Barrington Stage Co Presents Lee Blessing’s GOING TO ST. IVES 6/22-7/9

Barrington Stage Company, the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director TriStan Wilson, presents Lee Blessing's Going to St. Ives, from June 22 through July 9 at BSC Stage 2.

Questions of life and death are settled over pots of tea in Going to St. Ives, starring Gretchen Egolf (BSC's Private Lives, A Picasso) and Myra Lurcetia Taylor (Roundabout's Nine), directed by Tyler Marchant (BSC's Freud's Last Session, A Picasso).

The lives of two extraordinary women intersect: May N'Kame, a member of the African elite who is the mother of a murderous dictator, and Dr. Cora Gage, a world-renowned eye surgeon who lost her son tragically years before. In this thriller-like political and psychological drama, the two women start sharing a terrible secret, at the core of which is their gnawing feeling of guilt over the fate of their respective sons. The power and passion of two strong women in an all-too-possible modern day situation is examined, as we see both women's political and personal agendas that go way beyond treating a patient...or being one.

Going to St. Ives has sets by Brian Prather, costumes by Kristina Sneshkoff, lighting by Scott Pinkney, and sound by Allison Smartt. Michael Andrew Rodgers is production stage manager.

Gretchen Egolf (Dr. Cora Gage) previously appeared in Private Lives and A Picasso at BSC. She has worked on and off Broadway (Ring ‘Round the Moon with Lincoln Center; Jackie on Broadway; The Vineyard and Second Stage theaters, among others), in regional theaters (The Guthrie, The Globe, The Shakespeare Theater, to name a few), on television (series regular or recurring roles on several shows, such as "Journeyman," "Roswell," and "Law and Order SVU," and guest star roles on many more!), and in film ("The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Quiz Show," "The Namesake").

Myra Lucretia Taylor (May N'Kame) Broadway: Nine, Macbeth, Electra, Chronicle Of A Death Foretold, Mule Bone, A Streetcar Named Desire. Off-Broadway: The Little Foxes (NYTW); Love, Loss, And What I Wore (Westside); A Cool Dip In The Barren Saharan Creek, Crazy Mary, Fabulation (Playwright's Horizons, World Premieres); The Colored Museum (Crossroads, Public Theatre, World Premiere). National Tour: Wicked (Madame Morrible). Regional: Mary (Goodman, World Premiere), The Old Settler (McCarter, Long Wharf, World Premiere). International: The Winter's Tale; Pericles (Royal Shakespeare Company), The Colored Museum (West End). Film/TV: "Silver Tongues," "The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee," "Lobster Farm," "Changing Lanes," "The Big C," "Law & Order." Fox Fellow 2004.

Tyler Marchant (Director) At BSC: A Picasso and Freud's Last Session (Joe A. Callaway Outstanding Direction Nomination). Tyler also helmed the Off-Broadway transfer of Freud's Last Session in the summer of 2010. From 2000-2006, Tyler served as the Associate Artistic Director at the Off-Broadway theatre Primary Stages where he also served as Director of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer's Group as well as the Vice-President of the Association of Not-for-Profit Theatre Companies in NYC. Tyler received his M.F.A. in Directing at the University of South Carolina and currently teaches Directing and Acting at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. Member SDC.

Lee Blessing's play A Walk in the Woods was produced on Broadway and London's West End. His Off-Broadway productions include A Body of Water, Primary Stages; Going to St. Ives, Primary Stages (Outer Critic's Circle Award, Best Play, Obie for ensemble performance); Thief River, Signature Theatre (Drama Desk nomination, Best Play); Cobb, Lucille Lortel Theatre (Drama Desk award, best ensemble); Chesapeake, New York Stage and Film at Second Stage; Eleemosynary, Manhattan Theatre Company, and Down the Road, the Weissberger Group at the Atlantic Theatre. The Signature Theatre dedicated its 1992-93 season to his work, consisting of Fortinbras, Lake Street Extension, Two Rooms, and the world premiere of Patient A. Recent world and regional premieres of his work include an adaptation of Thornton Wilder's Heaven's My Destination which had its world premiere at the Cleveland Play House in Spring 2009, Great Falls in the 2008 Humana New Play Festival of The Actors Theatre of Louisville, A Body of Water at the Guthrie Theater and the Old Globe Theatre, Lonesome Hollow, Flag Day, and Whores at the Contemporary American Theatre Festival, The Scottish Play at La Jolla Playhouse, Black Sheep at Florida Stage, and The Winning Streak at George Street Playhouse. Productions of Blessing's plays have earned awards such as The American Theater Critics Circle Award, the L.A. Drama Critics Award, The Great American Play Award, The Humanitas Award, and the George and Elisabeth Marton Award, among others. He has received nominations for Tony and Olivier awards, as well as the Pulitzer Prize. Blessing is married to playwright and TV writer Melanie Marnich and lives in New York. He heads the graduate playwriting program at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.

Going to St. Ives will be presented at BSC Stage 2, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield, from June 22 through July 9 with performances Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 4pm and 8pm, Sunday at 3pm. There will be two Thursday matinees: June 30 and July 7 at 3pm. Opening Performancek: Sunday, June 26 at 3pm. There will be a talkback with the cast following the Tuesday, June 28 7:30pm performance. Tickets: $15-$39. Seniors: $25 all matinees. Youth 18 and under $15 all performances except Saturday evening. *FREE EVENT at Stage 2: Africa Then and Now with Going to St. Ives playwright Lee Blessing on Sunday, July 3 at 1pm.

About Barrington Stage Company
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's Circle-in-the-Square Theatre where it won two Tony Awards and played more than 1,000 performances. In 2009/2010 Barrington Stage produced the world premiere of Mark St. Germain's Freud's Last Session, which later moved Off-Broadway to the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater, where it resumed performances on January 14, 2011. For more information, log on to www.barringtonstageco.org.

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