BTG Announces Addition Of Nicholas Paleologos As Executive Director

The Board of Trustees and Kate Maguire (Artistic Director/CEO) are pleased to announce that Nicholas Paleologos is joining Berkshire Theatre Group as Executive Director.

Kate Maguire says, "Nicholas brings a wealth of experience to us from the world of producing and governing."

Nicholas Paleologos says, "I fell in love with the Berkshires in my twenties when I saw my first show here at the invitation of Senator Jack Fitzpatrick. Coming back now to work for such a storied institution as BTG is a dream come true."

Paleologos served for 14 years as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, where his primary focus was education and the arts. He was House Chairman of the Education, Arts and Humanities Committee from 1985 to 1990. During that period, he was the author of several major initiatives including; the Education Reform Act of 1985 (Chapter 188), the Performing Arts Student Series (PASS Program), the 1988 Boston/Moscow Cultural Exchange program, the Student Freedom of Expression law, and the College Opportunity Bond law.

After leaving the Legislature in 1990, Paleologos helped spearhead the drive to create the Boston Renaissance Charter Public School-the largest of its kind in the country at that time. He then served for over a decade as one of its Founding Trustees. He was honored by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees in 2007 for his Lifetime Service To Public Education.

In September of 2000, Paleologos founded Boston's Stuart Street Playhouse where he was the Producing Director for nearly a decade, during which time he taught a course in theater production at Tufts University.

From 2007 until 2010, he also served as Executive Director of the Massachusetts Film Office. Under his leadership, the Film Office attracted more than a billion dollars of new direct spending on film and television production to the Commonwealth. Also during his tenure, Massachusetts-made movies (including: The Fighter, Shutter Island, The Town, The Social Network, Game Plan, 21, Mall Cop, The Proposal, and Ted) earned a record sixteen Academy Award-nominations, and topped Variety's weekly box-office chart an unprecedented ten times in four years.

A two-time Tony Award-winning producer, whose credits include both the London and Broadway productions of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Paleologos is also the recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award-nomination for the HBO film In The Gloaming-which marked the directorial debut of the late Christopher Reeve. His other film for HBO was the Emmy-nominated Lansky, written by David Mamet and starring Richard Dreyfus. Motion pictures include: Hurlyburly and Ghosts Of Mississippi, featuring an Academy Award-nominated performance by James Woods. He has produced documentaries for both Frontline and The American Experience. His last film for PBS was, Louis Brandeis, The People's Attorney.

In 2011 he was appointed Executive Director of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. During his six year tenure, the Council awarded thousands of grants totaling close to $100 million in support of the Garden State's most talented artists and arts organizations.

Paleologos is the author of several published articles on a wide variety of subjects. He won the 2014 Harvardwood Writers' Competition for Best Feature Screenplay (The Story Of Television). Nicholas Paleologos is a cum laude graduate of Tufts University. He received his Masters Degree in Public Administration from Harvard University. He is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from the Boston Conservatory, and in 2016 he was awarded the Medal of Excellence from Rowan University.

The Colonial Theatre, founded in 1903, and Berkshire Theatre Festival, founded in 1928, are two of the oldest cultural organizations in the Berkshires. In 2010, under the leadership of Artistic Director and CEO Kate Maguire, the two organizations merged to form Berkshire Theatre Group (BTG). Berkshire Theatre Group's mission is to support wide ranging artistic exploration and acclaimed performances in theatre, dance, music and entertainment. Every year, BTG produces and presents performances to over 68,000 attendees and, through our Educational Program, serves over 13,000 Berkshire County school children annually.