Chester Theatre Company Reveals Casting For 2023 Season

Recently appointed Co-Producing Artistic Directors James Barry and Tara Franklin have announced the full casting for Chester Theatre Company's 2023 season, the first under their direction. Barry and Franklin are known for their award-winning work on the Town Hall Theatre stage, and they are excited to now be heading the organization and programming works for Chester audiences.

"Welcoming back artists who have collaborated with us repeatedly and who share our enthusiasm for Chester's mission and love for our audiences is among the greatest pleasures of producing our first season," enthused Barry. "Actor Joel Ripka, directors Christina Franklin and Daniel Elihu Kramer (CTC's former Producing Artistic Director), designers Lara Dubin, Charles Schoonmaker, James McNamara, Juliana von Haubrich, and Tom Shread, and stage managers Meg Lydon and Keri Schultz Kent are people we are so fortunate to call our artistic family."

"It's particularly special when theatre artists get their start with us as interns and return to us as professionals," added Franklin. "Hero Marguerite was with us for two seasons as an intern, and now she will be making her Town Hall Theatre debut in Circle Mirror Transformation. Meg Lydon, who will stage manage two shows this summer, was a CTC intern around the time James (Barry) started acting here, and now she is the PSM at Portland Stage and Bowdoin College in Maine, and we're thrilled to have her return this summer."

The Making of a Great Moment

Written by Peter Sinn Nachtrieb

Directed by James Barry

June 22-July 2

Actors Mona and Terry are on tour with an epic opus called "Great Moments in Human Achievement." In New Hampshire. On bicycles. While camping. The Making of a Great Moment features a play-within-a-play, and it is an uproariously funny love letter to the theatre. Or is it?

Bill Bowers (Broadway's The Lion King, Steppenwolf, Rattlestick, and more) stars as Terry, and Esther Williamson (Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Taffety Punk Theatre Company, The Riot Grrrls) stars as Mona. Both are making their Chester Theatre Company debuts.

Lara Dubin, CTC Resident Designer, will design lights. Longtime Chester collaborator Charles Schoonmaker will design costumes. Matthew Whiton, Set and Projection Designer, is making his CTC debut. Meg Lydon, who has been a part of many Chester seasons, returns to stage manage her first of two shows this summer.

Guards at the Taj

Written by Rajiv Joseph

Directed by Reena Dutt

July 6-16

Two friends stand guard at the site of one of the most stunning buildings the world has ever seen, the Taj Mahal. They protect it with their lives, yet they are forbidden from looking upon its beauty. But there is an ugly side to nearly everything. Perfection comes at a price, and those in power decide who pays and at what cost.

Multi-talented director, producer, and teaching artist Reena Dutt makes her CTC directing debut. The production will star Ruchir Khazanchi (Lyric Opera of Chicago, Northlight Theatre, Porchlight Music Theatre) and Abuzar Farrukh (CTC's Disgraced, Ancram Opera House, WAM).

Travis George will design scenery. James McNamara is slated to design lights. Costumes will be designed by Oona Natesun, and sound will be designed by Naveen Bhatia. Keri Schultz Kent returns to stage manage.

The Light

Written by Loy A. Webb

Directed by Christina Franklin

July 27-August 6

Rashad and Genesis have just gotten engaged. To celebrate, he wants to take her to a show by a Chicago musician who's made it big. When she refuses, revealing that the rapper assaulted a friend in college, the celebration is cut short. As their discussion grows into an argument, more secrets are exposed, and the past threatens to overshadow their future.

The Light is a "story of revelation, redress, and hopeful reconciliation cued at the intersection of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter." (Stage Left)

Christina Franklin, director of 2022's Pass Over and 2021's The Niceties (both Berkshire Theatre Critics Award nominated), returns for her third season at CTC. Kala Ross makes her CTC debut as Genesis, and Kayodè Soyemi (Pass Over) returns for his second season to play Rashad.

Suzu Sakai designs scenery. Lara Dubin will be lighting the show, and James McNamara will design sound. Kelsey Rainwater will serve as the intimacy coordinator.

Circle Mirror Transformation

Written by Annie Baker

Directed by Daniel Elihu Kramer

August 10-20

Five very different people come together in a Vermont community center for an amateur acting class. They are there to learn about performing, but their games and exercises teach them more about themselves and each other than they do about theatre.

"Annie Baker's play is an absolute feast. Circle Mirror Transformation is the kind of unheralded gem that sends people into the streets babbling and bright-eyed with the desire to spread the word." (New York Times)

Former CTC Producing Artistic Director Daniel Elihu Kramer returns to direct. Co-Producing Artistic Director Tara Franklin joins the ensemble. Corinna May (two-time 2022 Berkie winner for Outstanding Solo Performance in Shirley Valentine at Berkshire Theatre Group and Outstanding Supporting Actress in Great Barrington Public Theater's Things I Know to Be True) and Hero Marguerite make their CTC debuts, and Joel Ripka returns to the Town Hall stage for the first time since appearing in Conor McPherson's The Night Alive. (CTC audiences will also remember his Berkie-winning performance in CTC's Every Brilliant Thing, among others.)

Juliana von Haubrich will design scenery, Lara Dubin designs lights, Christina Beam designs costumes, and Nathan Leigh is designing sound.

In addition, CTC will be offering a special mid-summer special event:

Unreconciled (Workshop Production)

Co-written by and Starring Jay Sefton

Co-written by Mark Basquill

Directed by James Barry

July 20-21

The true story of a young boy who has his sights set on becoming and actor and the priest who exploits his love of theatre to abuse him. From a Catholic school in the suburbs of Philadelphia to a law office on Manhattan's Upper West Side, Unreconciled is the journey from finding your voice to then using it to save yourself.

All performances will take place at the Town Hall Theatre, 15 Middlefield Road, Chester, Wednesday through Sunday. Check www.chestertheatre.org for specific dates and times. Single tickets and subscriptions are on sale now at www.chestertheatre.org or 413.354.7771. Box office phone hours are 12pm to 3pm Monday and Wednesday until the end of May. Check the website for phone hours June-August.

Individual ticket prices are $52.50. Chester and Middlefield residents, members of the military and their families may purchase discounted tickets by calling the box office. CTC also participates in the Massachusetts Cultural Council's Card to Culture program, and those tickets can also be purchased over the phone. Student Rush $10 tickets are available day of show. Special rates for groups of ten or more are available.

Most performances will be mask optional but encouraged. Two performances of each show's run will require everyone in the audience to be fully masked. Please visit the website for dates and details.