Photo Coverage: Barrington Stage Opens the Sydelle & Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center
By: Stephen Sorokoff
Barrington Stage Company (BSC), under the leadership of Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director, and TriStan Wilson, Managing Director, has purchased the Pittsfield V.F.W. at 36 Linden Street thanks to a generous gift from long-time BSC supporters Sydelle and Lee Blatt.
Built in 1972 as Local V.F.W. Post 448, the 40-year-old building, which BSC has been leasing as Stage 2 since 2008, will now serve as its permanent home for new plays and musicals and an all-new cabaret space.
“With the purchase of the VFW building, which allows us a permanent cabaret space as well as an intimate 110-seat theatre space, we have completed the Barrington Stage campus in downtown Pittsfield, said Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. “Moving The Youth Theatre to the Berkshire Museum and all rehearsal spaces within the new Upstreet Cultural District will add new vitality to an already burgeoning theatre scene.”
Supporters of Barrington Stage since its early years, Sydelle and Lee Blatt were also instrumental in BSC’s move from Sheffield to Pittsfield in 2005. The Blatts sponsored last season’s acclaimed world premiere production of Mark St. Germain’s The Best of Enemies and were honored at last season’s annual Gala for their continued support. Sydelle has been a member of the BSC Board of Trustees since 2002.
The building, known as Lt. John L. Truden V.F.W. Post, has been renamed the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center and was dedicated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Saturday, May 26 at 2pm.
The 12,602 square-foot air-conditioned building has two levels. The upper level houses a café and the 110-seat Stage 2 theatre, which will be named the St. Germain Stage after BSC Associate Artist and resident playwright Mark St. Germain, acclaimed author of Freud’s Last Session and The Best of Enemies. The lower level houses rehearsal space, offices and a 50-seat cabaret space with a bar, which will be named Mr. Finn’s Cabaret after Tony-winner William Finn, Artistic Producer of BSC’s Musical Theatre Lab.
Since Barrington Stage began leasing the space in 2008 it has been the home of popular Stage 2 productions such as Freud’s Last Session, My Name Is Asher Lev, the 10X10 On North Play Festival and new musicals from the acclaimed BSC Musical Theatre Lab. Programming at the St. Germain Stage began May 23 with the New England premiere of Duncan Macmillan’s intimate drama Lungs. Mr. Finn’s Cabaret kicked off this weekend with the rock ‘n’ roll cabaret Joe Iconis & Family on May 25 and 26. For more information on programming at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, visit barringtonstageco.org.
Photo Credit: Stephen Sorokoff
Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi, Sydelle Blatt, Lee Blatt, Julianne Boyd, William Finn
VFW transfers to Julianne Boyd & Barrington Stage
Pittsfield Mayor Daniel L. Bianchi
Sydelle Blatt, Lee Blatt, VFW officers
Bill Finn Cabaret
Joe Iconis & Family
Artistic Director Julianne Boyd & Managing Director TriStan Wilson
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