Pittsfield, MA – Berkshire Theatre Group (BTG) and Kate Maguire (Artistic Director/CEO) are thrilled to announce casting for Berkshire Theatre’s 90th Anniversary Season.
Church & State
by Jason Odell Williams
directed by Charlotte Cohn
at The Unicorn Theatre
The Larry Vaber Stage
BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 6 East Street
Running: Thursday, June 14 at 7pm through Saturday, June 30 at 8pm
Sponsored by: Lead Sponsor, Bobbie Hallig; Furlano and Arace, PC, Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Shubert Foundation
Casting:
Judy Jerome as Sara Whitmore
Keira Naughton as Alex Klein
Graham Rowat as Senator Charles
Andy Talen as Tom/Marshall/Reporter/Security Guy
About:
Hailed as “crackling, resonant, humorous” by NPR and written by Emmy Award-nominatedJason Odell Williams (Brain Games).
Coming Back Like a Song!
by Lee Kalcheim
directed by Gregg Edelman
music direction by Daniel Mollet
at The Fitzpatrick Main Stage
BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 83 East Main Street
Previews: Thursday, June 28 at 7pm through Saturday, July 21 at 8pm
Sponsored by: Linda and Bob Berzok, Natalie and Howard Shawn, NBT Bank, The Westfield News Group, Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Shubert Foundation
Casting:
David Garrison as Irving Berlin
Philip Hoffman as Harold Arlen
David Rasche as Jimmy Van Heusen
About:
It’s 1956, and three of America’s great songwriters, Irving Berlin, Harold Arlen and Jimmy Van Heusen, are at a crossroads in their lives.
Hair
directed by Daisy Walker
music direction by Eric Svejcar
choreography by Lisa Shriver
at The Unicorn Theatre
The Larry Vaber Stage
BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 6 East Street
Running: Thursday, July 5 at 7pm through Saturday, August 11 at 8pm
Sponsored by: Lead Sponsor, Bobbie Hallig; Furlano and Arace, PC; Massachusetts Cultural Council and The Shubert Foundation
Casting:
Katie Birenboim as Crissy
Ariel Blackwood as Tribe
Shayna Blass as Tribe
Chance Brayman as Tribe
Andrew Cekala as Claude
Latoya Edwards as Dionne
Kayla Foster as Sheila
Kristopher Saint Louis as Tribe
Livvy Marcus as Jeanie
Mason Alexander Park as Tribe
Sarah Sun Park as Tribe
Michael Viruet as Berger
Eric Williams as Hud
About:
This is the dawning of the Age of Aquarius. Parental Advisory: this production contains nudity.
The Petrified Forest
by Robert E. Sherwood
directed by David Auburn
at The Fitzpatrick Main Stage
BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 83 East Main Street
Running: Thursday, August 2 at 7pm through Saturday, August 25 at 8pm
Sponsored by: Greylock Federal Credit Union, Greylock Insurance Agency, Red Lion Inn, Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Shubert Foundation
Casting:
David Adkins as Alan Squier
Rebecca Brooksher as Gabby Maple
Joey Collins as Ruby
Sean Cullen as Jason Maple
Jeremy Davidson as Duke Mantee
Shawn Fagan as Boze Hertzlinger
Jonathan Hogan as Gramp Maple
Walter Hudson as Mr. Chisholm
About:
This yearning tale, written in 1934, is directed by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner David Auburn (Proof).
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You
and
The Actor’s Nightmare
by Christopher Durang
directed by Matthew Penn
at The Unicorn Theatre
The Larry Vaber Stage
BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 6 East Street
Running: Thursday, August 16 at 7pm through Friday, August 31 at 8pm
Sponsored by: Lead Sponsor, Bobbie Hallig; Furlano and Arace, PC; Massachusetts Cultural Council and The Shubert Foundation
Casting:
Harriet Harris as Sister Mary Ignatius/Sarah Siddons
Jenn Harris as Dame Ellen Terry/Philomena Rostovitch
Tom Story as Gary Sullavan/Henry Irving
Matthew Sullivan as Aloysius Busiccio/George Spelvin
About:
Written by Obie Award-winner Christopher Durang, the comedic double feature, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and The Actor’s Nightmare is an absurdly hilarious evening of theatre.
Luigi Pirandello
Naked
a new version by Nicholas Wright
directed by Eric Hill
at The Unicorn Theatre
The Larry Vaber Stage
BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 6 East Street
Running: Thursday, September 27 at 7pm through Sunday, October 28 at 2pm
Sponsored by: Lead Sponsor, Bobbie Hallig; Furlano and Arace, PC; The Westfield News Group, Massachusetts Cultural Council and The Shubert Foundation
Casting:
David Adkins as Alfredo Cantavalle
James Barry as Franco Laspiga
Tara Franklin as Ersilia Drei
Barbara Sims as Signora Onoria
Rocco Sisto as Ludovico Nota
About:
Naked follows the story of a woman, in the midst of questioning her existence, as the men around her impose their view of her into the world.
ACTOR BIOS IN ALPHA ORDER:
David Adkins (Alan Squier in The Petrified Forest and Alfredo Cantavalle in Naked) has performed in numerous productions at Berkshire Theatre Group over the last thirty years. He is an Artistic Associate at BTG, and appeared in last season’s At Home at the Zoo and was honored with a “Berkie Award” for Outstanding Performance in a Lead Role. He has worked On and Off-Broadway, and in resident theaters across the country and guest starred extensively on television, most recently on Homeland. Others include: Blacklist, The Good Wife, Elementary, The Americans (two seasons), Happy-ish, Without a Trace, a pilot directed by Forrest Whitaker, the Ben Franklin mini-series on PBS and more.
James Barry (Franco Laspiga in Naked) was honored by the Berkshire Critics Association with the Best Director of a Musical award for BTG’s Million Dollar Quartet. As an actor, recent BTG credits include: The Caretaker, The Who’s Tommy and A Thousand Clowns. Locally, he also works often with the Chester Theatre Company where his credits include: The Aliens, Sister Play, Arms On Fire and Wittenberg. Broadway/Nat’l Tour: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Million Dollar Quartet. TV: Difficult People. As a composer, his work was featured in the Studio Theatre productions of Three Sisters and No Sisters, and his album Embrace Yourself Tonight is streamable and available on vinyl LP through Etsy. Proud New Neighborhood company member. James and cast mate/better half Tara Franklin live with their 7 year old son in Williamstown.
Katie Birenboim (Crissy in Hair) is delighted to be returning to BTG for her fifth summer season, where she started as an Acting Intern and has since appeared in A Little Night Music(Ensemble/ Anne u/s), Mary Poppins (Mary), Fiorello! (Marie Fischer) and Arsenic and Old Lace (Elaine Harper). In New York City, Katie reprised her starring role in the Off-Broadway revival of Fiorello! at Classic Stage Company (a BTG transfer!) and appeared in the world premier workshop of Rapture at the Barrow Group. Other favorite credits include: Guys and Dolls (Adelaide), Annie Get Your Gun (Annie Oakley) and Little Women (Jo March). Katie has also assistant directed several productions, her favorite being John Rando’s The New Yorkers at City Center Encores!, and was thrilled to mount Mary Poppins on her own this spring. Proud AEA member and Princeton University grad. Many thanks to her family at BTG, Rikky and Sean at Hybrid, John, Ma & Papa, and, as always, Mom and Dad.www.katiebirenboim.com.
Ariel Blackwood (Tribe in Hair) was last seen in Times Square: The Musical conceived by The Civilians Theatre Company as Ophelia. She had the pleasure of studying within the Department of Drama’s New Studio on Broadway and the Experimental Theatre Wing, at NYU/Tisch School of the Arts. Her favorite works include: the Tisch Drama Stageworks In the Heights (ensemble/ Vanessa u/s), the NYU Reality Show founded by Elizabeth Swados, The Colored Museum (LaLa/ Lady in Plaid) and The Black Girl Magic Show at the Ars Nova Theatre and JACK (BK). NYU BFA C/O 2018.
Shayna Blass (Tribe in Hair) Regional: Signature Theatre (VA): Freaky Friday, The Mystery of Love & Sex, Cabaret; Theater J: The Last of Ballyhoo, Yentl, Another Way Home, Arena Stage: Fiddler on the Roof, Rep Stage: Technicolor Life, Forum Theatre: Passion Play. New York: New York Music Theatre Festival: Firefly in the Light. Blass graduated with a BA from American University. Instagram: @shaynablass. www.shaynablass.com
Chance Brayman (Tribe in Hair) Theatre credits include: Zip in Through the Rain, Finch in Winter Affair, Shall We Dance.
Rebecca Brooksher (Gabby Maple in The Petrified Forest) this production will be her fifth collaboration with David Auburn and BTG, having last been seen as Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which earned her a Berkshire Theatre Award Nomination. Other area credits include Molly Sweeney, Blackbird and Nina Variations at Chester Theater Company, and All my Sons and Private Lives at Barrington Stage. New York credits include: The Roads To Home (Primary Stages), The Real Thing (Roundabout), Loot (Red Bull), Dying City (Lincoln Center, Lortel nomination Best Actress), Love’s Labor’s Lost (The Public Theater), The Scariest (Bleeker Street), White People (Atlantic Stage 2). Recent regional credits include:Golden Age (The Kennedy Center), She Stoops to Conquer and Twelfth Night (McCarter Theatre), Monster at the Door (Alley), Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare Theatre of NJ), andMr. Wolf (Cleveland Playhouse). TV: The Sinner, Elementary, Love Monkey, Ugly Betty, The Confession; recurring on Happyish, The Good Wife, Canterbury’s Law, One Life to Live. Film:Cold Souls, The Muse. Juilliard graduate (Group 34).
Andrew Cekala (Claude in Hair) favorite credits include: the Broadway Revival of Pippin (Theo), following its run at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge (Broadway World Boston Award, IRNE Nomination), as well as Heart of Robin Hood (Jethro) and Marie Antoinette (Dauphin; IRNE Award), also at American Repertory Theater. Other favorites include: Bert in All My Sons (Huntington Theatre Company), Andrea Sarti in The Life of Galileo (Underground Railway Theater), Ralphie in A Christmas Story (New Repertory Theatre; IRNE Nomination) and Edgar in Ragtime (Berklee College of Music), as well as numerous workshops and readings in Boston and New York. Andrew is currently a senior at Concord Academy in Massachusetts and hopes to pursue theater in college following his graduation.
Joey Collins (Ruby in The Petrified Forest) BTG: At Home at the Zoo (Berkshire Theatre Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play), The Homecoming. Broadway: The Glass Menagerie, Rock n’ Roll and The Lonesome West. Off-Broadway: 1599, Straight Faced Lies, St. Joan of the Stockyards, Vieux Carré, Bug, Beasley’s Christmas Party, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde, Apartment 3A, The Antigone Project. World Premieres: Mark St. Germain’s Scott & Hem at Contemporary American Theater Festival and Barrington Stage; Custody of the Eyes by Anthony Giardina at Cleveland Playhouse; Beat Generation, the lost play by Jack Kerouac; and Oceanside by Nick Gandiello at Merrimack Rep. Regional theaters: Rep. Theatre of St. Louis, Triad Stage, Berkeley Rep.,Yale Rep., Pioneer Theatre, The Old Globe, Cape Playhouse, A.C.T. in San Francisco, Cincinnati Playhouse and others. Film: Dottie’s Thanksgiving Pickle with Olympia Dukakis, There You Are, Un Oeuf Is Enough, Bittersweet, The Number 36, Double Take. Television: Luke Cage, Law and Order, Kidnapped, All My Children, Guiding Light, As the World Turns. www.joeycollins.net@MrJoeyCollins
Sean Cullen (Jason Maple in The Petrified Forest) has appeared in the Oscar Award-nominated Michael Clayton (with George Clooney,) and the Tony Award-winning South Pacific (with Kelli O’Hara). His recent films include HBO’s Paterno (with Al Pacino) andDeLorean (with Alec Baldwin). Sean recently guest starred on Bull (CBS), Suits (USA),House of Cards (Netflix); and The Blacklist (NBC). He played Franz in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live (with Carrie Underwood). Sean‘s Broadway credits also include: Golden Boy (with Tony Shaloub), James Joyce’s The Dead (with Christopher Walken) and Coram Boy. Sean‘s film work also includes Revolutionary Road (with Leonardo DiCaprio), He Does Not Want Peace(with David Strathairn), Simone (with Al Pacino) and Cop Out (with Bruce Willis and Tracey Morgan). He has also appeared at more than twenty of America’s leading regional theatres, including the Kennedy Center, A.C.T., Williamstown and the Westport Playhouse.Sean’s a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and St. Bonaventure University.
Jeremy Davidson (Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest) BTG: Quills; Wilder, Wilder, Wilder;Desire Under the Elms; Dimetos; Coastal Disturbances and the one-man play Nijinsky’s Last Dance (also Signature Theater and Kennedy Center, Helen Hayes Award-nomination). Broadway: Epic Proportions. Off-Broadway: Blood and Gifts (Lincoln Center), Back Back Back (Manhattan Theater Club, Drama Desk Award-nomination), La Terrasse (MTC),Cyclone (Studio Dante). Regonial: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Kennedy Center with Mary Stuart Masterson & George Grizzard, Geffen Theater with John Goodman), Off the Main Road(Williamstown), Going Native (Long Wharf), The Foreigner (Virginia Stage). TV: Seven Seconds, Bull, The Americans, Madame Secretary, Royal Pains, Show Me a Hero, Army Wives, Kill Point, Brothers and Sisters and others. Film: Salt, Little Chenier,Before/During/After, Deprivation and You Bury Your Own. Writer/Director: Tickling Leo (Jury Award: Best Film, Stonybrook Film Festival). Co-founder of Storyhorse Documentary Theater in the Hudson Valley (storyhorsetheater.org).
Latoya Edwards (Dionne in Hair) was recently seen as Pearl in Miss You Like Hell at The Public Theater. Her other credits include: Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical at Atlantic Theater Co, Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat at Adirondack Theatre Festival and Carefully Taughtat Astoria PAC. Her TV/Film credits include The Get Down, Law & Order: SVU and the short film Want a Cookie?. www.latoyaedwards.nyc
Shawn Fagan (Boze Hertzlinger in The Petrified Forest) favorite roles include Hal/Henry in The Making of a King: Henry IV 1&2/Henry V (Playmakers Rep), Frank/Franz in Appropriate(Westport Country Playhouse), Angelo in Measure for Measure (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), the Stage Manager in Our Town (Portland Center Stage), Caleb in The Whipping Man (Cleveland Play House), Christy in The Playboy of the Western World (Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival), Edgar in King Lear (Utah Shakespeare Festival), Hamlet in the world premier of Wittenberg (Arden Theatre Company), Texas in Intimations for Saxophone (Arena Stage), and Hugh in The Voysey Inheritance (Denver Center). New York credits include Hotspur in Henry IV Part One, Philinte in The Misanthrope (Pearl Theatre Co.); James Whelan in the U.S. Premiere of Wife to James Whelan (Mint Theatre); Peninsula (Soho Rep); Freakshow, Dearest Eugenia Haggis (Clubbed Thumb); and Milk ’n’ Honey (Lightbox/3LD). More info at www.shawnfagan.net.
Kayla Foster (Sheila in Hair) most recently appeared as Barbara on HBO’s The Deuce and worked opposite Alec Baldwin on the upcoming film, DeLorean. She played Emma in the short film I Heard Her Say and will lead and produce the upcoming short film, What She Does in the Dark. Theatre credits include: Spring Awakening (1st National Tour), Molly in A Little More Alive (Kansas City Rep), and Janet in The Rocky Horror Show (A.R.T.).
Tara Franklin (Ersilia Drei in Naked) BTG credits include: At Home at the Zoo, The Homecoming, Mary & Edith, The Lion In Winter, The Puppetmaster of Lodz, Birthday Boy, The Guardsman, Ghosts, A Man For All Seasons, Educating Rita, Amadeus, Equus, The Misanthrope, Peter Pan, Dimetos and A Dream Play. Off-Broadway: Sleep No More (Punchdrunk). Regional: Bar Mitzvah Boy, Sister Play (Chester Theatre Company), Burning Desire (Seven Angels), Henry V, Love’s Labours Lost, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Nebraska Shakespeare Festival), Translations, The Trojan Women, Red Noses and Misalliance (Connecticut Repertory Theatre), The Manuscript Found in Saragossa (Lookingglass Theatre Company) and Gravid Water (Improv Olympic). Film: Labor Day. Tara holds a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA from the University of Connecticut.
David Garrison (Irving Berlin in Coming Back Like a Song!) On/Off-Broadway: A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine (Tony Award-nomination), I Do! I Do! (Drama Desk Award-nomination), Wicked (Carbonell Award),Titanic, The Visit, The Pirates of Penzance, Torch Song Trilogy, Dead Poets Society, Geniuses, Middletown, New Jerusalem, It’s Only a Play, Silence! The Musical. Regional: Merrily We Roll Along (Arena Stage, Helen Hayes Award), Randy Newman’s Faust (La Jolla/Goodman), Travesties (Williamstown), Die Fledermaus(Santa Fe Opera), Candide (Glimmerglass). TV: Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, The Good Wife, 30 Rock, Madame Secretary, NYPD Blue, Everybody Loves Raymond, Murder She Wrote, Murphy Brown, Law and Order, The Practice, The West Wing and Steve Rhoades on Married With Children.
Harriet Harris (Sister Mary Ignatius/Sarah Siddons in Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and The Actor’s Nightmare) BTG: Arsenic and Old Lace. Broadway: The Man Who Came to Dinner, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cry Baby, Cinderella, It Shoulda Been You. Off-Broadway: The Low Road, The Roads to Home, Rude Entertainment. Regional: Hollywood, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Tartuffe. Film: Phantom Thread, Love is Strange, Memento, Addams Family Values. TV: Frasier, Desperate Housewives. Awards: Tony and Drama Desk-award winner.
Jenn Harris (Dame Ellen Terry/Philomena Rostovitch in Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and The Actor’s Nightmare) is a New York-based Actress/Writer/Producer. Her web series New York is Dead, which she co-wrote, starred in and produced, premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival in 2017 and won Best Comedy at the NYTVF. She won a Lortel and Theatre World Award for Modern Orthodox, stared as Jodi Foster in Silence! The Musical, was in the revival of All in the Timing, and many more off beat productions in NYC and regionally. Film: Gayby (official selection SXSW 2012), Fits and Starts, Better Living through Chemistry, Confessions of a Shopaholic. TV: High Maintenance, 30 Rock, Blacklist, Younger, Bored to Death, Eastsiders and Difficult People. Her podcast, Touché Podcast, with Jeff Hiller, chats about fighting your way to the middle.
Philip Hoffman (Harold Arlen in Coming Back Like a Song!) a veteran of 12 original Broadway casts, including: Cabaret, Into The Woods, Falsettos, Is There Life After High School?, Baby, The Scarlet Pimpernel, A Catered Affair and Our Mother’s Brief Affair. Off-Broadway productions range from All In The Timing to Yiddle With A Fiddle, and Lee Kalcheim & David Shire’s My History of Marriage for NYMF. Around the county he’s appeared in Angels In America: Perestroika (Roy Cohen), Speed-the-Plow (Charlie Fox), A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bat Boy, Syncopation, The Times (at The Long Wharf Theatre) and in national tours of Jekyll & Hyde and Titanic. TV Credits include: Billions, Blue Bloods, Bull, Law & Order, Seven Seconds and Orange Is The New Black. He can be heard on several cast and “concept” recordings, and audiobooks on Audible.com.
Jonathan Hogan (Gramp Maple in The Petrified Forest) BTG: Anna Christie, Mornings at Seven, and A Delicate Balance. Broadway: Comedians, Otherwise Engaged, Fifth of July,The Caine Mutiny Court Martial, As Is (Tony and Drama Desk Award-nominations, Best Actor), Burn This, Taking Steps and The Homecoming. A few of the plays he appeared in as a member, for 25 years, of the celebrated, award winning Circle Rep include The Hot l Baltimore, The Mound Builders and Balm in Gilead (in collaboration with Steppenwolf, Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble). Off-Broadway includes: Book of Days, Molly Sweeney,London Wall and Pocatello (2015 Drama Desk Award-nomination, Outstanding Featured Actor). Regional: The McCarter Theatre, George Street Playhouse, La Jolla Playhouse, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and Hartford Stage. Film includes: In Country, The House on Carroll Street, A Fish in the Bathtub and Revolution #9. Television: As The World Turns, One Life to Live, several Movies of the Week, L.A. Law, Quantum Leap, all the Law & Orders and three episodes on season three of House of Cards. Mr. Hogan is a graduate of The Goodman Theatre and School of Drama.
Walter Hudson (Mr. Chisholm in The Petrified Forest) is delighted to return to BTG having appeared in Arsenic and Old Lace, Sylvia, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Amadeus, Macbeth, The Einstein Project, Edith, My Fair Lady, HMS Pinafore and A Man for All Seasons, among others. He has appeared on Broadway for the NY Shakespeare Festival as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, and The Human Comedy, as well as Cy Coleman’s Welcome to the Club, and Off Broadway as the Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors at the Orpheum Theatre. National tours include: Pirates, Blood Brothers and Noises Off. He has worked regionally at numerous theatres, including: Yale Rep, Long Wharf, Kennedy Center, NAC (Ottawa), Denver Theatre Center, Huntington Theatre, Ford’s, Alliance, Rep Theatre of St. Louis, Cleveland Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Syracuse Stage. Recent television includes: The Following, Nurse Jackie and The Onion News Network.
Judy Jerome (Sara Whitmore in Church & State) is a native New Yorker. She is a lifetime member of The Actors Studio, and proud member of the unions Actors Equity and SAG/AFTRA. She recently performed Off-Broadway in the piece Two By Tennessee, at the St. Luke’s Theater. Favorite roles include: Lisa in Collected Stories, Lori in Baltimore in Black and White and Lady Booby in Joseph Andrews. You can see her in the award-winning indie film, Cost Of A Soul, available on Amazon. She is co-creator of the television series in development, Tick Tock. Check out ticktockseries.com to find out more.
Kristopher Saint Louis (Tribe in Hair) is a junior at the Department of Drama’s Tisch School of the Arts, New Studio on Broadway. During his time at NYU, some of the roles he has played include: Berger in Hair (Dir. Peter Flynn), Benny in In the Heights (Tisch Drama Stageworks, Dir. Melissa Maxwell), a Subtle Distinction in Fortress of Solitude (NYU Grad Acting, Dir. Daniel Aukin), The Soldier/The Kid in The Colored Museum (NSB, Dir. Kent Gash), Sebastian in Your Own Thing (NSB), and Man 1 in Songs for a New World (Natl. Black Theater, Dir. Nicholas L. Ashe). Love and Peace.
Livvy Marcus (Jeanie in Hair) Favorite credits include Lizzie (Alice), the Theory of Relativity(Mira), Playhouse Square; Next to Normal (Natalie), Steel Magnolias (Annelle), Clinton Showboat and All Shook Up (Natalie) with BW Conservatory. Big shout out to the intrepid team at HCKR, the Hacketts, the entire Hair team, and her beautiful and incredible family. This show get you riled up for change? Try this: https://dreamers.fwd.us. Lead with love!
Keira Naughton (Alex Klein in Church & State) has appeared on Broadway in The Rivals(Lincoln Center Theater), Dance of Death, and The Three Sisters. Off-Broadway credits include: Rolin Jones’ These Paper Bullets and The Jammer (both at Atlantic Theater Co.),Hunting and Gathering (Primary Stages), Indoor/Outdoor (SPF/DR2), All My Sons(Roundabout), The American Clock (Signature) among others. Regional credits includeThese Paper Bullets (Geffen Playhouse and Yale Rep), Elevada (Yale Rep), I Saw My Neighbor on the Train and I Didn’t Even Smile (New Neighborhood/BTG), May Queen (Cape Playhouse), A Delicate Balance (Yale Rep), The Dining Room (Westport); Becky Shaw(Huntington); Proof (Arena Stage, Helen Hayes Award nomination); Sarah in Company(Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration); productions at the Berkshire Theatre Group, Barrington Stage, Shakespeare & Company and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Keira also directed the world premiere of Cedars by Erik Tarloff at Berkshire Theatre Group and she directed at the 92nd Street Y Lyrics and Lyricists series. Her television appearances includeThe Exorcist (Fox), Body of Proof, 3 Lbs., Law & Order: SVU, Sex and the City, and All My Children. Film: The Independents, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 and Cradle Will Rock. She is a founding member of New Neighborhood. She has been a singer/songwriter in the theatrical band The Petersons since 2001. Together, the quintet has performed at venues including Joe’s Pub, The Bottom Line, The Whitney Museum, Caroline’s Comedy Club and New York Stage and Film where they co-wrote an original musical. MFA from NYU Graduate Acting.
Mason Alexander Park (Tribe in Hair) was recently seen at the Cabaret at Theater Square as Mark in Pittsburgh CLO’s Altar Boyz, Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show and at the Benedum as the first male countertenor to regionally play Miss Andrew in Mary Poppins, all to rave reviews. He was introduced to Pittsburgh through the National High School Musical Theater Awards, during which time he was featured on PBS’s reality seriesBroadway or Bust. He recently performed at the Kennedy Center in D.C. as the 2013 Presidential Scholar in the Arts for Musical Theatre, which featured him in the PBS documentary, Becoming and Artist. He can also be seen on other shows such as Nickelodeon’s iCarly. Mason founded and remains the Artistic Director of PARK Productions, a non-profit 501c3 professional theatre company based in Pittsburgh. Since the company’s inception, PARK has produced over a dozen cabarets, concerts, readings, and fully fledged musicals, bringing in artists such as Alex Newell from the Fox hit show, Glee, to downtown Pittsburgh. In addition to his work in the theatre, Mason’s skills as a public speaker and performer have allowed him to raise over $100,000 for various charities since he was eight years old, remaining the youngest man in the country to ever serve as an ambassador to organizations such as the American Diabetes Association and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Sarah Sun Park (Tribe in Hair) is a recent graduate of NYU Tisch’s New Studio on Broadway, past roles include Joan in Fun Home, K.T. Lewis in Merrily We Roll Along, and Gangster 1 in The Drowsy Chaperone. Sarah gives thanks to God, her family, Kathy, Michéle Ivey, and NSB for their continuous love and support. 1 Corinthians 16:14 “…and do everything with love.”
David Rasche (Jimmy Van Heusen in Coming Back Like a Song!) began at as a member of the cast of Chicago’s Second City, and has worked frequently on Broadway and Off-Broadway, most recently in Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth at Theater for a New Audience in Brooklyn, and in the musical of Little Miss Sunshine at Second Stage, directed by James Lapine. Film credits include: Burn After Reading, United 93, In the Loop, Just Married, That Old Feeling, Men in Black III, Delirious and Manhattan. On TV, he played the title role in Sledge Hammer!, and has appeared in episodic shows from Miami Vice to Madame Secretary to, this season, Veep and Succession, both on HBO . In August he will be appearing in Michael Tucker’s Fern Hill at the NJ Rep. He is scheduled soon to perform his one-man cabaret show, Half an Evening with David Rasche.
Graham Rowat (Senator Charles in Church & State) recently completed the Broadway run of the new Steve Martin comedy, Meteor Shower, starring Amy Schumer. Other Broadway credits include: Sunset Boulevard (2017), Mamma Mia, Guys and Dolls, LoveMusik, Draculaand Beauty and the Beast. Off-Broadway: The Blue Flower (Second Stage), The Boys in the Band (Transport Group) and The Minister’s Wife (Lincoln Center Theater). He has appeared nationally and abroad in Irving Berlin’s White Christmas (San Francisco, Detroit, Toronto), and Les Misérables (US and China). Regional: Constellations, Bells Are Ringing, A Little Night Music (Berkshire Theatre Group), Arcadia (Yale Rep), The Game (Barrington Stage), Saved (Kansas City Rep), A Funny Thing…Forum (Two River Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival). TV: Elementary, The Good Wife, Law and Order, As the World Turns. Recordings: LoveMusik (Broadway Cast Recording), Life Begins at 8:40, Sweet Bye and Bye (PS Classics), multiple audiobooks. grahamrowat.com @grahamny
Barbara Sims (Signora Onoria in Naked) Broadway: A Streetcar Named Desire, Noises Off. Off-Broadway: Entertaining Mr. Sloane (with Alec Baldwin), Juno and the Paycock, Arms and the Man, directed by Roger Rees at Roundabout Theatre; The Hope Zone (with Olympia Dukakis), at Circle in the Square; Horton Foote’s Night Seasons and Laura Dennis at Signature Theatre; Communion; Trip to Bountiful (with Ellen Burstyn) and Laughing Wild. Regional: multiple productions at Berkshire Theatre Group, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Geva Theatre, Shakespeare & Company, Stages Repertory Theatre and Houston Shakespeare Festival. Film and TV credits include: Law & Order: SVU, Guiding Light, End of the Line, Cornflower Blue (PBS Films). Directing Credits include: Tartuffe, Vinegar Tom for Bard College Simons at Rock. Barbara co-wrote and performed in Through the Looking Glass, an original work presented at BTG’s Unicorn Theatre, as a benefit for the Berkshires Women Writers Festival. Barbara is a Co-Curator and director of Made in the Berkshires Festival, of Berkshire art and artists.
Rocco Sisto (Ludovico Nota in Naked) BTG: The Homecoming. Barrington Stage: The Birds,His Girl Friday. Broadway: The King and I, Amadeus, Seminar, To Be or Not to Be, A Month in the Country and Comedy of Errors. Recent Off-Broadway includes: Enrico IV ( Cherry Lane), Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (Theatre for the Romantic Century), Extreme Whether(LaMama), The Light Years (Playwrights Horizons), Old Fashioned Prostitutes, The Bacchae,Macbeth, The Winter’s Tale (among others for the Public Theater), Tis Pity She’s a Whore,Loot, Volpone (Red Bull Theater), Quills, Kaos (NYTW), Measure for Measure, Souls of Naples (TFANA), Iphigenia 2.0, The Harlequin Studies (Signature Theatre). Films include:Donnie Brasco, Frequency, Eraser, Carlito’s Way, A Bird in the Air and the cult favorite The American Astronaut. TV: The Blacklist, Madam Secretary, Blue Bloods, The Sopranos, Law & Order, Star Trek, C.S.I and more. He has received 3 OBIE Awards, including one for Sustained Excellence, a Drama Desk-nomination and a Drama League Award.
Tom Story (Gary Sullavan/Henry Irving as Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You andThe Actor’s Nightmare) has appeared in over sixty five plays in New York, Washington DC and in cities throughout America. This summer marks Tom’s 20th Anniversary with Berkshire Theatre; he has appeared in many productions at Berkshire Theatre Group, and he directed Design For Living in 2014. He has received seven Helen Hayes nominations and a Fox Foundation Fellowship. He is a graduate of Duke University and The Juilliard School.
Matthew Sullivan (Aloysius Busiccio/George Spelvin as Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and The Actor’s Nightmare) Arsenic and Old Lace at Berkshire Theatre Group, The Roads to Home by Horton Foote, at The Cherry Lane Theater; Standing on Ceremony at The Minetta Lane Theater; Macbeth and Coriolanus at New York Shakespeare Festival; Hay Fever at The Guthrie Theater; Tovarich, I Capture the Castle, Noises Off, The Devil’s Disciple, Playboy of the Western World at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Four seasons with The Acting Company. Juilliard School.
Andy Talen (Tom/Marshall/Reporter/Security Guy in Church & State) New York: Blue Man Group (Astor Place Theatre), Church & State (New World Stages), The Tempest, Iphigenia 2.0 (Classic Stage Company), The Fallen (Abington Theatre), The Two Reds (Classical Theatre of Harlem), Caucasian Chalk Circle (Columbia Stages) Regional: Madison Repertory Theatre, Illinois Shakespeare Festival, Over ten Productions at Shakespeare & Company in the Berkshires including Love’s Labor’s Lost, Mother Courage (with John Douglas Thompson & Olympia Dukakis), Les Faux Pas, Richard III, Winters’ Tale, Julius Caesar, The Amorous Quarrel, & Venetian Twins to name a few. Television: “A Crime to Remember” Training: MFA Columbia University. Thanks to Charlotte & Jason. Biggest love to his family & Paton. andytalen.com
Michael Viruet (Berger in Hair) is a Chicago born, LA native, actor/singer/songwriter. Off- Broadway: Red Roses Green Gold (Rachel Klein). Film: Pitch Perfect. Theatre: Romeo & Juliet: Love is a Battlefield (Bradley Bredewig), Rebel Genius (Matthew Puckett), Westside Story (David Cromer/Stephanie Shaw), Dandelion Wine (Chicago Childrens Theater/Eric Rosen). Thanks: Peter Kallinteris, Diamond Windows, Joe Rozner & Josh Duah & Jordan Rogers: Thick And Thin Brothers, Ben Palacios: The Catalyst Mom, Dad, Jenny & Grandma I love you all from the bottom of my heart, and the top of my bottom! INSTAGRAM: @MikeViruet
Eric Williams (Hud in Hair) NYC/Select Regional: Into the Woods (opposite Amy Adams; Ensemble, The Public Theater), Eugene O’Neill’s Now I Ask You (Gabriel Adams, Metropolitan Playhouse), Passing Strange (Youth, Playhouse On Park), The Wiz (Head Flying Monkey, Maltz Jupiter Theatre), Hair (Hud, Cohoes Playhouse). Tour: Dreamgirls(Ensemble, 1st Nat’l/Japan). TV/Film: My Brothers and Me (The Each-Other Project), BRICTV’s SOLE KINGS, NBC’s 2017 Rising Star Project Top 20 Finalist. Many thanks to Take 3 & ATG, beloved family & friends & God.
About Berkshire Theatre Group
The Colonial Theatre, founded in 1903, and Berkshire Theatre Festival, founded in 1928, are two of the oldest cultural organizations in the Berkshires. In 2010, under the leadership of Artistic Director and CEO Kate Maguire, the two organizations merged to form Berkshire Theatre Group (BTG). Berkshire Theatre Group’s mission is to support wide ranging artistic exploration and acclaimed performances in theatre, dance, music and entertainment. Every year, BTG produces and presents performances to over 68,000 attendees and, through our Educational Program, serves over 13,000 Berkshire County schoolchildren annually. BTG’s celebrated stages reflect the history of the American theatre; they represent a priceless cultural resource for the community.