. Kate is a graduate of the Drama Department at Carnegie Mellon University.

Kahan James (Stephen) TV and Film: Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, Unforgettable, Gossip Girl, White Collar, Royal Pains, Running Wilde, Damages, Standoff, Law & Order: Trial By Jury, Law & Order, The Jamie Kennedy Experiment, As The World Turns, All My Children, Guiding Light, Shadows & Lies, Choose, Every Day, Hitch. New York: The Habitation of Dragons (HB Playwrights), Seven Rabbits On A Pole (Urban Stages). Regional: Luv (Guild Hall, dir. Lonny Price), Pentecost (Old Globe Theater, dir. Mark Lamos), The Red Wagon Poesy (BackStage West Critic's Choice).

Playwright Zayd Dohrn was born and reared in New York City. His other full-length plays include Outside People (The Vineyard Theatre/Naked Angels), Want (Steppenwolf First Look), Sick (Berkshire Theatre Festival), and Reborning (The Public/SPF), all published by Samuel French. He has written screenplays for The American Film Company, Bedlam Productions, and Vox3 Films, as well as a pilot for HBO. He received his MFA from NYU, and was a Lila Acheson Wallace Fellow at Juilliard, where he twice won Lincoln Center's Lecomte du Nouy Prize. He teaches playwriting and screenwriting at Northwestern University. www.zayddohrn.com.

Giovanna Sardelli (Director) At BSC: Lord of the Flies; The North Pool by Rajiv Joseph. Also with Rajiv: world premieres of The North Pool(TheatreWorks), Animals Out of Paper (Joe A. Callaway Award, Outstanding Director), All This Intimacy (both for Second Stage), The Leopard and The Fox (Alter Ego), Huck & Holden (Cherry Lane). Recent world premieres: Finks by Joe Gilford (EST); Theresa Rebeck's Dead Accounts (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park); Somewhere by Matthew Lopez (Old Globe) and the West Coast Premiere of his play The Whipping Man (Old Globe, NAACP nomination Best Director). She received her MFA from the Grad Acting program at NYU and is a graduate of their Director's Lab.

There will be a post-show discussion of Muckrakers on Thursday, June 20 following the 7:30pm performance.

Muckrakers was developed as part of Chautauqua Theater Company's New Play Workshop Series, 2012.

Muckrakers will be presented at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Performances ofMuckrakers are Tuesday-Saturday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 4pm, Sunday at 3pm. Additional matinees on Thursday, June 27 and July 4 at 4pm. There is no 7:30pm performance on July 4. Press Opening: Wednesday, June 19 at 7:30pm. Tickets start at $40. Seniors: $32 all matinees. Low priced previews June 13 & 14 are $15. Muckrakers is for mature audiences; contains sexual situations and mature language. To purchase tickets or for more information, call the Barrington Stage Box Office at 413-236-8888 or visit www.barringtonstageco.org. The Box Office is located at 30 Union Street, Pittsfield.

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.