Berkshire Theatre Group Announces Summer 2022 Season

Berkshire Theatre Group has announced BTG's 2022 Summer Season. A full season cast announcement will be released at a later date. This season will feature a Tony Award-winning musical, a classic gothic tale of horrors, a world premiere play, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play and the first musical by a Tony Award winner. Also returning this season is the 3rd annual spring production and the BTG PLAYS! Touring Show.

Maguire says, "As we move forward towards the 100th anniversary of Berkshire Theatre, we are especially mindful of the achievements that have brought us through these most complicated times, and we are more confident than ever in our belief that the theatre is the place where we may all recognize our common humanity. In anticipation of 2028, we are developing plans to rejuvenate our beloved Playhouse, home of the Fitzpatrick Main Stage in Stockbridge. In the short term, we will be enhancing HVAC systems. A newly formed 100th anniversary committee will consider how to reach this milestone celebration and develop a home for the next hundred years of theatrical history to be created.

For the coming summer, we are excited to present great theatre in the Berkshires' most beautiful and treasured theatrical spaces: The Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield and The Unicorn Theatre on our Stockbridge campus.

Uniting this season is a recognition that we have all lived through something significant in the past two years and our world is at a crossroads. One decision can change the course of your life. Join us as we travel a new path together."

At The Colonial Theatre

From the very first note, Once draws you in and never lets go. Winner of eight 2012 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical, Once tells the story of a guy who gave up on love and music and the girl who inspired him to dream again. Director Gregg Edelman reflected, "I love this show. I wish we were going into rehearsal tomorrow. Its deeply romantic score is beautifully paired with a script that is every bit as touching as it is funny. A truly rare piece of theatre. I can't wait to get to work on it."

Based on Bram Stoker's classic novel of gothic horror, the legendary vampire Dracula descends on the Colonial to close out the summer season. Directed by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award Winner, David Auburn, Dracula has been striking fear into the hearts of people around the world for over a hundred years. Auburn says, "We are excited to revive the 1924 Dracula in a bracing new production that honors the legendary history of this classic shocker, while embracing a 21st century perspective on power, sex and seduction. Innovative design, music and movement elements will contribute to the spooky, thrilling fun in the atmospheric Colonial Theatre."

At The Unicorn Theatre

B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching by Tara L. Wilson Noth will have its world premiere this summer at The Unicorn Theatre. In this timely play, a woman representing a black teenager accused of murder is forced to face truths about marriage, race and the choices she has made and the unspoken lies she told herself to conform. Wilson Noth says, "I believe in the power of words. I believe they are the greatest strength this world has... I feel very fortunate that I could use my words to craft this story. It is a story of race and identity, of promise and purpose... but perhaps more importantly, it is the story of the potency of being seen. The universal need to be seen for who we are. When we truly see each other, we can begin an honest dialogue... I hope this play can succeed in beginning that conversation."

Songs for a New World is a series of songs composed by Tony Award-winning Jason Robert Brown. Brown describes it as, "one moment. It's about hitting the wall and having to make a choice, take a stand, or turn around and go back." Director and Choreographer, Gerry McIntyre comments, "with the present climate of the world today this show is necessary. With a powerful diverse cast and a score that will appeal to old and new generations, it will fill the space with sound and joy loud enough to echo."

Winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Edward Albee's Seascape tells the tale of a middle-aged couple who meet a pair of highly evolved lizards on a deserted stretch of beach and both couples examine the meaning and significance of life. Told with Edward Albee's signature ironic wit and directed by Eric Hill, the emotional and intellectual impacts will linger long after the play has ended.

BTG PLAYS! Year Round Education Programs

At The Colonial Theatre

Kick off your Sunday shoes, Footloose is pure fun. Featuring 25 Berkshire middle and high school students with direction and choreography by Kathy Jo Grover and featuring pop-rock hits from the 1980s, this show will make you want to get up and dance. Grover says, "It's been a while since our older kids have been able to be on stage together and I wanted them to have something they could really sink their teeth into while still having fun. I love Footloose because, while the music is undeniably joyful and nostalgic, the story has real world issues to deal with. At the beginning of the pandemic many people had to leave the cities and go back to places where they often encountered a world that had very different sensibilities than the place they left. Many people experienced loss and grief. At its heart, Footloose is a story about the ways we deal with change and loss. In this case, it is indeed the young people who motivate forward movement in the wake of that loss and ultimately prove there can be hope, joy and...well, dancing."

Also, this spring BTG PLAYS! presents its 2021-2022 Touring Show, Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS based on the book by Mary Pope Osborne. A magical tree house transports Jack and Annie to the land of the dinosaurs where they have a harrowing adventure, befriending some dinosaurs along the way, as they try to make their way back home. There will be a book-signing with Mary Pope Osborne in the Colonial lobby prior to the performance and books will be available for purchase provided by The Bookloft in Great Barrington.

Coming Soon

Stay tuned for more details about further programming including additional Concerts at the Colonial.

Season Discounts & Ticket Information

BTG Bundle

For the 2022 Season, BTG is offering a BTG Bundle. With this bundle, purchase one ticket to four of the upcoming BTG produced shows for $200 (fees included), equalling a discount of up to 66%. This offer is good for any seat to any produced performance. The discount is not retroactive and must be applied at point of purchase. This offer is available by phone or in person only.

BTGY (Young Adult)

Young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 can purchase one ticket to any BTG produced show for $30 (fees included). This offer is available by phone or in person only. Additionally, one BTG presented show ticket may be purchased for 10% off the single ticket price (rental events not included).

Tickets for all of BTG's exciting summer season productions will be on sale Friday, February 25 at 12pm. All plays, schedules, casting and prices are subject to change. To purchase tickets, visit www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org or contact the Colonial Ticket Office by calling 413-997-4444.

The ticket office is open Tuesday through Sunday 12pm-5pm or on any performance day from 12pm until curtain. Now through March 10, ticket office services are remote with hours Tuesday through Sunday 12pm-5pm. In person ticket sales will resume on March 11. All concerts, schedules, casting and prices are subject to change.

BTG's Pittsfield Campus is located at 111 South Street, (The Colonial Theatre) Pittsfield, MA. BTG's Stockbridge Campus is located at 6 East Street, (The Unicorn Theatre) Stockbridge, MA.

2022 SUMMER SEASON

At The Colonial Theatre

Once

based upon the motion picture written and directed by John Carney

music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová

book by Enda Walsh

directed by Gregg Edelman

music direction by Andy Taylor

movement direction by Isadora Wolfe

Previews: Friday, July 1 at 7pm and Saturday, July 2 at 7pm
Opening/Press Performance: Sunday, July 3 at 2pm

Sensory Friendly Performance: Tuesday, July 12 at 7pm
Closing: Saturday, July 16 at 7pm
Tickets: Preview: $60

Tickets: Sensory Friendly $15
Tickets: $75; Teen (12-17) $37.50; Premium Seats $90

ABOUT:

From the very first note, Once draws you in and never lets go. Winner of eight 2012 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical, Once tells the story of a guy who gave up on love and music and the girl who inspired him to dream again.

On the streets of Dublin, an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant are drawn together by their shared love of music. "Guy" is a singer and songwriter who spends his days fixing vacuums in the Dublin shop he runs with his father and his nights playing his music in local pubs. He is on the verge of giving up music altogether when "Girl," walks into the bar, hears him play and refuses to let him abandon his guitar. Over the course of one fateful week, an unexpected friendship and collaboration quickly evolve into a powerful but complicated love story.

Featuring all of the magical songs from the critically acclaimed film, including the Oscar-winning "Falling Slowly," this is the only show to have music that won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Olivier Award and a Tony Award. Achingly beautiful, joyously uplifting, it strikes an unforgettable chord in audiences and speaks to the power of music to connect us all. A show like that only comes around Once.

Dracula

dramatized by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston from the novel by Bram Stoker
directed by David Auburn


Previews: Thursday, August 11 at 7pm and Friday, August 12 at 7pm
Opening/Press Night: Saturday, August 13 at 7pm
Closing: Saturday, August 27 at 7pm
Tickets: Preview: $50
Tickets: $65; Teen (12-17) $25; Premium Seats $80

ABOUT:
Based on Bram Stoker's world-famous novel, this classic gothic horror story first introduced the legendary Dracula to the stage. Abraham Van Helsing investigates the mysterious illness of a young woman, Lucy Seward, whose father is the doctor in charge of an English sanitorium. Dr. Van Helsing discovers she is the victim of the charming Count Dracula, a powerful vampire who is feeding on her blood. In order to save Lucy, the vampire must be laid to rest with a stake through the heart.

For over a hundred years, Dracula has been striking fear in the hearts of people around the world. Join us, if you dare, for an evening of thrilling terror when Dracula descends on the Colonial.

At The Unicorn Theatre

B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching

written by Tara L. Wilson Noth

directed by Kimille Howard

at The Unicorn Theatre
on the Larry Vaber Stage

Previews: Thursday, June 23 at 7pm and Friday, June 24 at 7pm
Opening/Press Night: Saturday, June 25 at 7pm

Sensory Friendly: Tuesday, July 5 at 7pm
Closing: Saturday, July 9 at 7pm

Tickets: Preview: $45

Tickets: Sensory Friendly: $15
Tickets: $56

ABOUT:

In this thought-provoking story, a woman is tasked with representing a black teenager accused of murder. In her attempt to solve the case, she switches from one dialect to another, or code-switches. Eventually, she is forced to face her own devastating truths about marriage, race and the woman she has chosen to be.

B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching is a play about the choices we make and the unspoken lies we tell ourselves to conform. Ultimately, we discover how to make peace with those choices and with who is left in the aftermath.

Songs For a New World

written and composed by Jason Robert Brown

directed and choreographed by Gerry McIntyre

music direction by Danté Harrell

at The Unicorn Theatre
on the Larry Vaber Stage

Previews: Thursday, July 21 at 7pm and Friday, July 22 at 7pm
Opening/Press Night: Saturday, July 23 at 7pm

Sensory Friendly: Tuesday, August 2 at 7pm
Closing: Saturday, August 20 at 7pm

Tickets: Preview: $50

Tickets: Sensory Friendly: $15
Tickets: $75

ABOUT:

It's about one moment. It's about hitting the wall and having to make a choice or take a stand or turn around and go back. These are the stories and characters of today, the Songs for a New World. The first musical from Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, Bridges of Madison County), this moving collection of songs examines life, love and the choices that we make.

With a small, powerhouse, multi-ethnic cast and a driving, exquisitely crafted score that runs the gamut of today's popular music, Songs for a New World brings us face to face with those moments in life when everything seems perfect and then goes sideways. Most importantly, however, it's about surviving those moments. It's about the way we regroup and thrive under a new set of circumstances-a new world-even against seemingly overwhelming odds.

Edward Albee's Seascape

written by Edward Albee

directed by Eric Hill

at The Unicorn Theatre
on the Larry Vaber Stage

Previews: Thursday, September 29 at 7pm and Friday, September 30 at 7pm
Opening/Press Night: Saturday, October 1 at 7pm

Sensory Friendly: Thursday, October 13 at 7pm
Closing: Sunday, October 23 at 2pm

Tickets: Preview: $45

Tickets: Sensory Friendly: $15
Tickets: $52

ABOUT:

Winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Edward Albee's Seascape brings true eloquence to its compelling yet subtle examination of the very meaning and significance of life itself. Told with Edward Albee's signature ironic wit and razor sharp perception, Seascape finds Nancy and Charlie, a middle-aged couple, on a deserted stretch of beach, relaxing after a picnic lunch, talking idly about home, family and their life together. She sketches, he naps, and then, suddenly, they are joined by two lizards who have decided to leave the ocean depths and come ashore.

Initial fear, and then suspicion of each other, are soon replaced by curiosity and, before long, the humans and the lizards are engaged in a fascinating dialogue. The lizards are contemplating the terrifying, yet exciting, possibility of embarking on life out of the water; and the couple, for whom existence has grown flat and routine, holds the answers to their most urgent questions. These answers are given with warmth, humor and poetic eloquence. The emotional and intellectual reverberations will linger in the heart and mind long after the play has ended.

"Of all Mr. Albee's plays, Seascape is the most exquisitely written." -The New Yorker.

BTG PLAYS! Year Round Education Programs

At The Colonial Theatre

Footloose

based upon the original screenplay by Dean Pitchford

music by Tom Snow

lyrics by Dean Pitchford

additional music by Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins and Jim Steinman

stage adaptation by Dean Pitchford and Walter Bobbie

directed by Kathy Jo Grover

music direction by Erin M. White

choreography by Kathy Jo Grover and Avital Asuleen

Featuring youth actors from the Berkshire community

at The Colonial Theatre

Performance Dates: Friday, April 8 at 7pm; Saturday, April 9 at 2pm & 7pm and Sunday, April 10 at 2pm
Tickets: Adult: $25, Child (16 and under): $10

ABOUT:

Tonight I gotta cut loose...Footloose! Kick off your Sunday shoes-the music will make you want to get up and dance! With a stage full of youth actors ages 12 through 19 from Berkshire County and pop-rock hits from the 1980's including "Almost Paradise," "Let's Hear It For the Boy," "Holding Out For a Hero" and the ever popular title song "Footloose," this show is pure fun!

A heartwarming musical comedy about possibilities and the power of the human spirit, Footloose tells the story of a rebellious teenager who moves to a small middle-American town where dance is forbidden and encourages his classmates to defy the local pastor and call for a rock'n'roll prom. This high energy movie musical bursts onto the stage with its Oscar and Tony-nominated score and celebrates the wisdom of listening to young people while guiding them with a warm heart and open mind.

BTG PLAYS! Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS

based upon "Magic Tree House #1 Dinosaurs Before Dark" by Mary Pope Osborne
book by Jenny Laird

music and lyrics by Randy Courts

additional lyrics by Will Osborne

directed by Kathy Jo Grover

music direction by Erin M. White

choreography by Kathy Jo Grover

Featuring youth actors from the Berkshire community

at The Colonial Theatre

Performance Date: Saturday, April 23 at 2pm
Tickets: $10, includes post-show talk back

Author Mary Pope Osborne will be signing books in The Colonial Theatre lobby prior to the performance. Books will be available for purchase provided by The Bookloft in Great Barrington.

ABOUT:

Magic Tree House: Dinosaurs Before Dark KIDS is an adaptation of the first of Mary Pope Osborne's award-winning fantasy adventure books from the Magic Tree House book series, which has sold more than 100 million copies and is available in more than 100 countries around the world. Jack and Annie's treehouse transports them back in time to the age of the dinosaurs, where the siblings courageously learn that things are not always what they seem.

Siblings, Jack and Annie, discover a tree house full of books while exploring one afternoon. Jack looks through a book about dinosaurs and wishes he could see a real one. Suddenly, the wind begins to blow and the tree house starts to spin wildly. When it finally stops, Jack and Annie open their eyes to find they have been transported back to the time of the dinosaurs. Jack and Annie have a harrowing adventure, befriending some dinosaurs along the way as they try to make their way back home.

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