Greg Vrostos & Angel Desai Star in BTG's FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE, Opening Tonight

Berkshire Theatre Group's production of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, directed by Karen Allen, opens tonight, August 1, and runs through August 22 at The Fitzpatrick Main Stage.

The bewildering journey of finding love in the modern world sets the premise for Terrence McNally's (Master Class, Love! Valour! Compassion!) bittersweet comedy, Frankie And Johnny In the Clair de Lune. After a one-night rendezvous in Manhattan's West Side, Johnny, played by Greg Vrotsos (TV: Empire State, Parks and Recreation), a compulsive, starry-eyed, short-order cook, is convinced he has found his life companion in Frankie, Angel Desai (Broadway: Company), a wisecracking waitress. Frankie's poor history with men leaves her hesitant to commit, but as the night progresses, she lets her guard down and an unlikely romance begins to blossom. This contemporary love story will be directed by beloved BTG Alum Karen Allen (BTG: Moonchildren, Extremities).

Making her Fitzpatrick Main Stage directorial review, Karen has previously directed Moonchildren and Extremities in the Unicorn theatre. Karen Allen is an award-winning theatre and film actress and director, starring in countless renowned films including: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Scrooged, Animal House, The Perfect Storm and The Glass Menagerie. Allen has been in acclaimed On and Off-Broadway productions such as, The Monday After the Miracle, Extremities, and most recently, A Summer Day.

The production runs at The Fitzpatrick Main Stage, Stockbridge Campus. Previews play Wednesday, July 29-Friday, July 31. Press Opening/Opening Night is slated for tonight, August 1 at 8pm. There will be a talkback on Monday, August 3 at 7pm, and the show runs through Saturday, August 22 at 8pm. Tickets: Preview: $42; Regular: $62. To purchase tickets, call (413) 997-4444 or go online to www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org.

BIOS:

Karen Allen (Director): returns to BTG having directed William Mastrisimone's Extremities in 2013 and Michael Weller's Moonchildren in 2011. Most recently, she won an Obie Award for directing the world premiere of Lucy Thurber's new play Ashville at the Cherry Lane Theatre in NYC. Her theatre roles On and Off Broadway have included, William Gibson's The Monday After the Miracle, Extremities, The Glass Menagerie, Miss Julie, The Miracle Worker, The Country Girl, Beautiful Bodies, Temporary Help, Speaking in Tongues, and most recently, Jon Fosse's A Summer Day. In 1981, Karen came to the Berkshires and to BTG for the first time to play Gittel in William Gibson's Two for the Seesaw. She has also worked at The Williamstown Theatre Festival (Tennessee Williams: A Celebration, The Royal Family, Glass Menagerie) and at Shakespeare and Co (As You Like It). Films include: Animal House, The Wanderers, A Small Circle of Friends, Shoot the Moon, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Starman, Until September, The Glass Menagerie, Scrooged, Malcolm X, King of the Hill, The Sandlot, Falling Sky, Poster Boy, The Perfect Storm, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and White Irish Drinkers and Bad Hurt. Karen is on the faculty of the theatre department at Bard College at Simon's Rock where she began to work as a director with a production of Joan Ackermann's The Batting Cage. Karen is presently directing her first film which is an adaptation of Carson McCullers short story "A Tree, A Rock, A Cloud."

Angel Desai (Frankie): is very happy to make her BTG debut as Frankie. This past May, Angel took over for Valerie Vigoda in Vigoda and Milburn's new 2-person musical, Ernest Shackleton Loves Me at the George St. Playhouse. Other recent theater credits include Paulina in The Winter's Tale and Phyllis Nirlinger in Double Indemnity, both at the Old Globe. She made her Broadway debut as Marta in the Tony Award-winning 2006 revival of Company. Off-Broadway credits include The Tempest and The Winter's Tale (CSC); Manic Flight Reaction and The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (Playwrights Horizons), The Architecture of Loss (NYTW), The Antigone Project and Gum (Women's Project), and This End Up: A User's Manual for Lovers of Asians (Ma-Yi). Regional credits include the McCarter Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse, Yale Repertory, Long Wharf, Arena Stage, Playmakers Repertory, Cleveland Playhouse, Sundance Theater Festival, NY Stage and Film, O'Neill Theater Center, and the Cape Cod Theater Project. TV credits include guest spots on Forever, Elementary, and Nurse Jackie, and recurring roles on Being Mary Jane, Damages, The Event, Kings, Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, and all three Law and Order's. Film credits include The Clique, The War Within, Heights, Black Knight, and Robot Stories. A trained violinist and pianist, Angel is a 2014 Lunt-Fontanne Fellow, a 52nd Street Project volunteer, and has an MFA in Acting from NYU.

Greg Vrotsos (Johnny): is not only making his Berkshire Theatre Group debut, but is also making his theatre debut! Greg was born in the blue-collar town of Norwood, MA. He has been residing in Los Angeles, CA for the past eleven years and since then has appeared in many film and TV productions. He is known for Empire State, Lonely Boy, Parks and Recreation, The Craigslist Killer, and New Girl, as well as a handful of other films and TV shows. He will next be seen in Comedy Central's Review and Dito Montiel's Man Down. Greg is also slated to star in Alev Aydin's Felly which will be produced by Troy Daniel Smith and Exit 43 Productions in the beginning of 2016. Along with acting, Greg also writes and directs.

The Colonial Theatre, founded in 1903, and Berkshire Theatre Festival, founded in 1928, are two of the oldest cultural organizations in the Berkshires. Having united in November of 2010 under the leadership of Artistic Director and CEO Kate Maguire, these two institutions are providing the Berkshires and beyond with the finest in live theatre, music, dance and the visual arts in Stockbridge, MA and Pittsfield, MA. The Fitzpatrick Main Stage (400 seats), cataloged by the National Register of Historic Places, was originally designed and built by Stanford White as the Stockbridge Casino in 1888. The intimate Unicorn Theatre (122 seats) is a home for emerging artists and new theatrical ideas. The Colonial in Pittsfield (780 seats) re-opened in August of 2006, following a $21 million restoration, and boasts pristine acoustics, classic gilded age architecture and state-of-the-art technical systems. BTG also performs at The Garage, a music venue located in the lobby of The Colonial. BTG serves over 100,000 patrons per year and reaches over 13,000 students through its educational and outreach programs. For more information on BTG call (413) 448-8084.