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Barrington Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Producing Director Richard M. Parison, Jr., presents a workshop of a new play, I Got Sick Then I Got Better by Jenny Allen, directed by James Lapine and Darren Katz, as part of the theater's 15th Anniversary Season. Performances will take place at BSC's Stage 2 space, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield, on Friday, May 15 and Saturday, May 16 at 8pm, with a Sunday matinee May 17 at 3pm. Tickets for I Got Sick Then I Got Better are $15-20 by calling the BSC Box Office at 413-236-8888 or online at www.barringtonstageco.org.
I Got Sick Then I Got Better is the tale of one woman's adventures after falling down the medical rabbit hole. Treated for ovarian cancer in 2005, stand-up comedian and New Yorker writer Jenny Allen joins forces with 3-time Tony Award-winner James Lapine and Darren Katz in an amazingly funny and deeply personal account of her journey. Barrington Stage audiences get to see I Got Sick Then I Got Better, prior to an Off-Broadway run at New York Theatre Workshop in the fall.Jenny Allen is a writer and performer. Her profiles, essays and reviews have appeared for years in many magazines, including the New Yorker, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Vogue, Esquire, More, Huffington Post, and Good Housekeeping. She is the author of a book of fables for grown-ups called "The Long Chalkboard", illustrated by her husband, Jules Feiffer. She helped originate the '80's comedy group Serious Bizness and has performed in productions of Jules' Blues and in readings of Spalding Grey: Stories Left to Tell. She produces and performs stand-up comedy evenings in Manhattan . I Got Sick Then I Got Better was first performed on Martha's Vineyard in the summer of 2007; since then James Lapine has been collaborating with Allen and with Darren Katz on shaping and expanding the material, under the aegis of New York Theatre Workshop, which will produce the show this fall in New York . jennyallenwrites.com.
James Lapine is both a playwright and a director. He has been nominated for eleven Tony Awards, winning on three occasions. His work has also been recognized with six Drama Desk Awards, an Obie Award, the British Evening Standard Award, an Olivier Award, and the prestigious Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Mr. Lapine is perhaps best known for his collaborations as librettist and director with Stephen Sondheim: Sunday In The Park With George, Into The Woods, and Passion. With William Finn he collaborated on March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, later presented on Broadway as Falsettos. Other Broadway directing credits include The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Michel Legrand's Amour, the revival of The Diary of Anne Frank starring Natalie Portman, David Henry Hwang's Golden Child, and his collaboration with Claudia Shear, Dirty Blonde. He wrote the book and directed Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which premiered in Berlin in 1999 and ran for three years. He has written the plays Table Settings; Twelve Dreams; Luck, Pluck, And Virtue; The Moment When; and Fran's Bed which starred Mia Farrow. For the NY Shakespeare Festival, Mr. Lapine directed A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Winter's Tale, and King Lear starring Kevin Kline.
Darren Katz is director of the current national touring company of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Other recent directing credits include Happy Sunshine Kung Fu Flower (Zipper Factory); workshops of Falling by Hyeyoung Kim and Dina Gregory and A Day With A Thousand Faces by Tarik Davis; and readings of Grand Delusion by David Rock and What's Really Nice by Halley Feiffer (Second Stage). He was the Resident Director for the Broadway production of Spelling Bee, as well as the Associate Director for the San Francisco/Boston and the 1st national touring productions. As Assistant Director he worked with James Lapine, Michael Blakemore, Scott Ellis, Lois Weaver and Holly Hughes. Performances will take place at BSC's Stage 2 space, 36 Linden Street , Pittsfield , on Friday, May 15 and Saturday, May 16 at 8pm, with a Sunday matinee May 17 at 3pm. Tickets for I Got Sick Then I Got Better are $15-20. For tickets call 413-236-8888 or online www.barringtonstageco.org.
