Glynis Bell To Journey UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL At Barrington Stage Beginning 7/8

Barrington Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Producing Director Richard M. Parison, Jr., announced today that Glynis Bell will star in the acclaimed Off-Broadway hit play Underneath the Lintel by Glen Berger.  Lintel will run from July 8 through 26, 2009 at BSC’s Stage 2, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield, MA.  Directed by Andrew Volkoff, Underneath the Lintel will have its press opening on Sunday, July 12 at 7:30pm.

Underneath the Lintel is the tale of a Dutch librarian, who, upon finding a 113-year overdue book goes on a search to find the culprit, and winds up on a life-changing quest.  One clue builds upon another as this once-staid librarian embarks on a journey that spans the globe – the result of which carries mystical and spiritual implications.
 
“All my plays are first inspired by music, and Underneath the Lintel was inspired particularly by certain Klezmer/Yiddish music from the 1920s (and earlier)” says playwright Glen Berger in the play’s Afterword.  “The ’jaunty melancholy,’ the ‘dancing-despite-it-all’ quality it contained, the defiance even — a certain ‘finding-joy-despite-all-the-evidence-to-the-contrary’ quality in the music — compelled me to try to express it as a play.”

Glynis Bell’s Broadway and National Tour credits include: The Vagina Monologues; Amadeus; My Fair Lady; School for Scandal; Heartbreak House; You Never Can Tell; The Robber Bridegroom; The Time of Your Life. Off Broadway: Badge; Jewtopia; Richard III; Blithe Spirit; Pera Palas; Sleep Deprivation Chamber; Invention for Fathers and Sons. Television: Law & Order, six episodes; Law & Order S.V.U., two episodes, Law & Order C.I., two episodes; Loving; The Time of Your Life. Regional Theatre: Martha Mitchell Calling; Romeo and Juliet; Doubt; Woman Before a Glass; Retreat from Moscow; Major Barbara; Kid Simple; Arcadio; Pera Palas; The Last Night of Ballyhoo; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Ambition Facing West; Six Degrees of Separation; The House of Blue Leaves; Driving Miss Daisy; The Cherry Orchard; The Glass Menagerie; Arms and the Man.

Director Andrew Volkoff is former Associate Artistic Director of Barrington Stage Company (BSC) and Genesius Theatre Group (GTG) in New York City .  For BSC: My Scary Girl, I Am My Own Wife, Fully Committed, Santaland Diaries, Thief River , The Shape of Things, and Love and Happiness. New York premieres: Fair Game by Karl Gajdusek and Savannah Bay by Marguerite Duras. Regional premieres: Stupid Kids and The Wild Party at SpeakEasy Stage, Boston, MA; My Name Will Always Be Alice at the Lyric Stage, Boston, MA; and The Thicket of the Lame and Blue Eyes, Black Hair at the Hangar Theatre. In NYC: 365 Plays / 365 Days at Joe's Pub.  Drama League Directing Fellow.

Playwright Glen Berger’s plays include Underneath The Lintel (over 450 performances Off-Broadway, 90 productions worldwide); O Lovely Glowworm (Portland Best Script Award) and Great Men of Science, Nos. 21 & 22 (L.A. Weekly Best Play Award), The Wooden Breeks and I Will Go... I Will Go... Glen has also collaborated with Frank London (of the Klezmatics) on two new musicals: On Words and Onwards, and Loewe-Award winner A Night In The Old Marketplace. In television, Glen has won two Emmys (nine nominations), and has written over 100 episodes for children's television series including "Arthur, Big and Small," "Curious George," and "Fetch," for which he is in his fifth year as head writer. Berger has received commissions from the Children’s Theater of Minneapolis, Berkeley rep and Alley Theatre, and the Lookingglass Theater.  He is currently writing the book to the Broadway-bound musical Spider-Man directed by Julie Taymor, with music by Bono and Edge of U2.

Underneath the Lintel originally opened in New York in September 2001 and has been described by the Los Angeles Times as “A satisfying mix of intelligent writing and quirky humor” and by Seattle Weekly as “one of a handful of great plays written in the last five years… an astonishingly beautiful piece of writing.”

Performances for Underneath the Lintel are Tuesday through Friday at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 7:30pm at BSC Stage 2 (36 Linden Street) Pittsfield.  For ticket information, call 413-236-8888. Tickets are $25 and $30. Preview tickets for July 8 and 9 are $15.  Pay What You Can Night (for 35 and under) for Underneath the Lintel is Friday, July 10 at 7:30pm, minimum $5 cash at door. Opening Night: Sun. July 12 at 7:30pm.  As part of its 15th Anniversary Season, BSC will have 15 tickets available for every performance at $15.  Tickets can be purchased ahead at the box office or by calling 413-236-8888.

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