Barrington Musical Theatre Lab to Workshop New Shows

By: Apr. 20, 2006
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 Barrington Stage Company has announced the inaugural season of BSC's Musical Theater Lab.

Under the mentorship of Tony Award-winning composer/lyricist William Finn, the Lab is a three-year program whose mission is to nurture and assist musical theater writers, composers, and lyricists as they develop new work. These musicals, when fully developed, will result in workshops and/or full presentations.

"We want to make Pittsfield the epicenter of the musical theater world," stated Finn. "To create a community of theater artists where new works are being written, rehearsed, workshopped and previewed all the time, for the entire world to see. There are enormously talented people writing now who dropped projects along the way because they felt their works would never be produced. What Julie Boyd and I have come up with is a nurturing, highly supportive way of working with these artists. Rather than choosing works the artists have written, we are choosing artists for what we hope they will write—and providing a theatre for that work. This is a real theatre for the future."

The first group of writers and their projects to be presented at Barrington Stage this summer on their Stage II are:

The Burnt Part Boys (June 21 - July 9) features a book by Mariana Elder, with music by Chris Miller and lyrics by Nathan Tysen. Directed by Joe Calarco, The Burnt Part Boys is "a bittersweet, comic musical adventure. Deep in Virginia's coal country; six teenagers struggle to come to terms with the loss of their fathers in a devastating mining accident. As they set off for the long-shuttered mine, they embark on a coming-of-age-journey that transforms their relationships with one another and the world around them," state press notes.

From the creators of the hit off-Broadway musical Grey Gardens comes Meet Mister Future (July 20-30), with book & lyrics by Michael Korie and music by Scott Frankel. Directed by Christopher Ashley, "Meet Mister Future takes place during the 1939 New York World's Fair, where people are introduced to television, superhighways, color movies and nylon. Ex-boxer Fred Smith is there too, a drifter with a past, until he meets Miss Casey Kittridge, the feisty young publicist who transforms him into 'Mister Future,'"

"What's the meaning of life? Where do you stand in the universe? And, most important, what do you do when someone offers you a really nice rug? Don't miss Dogs That Wear Hats (August 17-27), a bunch of songs for the answers to these and other pressing questions. Four people come to appreciate the simple and profound pleasures that life has always been sending their way." Dogs That Wear Hats features music by Michael Shaieb and lyrics by Stephen Tomac. A director has yet to be announced.

The BSC Musical Theater Lab season finale will be Songs By Ridiculously Talented Composers And Lyricists You Probably Don't Know, But Should. This celebration of new composers and lyricists, narrated by William Finn and directed by Dana Harrel, will be held Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 2 at 8pm at the Barrington Stage at 30 Union Street.

The BSC Musical Theatre Lab will also be working with the NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program, headed by Sarah Schlesinger. Students from the program will take part in the creative process and work on various aspects of the program.

Barrington Stage Company, a professional award-winning Equity theatre, located in the heart of the Berkshires, in Pittsfield, MA, was co-founded in 1995 by artistic director Julianne Boyd. BSC is committed to presenting new productions of undiscovered musicals and plays, in addition to developing new works for the American Theatre. BSC garnered national attention with William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin's Tony Award-winning musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which began as a workshop at BSC in February, 2004, was produced in its world premiere to critical acclaim that summer season, prior to taking New York by storm at Second Stage Theatre and later transferring to Broadway's Circle-in-the-Square Theatre where it is currently running

Performances, Wednesday through Sunday evening at 7:30pm, with matinees on Sunday at 3pm, will take place at The Berkshire Athenaeum, 1 Wendell Avenue in Pittsfield. Tickets are $25-$30 and will go on sale next month. For information on a Musical Theater Lab pass, call 413-236-8888 or from South County call 413-528-8888. Visit www.barringtonstageco.org for more information.
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