Barrington Stage Company Celebrates 10th Anniversary with Half-Price Tickets

Barrington Stage Company and the Berkshire Visitors Bureau are excited to offer ½ TIX again in 2011, a program administered through a partnership between the two organizations. Now celebrating its 10th year, the ½ TIX program offers half-priced tickets to residents and visitors in the Berkshire community. Patrons can buy same-day half-priced tickets to cultural events at area ½ TIX Booths June 17 through September 4, 2011.

"We started ½ TIX in South County 10 years ago with one booth in Great Barrington using a fax machine. Now 10 years later, we are thrilled it has booths in five communities all electronically connected, serving more than 7,000 patrons," said Barrington Stage Artistic Director, Julianne Boyd.

Participating cultural venues in the 2011 ½ TIX Program are: Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire Choral Festival, The Berkshire Fringe, Berkshire Theatre Festival, The Capitol Steps at Cranwell Resort, The Colonial Theatre, Jacob's Pillow Dance, Ludwig Live! at Seven Hills Cabaret, Mac-Haydn Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, Tanglewood, Theater Barn and Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Several ½ TIX booths have new homes this year. The Pittsfield ½ Tix booth will now be at the Barrington Stage Company Box Office (30 Union Street, Pittsfield). The Lenox ½ Tix booth has moved to the Lenox Library (18 Main St., Lenox) and the Great Barrington booth will open at the Triplex Cinema (70 Railroad Street, Great Barrington). The other two ½ TIX booth locations are the Adams Visitors Center (3 Hoosac St., Adams) and the Chatham Bookstore (27 Main St., Chatham, NY)

The five ½ TIX booths will operate from June 17 through September 4, 2011 from noon until 4:30pm Tuesday through Sunday (closed Monday). Patrons seeking information about daily performance availability and general ½ TIX information should call the ½ TIX Hotline at 413-743-1339. Tickets are sold on a first-come, first-served basis and all transactions are cash only. All tickets are subject to availability and all participants are subject to change. For questions about ½ TIX, please contact Laura Roudabush, Director of Marketing at Barrington Stage, 413-499-5446 x109 or lroudabush@barringtonstageco.org, or Linda Beach, Operations Manager at the Berkshire Visitors Bureau, 413-743-4500 or lbeach@berkshires.org.

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.

The Berkshire Visitors Bureau is the official, nonprofit Regional Tourism Council for Berkshire County. More than 1.5 million visitors access Bureau services and publications, including the Berkshires Official Visitors' Guide and berkshires.org, each year. Representing more than 700 area businesses, the Bureau organizes a collaborative marketing program. Membership is open to any business that benefits directly or indirectly from Berkshire tourism.