(Pittsfield, MA) Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, announces the 10-minute plays and casting for the 11th Annual 10X10 New Play Festival, part of the 2022 10X10 Upstreet Arts Festival.
BSC’s 10X10 New Play Festival will be presented at the Boyd-Quinson Stage (30 Union Street) with performances February 24 through March 13, 2022. Tickets are $35 – $45 and are available at www.barringtonstageco.org/10×10.
“We’re so excited to be performing 10X10 in person this year,” said Julianne Boyd. “I can’t wait to hear laughter in the theater again during these plays. It will be music to my ears.”
The 10X10 New Play Festival cast features 10X10 veterans Doug Harris (10×10 ’20, ’21), Matt Neely (10×10 ’12–’18, ’21), Peggy Pharr Wilson (all 11 years of 10×10!) and Robert Zukerman (10×10 ’12, ’14, ’15, ’18, ’19, ’21). Additional cast members to be announced at a later date.
Directors for the 10X10 New Play Festival are BSC Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and returning for his sixth year, Matthew Penn (BSC’s Judgment Day, Typhoid Mary). An Emmy-nominated director (Law & Order), Penn has been co-Artistic Director of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab for the last 14 seasons in Great Barrington and directed the Off Broadway play Mother of the Maid starring Glenn Close.
The creative team includes Nicole Slaven (costume design), Lucas Pawelski (lighting design) and Alex Sovronsky (sound design). Renee Lutz is the production stage manager. Hannah Katz is the 10X10 New Play Festival Line Producer.
The 2022 10X10 New Play Festival is sponsored in part by Dr. Stephanie Beling, Jadwiga and Donald Brown, Janet and John Egelhofer, Mike and David Faust, Olivia Georgia and Steve Oakes, Colin Mathews, Linda and Robert Noonan, Linda and Frank Russell, Sagner Family Foundation, Wendy and Eric Federer, Judy and Bruce Grinnell, Nancy McIntire, Jane and Win Stuebner.
BSC’s 2022 10X10 New Play Festival:
Liars Anonymous
By Ellen Abrams
Directed by Matthew Penn
Max and Charlotte clean up after a Liars Anonymous meeting and regale each other with creative renditions of their lives that sound suspiciously familiar.
Stealing A Kiss
By Laurie Allen
Directed by Julianne Boyd
Two elderly citizens meet at a bus stop where raindrops, turn to rain, turn to love.
Love Me, Love My Work
By Glenn Alterman
Directed by Julianne Boyd
Jane is furious because she believes that Ned told Sarah that he hated her new play. Soon we discover the truth about this, and the unique relationship between Ned, Jane and Sarah.
Escape from Faux Pas
By Cynthia Faith Arsenault
Directed by Matthew Penn
Newcomers to a prestigious condo community find themselves in a precarious social situation, having inadvertently opened their neighbor’s Amazon delivery of – well, that’s the fun part!
An Awkward Conversation in the Shadow of Mount Moriah
By John Bavaso
Directed by Matthew Penn
Things are a little tense between Abraham and Isaac after the almost-sacrifice. The bond between the Old Testament’s most famous father-son duo is on thin ice.
Honestly
By Steven Korbar
Directed by Matthew Penn
A young man and woman end their short romantic relationship and find they can speak to each other with complete honesty for the first time.
Misfortune
By Mark Henry Levine
Directed by Julianne Boyd
A couple gets some disturbing news from a fortune cookie.
Climax
By Chelsea Marcantel
Directed by Matthew Penn
The violins swell, the perfect-for-each-other lovers kiss, and you just know that everyone is going to live happily ever after… or will they? For Sam and Teddy, the long-awaited kiss proves to be the easy part.
The Voice of the People
By Cary Pepper
Directed by Julianne Boyd
Who’ll be HomeHaven’s new mayor — the candidate with impeccable qualifications, or the one with no experience, no platform and no agenda? Sounds like a slam dunk.
Gown
By Robert Weibezahl
Directed by Julianne Boyd
Lynn and Annie embark on that treasured mother-daughter rite of passage: shopping for the perfect wedding gown. But saying yes to the dress proves not so straightforward as their afternoon in the bridal shop reveals an unforeseen agenda.
SAFETY PROTOCOLS:
In order to offer patrons the safest and most enjoyable experience possible, the following standards will be in effect at all venues and applicable to all patrons, staff and volunteers throughout 2022 until further notice.
• All patrons must provide proof of vaccination or proof of a negative Covid test (PCR test within 72 hours or an antigen test within 6 hours) and a form of identification prior to entering the theatre. Booster shots are highly recommended for all patrons, but not currently required.
• All parties will be required to sign a waiver in order to enter the venue.
• No food or beverages will be permitted. Concessions will not be available.
• Electronic tickets are highly encouraged, but not required. Printed tickets are available at box office will-call.
• Patrons will be asked to sanitize their hands with the provided hand sanitizer prior to being seated.
The following changes remain in effect at the Boyd-Quinson Stage:
• There will be 2 vacant seats between each party. No actor will come within 10 feet of the first row of the audience.
• The entire theatre will be sanitized just prior to each performance using a combination of hi-tech electrostatic sprayers, disinfectant sprays and wipes.
• The Boyd-Quinson now uses MERV-13 filters that will be replaced monthly. Every night the entire theatre will have 100% of the air inside purged and swapped with 100% fresh air from outside. During performances, the ratio to fresh outside air to recirculated air will go from 20:80 to 50:50.
Tickets to the 10X10 New Play Festival are on sale now. For more information, call the Barrington Stage Box Office at 413-236-8888 or visit www.barringtonstageco.org.
ABOUT THE CAST
AZIZA GHARIB* is an actor and teaching artist based in NYC. Originally from Colorado, she got a BFA in acting from CU Boulder. Some of her favorite credits from there include Nora in A Doll’s House, Olivia in Twelfth Night, Polyxena in Hecuba and Adriana in Comedy of Errors. She was also in the Colorado Shakespeare Festival’s 2018 season as Maria in Love’s Labour’s Lost, the Food Seller in Cyrano de Bergerac, and various roles in Edward III. When not performing, she is traveling to colleges around the U.S. teaching consent with Speak About It. Aziza is ecstatic to be a part of 10×10 this year! A big thank you to Bloc!
DOUG HARRIS* BSC: 10×10 2021, 2020. Recently seen as Gus P. Head in It’s Only A Play at George St. Playhouse. NYC Credits: Disco Pigs (Drama League), The Rape of The Sabine Women, by Grace B. Matthias (Playwrights Realm), The Glass Menagerie (Masterworks Theater Company), Unity: 1918 (Project: Theater). Regional Theatre: Pittsburgh Public, B St. Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Humana Festival. Doug has developed new works with Playwrights Realm, NYTW, The Lark, Less Than Rent, Ensemble Studio Theater, CTG, Pipeline and more. Films: Spooky Action, December 1, 1969; Day One; The Wait; Viking Funeral. dougharrisactor.com
MATT NEELY* is delighted to return to Barrington Stage! At BSC: 10×10 New Play Festival (9th year!), The Crucible. Off Broadway: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Hospital. Off-Off Broadway: The Trial, The Heart of a Dog, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Puck), The Furies, Twelfth Night (Sebastian), Sex and Other Collisions, Spare Change, Marriage, Unreal City. When not acting, Matt is a Financial Advisor at Inspire Confidence Group in Williamstown, MA and teaches yoga. MFA in Acting from Carnegie Mellon University and The Moscow Art Theater, BS in Theater from Skidmore College. Love to Margo, Allie and Tommy!
KELSEY RAINWATER* STC: Guildenstern in Macbeth. REGIONAL: Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival: The Three Musketeers and As You Like It. Rutgers Theatre Company: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Carlo At the Wedding, Balm in Gilead. INTERNATIONAL: Sam Wanamaker Festival at Shakespeare’s Globe, Shakespeare’s Globe: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. TRAINING: Rutgers University, Mason Gross School of the Arts and Shakespeare’s Globe: MFA in Acting.
PEGGY PHARR WILSON* Associate Artist. BSC: Boca, America v. 2.1: The Sad Demise & Eventual Extinction of The American Negro, Gaslight, His Girl Friday, The Crucible, To Kill a Mockingbird, Guys & Dolls, Carousel, The Laramie Project: Epilogue and 10×10 New Play Festival (all 11 years!). Great Barrington Public: Dad. BAT: Doubt (Best Actress nominee BroadwayWorld). Shakespeare & Co: Leap Year. New York: Six Women with Brain Death (co-author, and performed it also in Chicago, Dallas and Kansas City). Regional: 10 seasons with Creede Repertory Theatre in Colorado performing over 50 roles, including Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd (Best Actress Ovation Award Denver Post), Shirley Valentine, Josie in A Moon for the Misbegotten and Mac in Three Viewings. Many other regional including: Dallas Theatre Center, Theatre 3, Kansas City Rep, Unicorn, KC Lyric Opera, Berkshire Playwrights Lab, White River in Vermont and Rose Theatre in Chicago.
ROBERT ZUKERMAN* BSC: Boca, If I Forget, His Girl Friday, The Crucible, Ring Round the Moon, The Importance of Being Earnest, Thief River, The Collyer Brothers at Home, 10×10 (‘12, ‘14, ‘15, ‘18, ‘19, ‘21). Other regional work includes Pittsburgh Public Theater, Florida Studio Theatre, Firehouse Theatre (VA), Triad Stage (NC), Franklin (NY) Stage, Penguin Rep, Hubbard Hall, Arena Stage, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, Berkshire Theatre Group. Two dozen plays Off Broadway at Irish Rep, Atlantic, CSC, TFANA, the Pearl, etc. Narration: Talking Books (Library of Congress). Tour: USAF bases in Greenland for the USO. Former Theatre Program Director at the NY State Council on the Arts.
ABOUT BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY
Barrington Stage Company (BSC) is an award-winning theatre located in Pittsfield, MA, in the heart of the Berkshires. Co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, BSC’s mission is to produce top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to engage our community with vibrant, inclusive educational outreach programs. BSC attracts over 60,000 patrons annually and has gained national recognition for its superior-quality productions and comprehensive educational programming, including the award-winning Playwright Mentoring Project, the Musical Theatre Conservatory, Youth Theatre, KidsAct! and other initiatives. The company has become integral to the economic revitalization of downtown Pittsfield. BSC’s reputation for excellence began with a smash revival of Cabaret that moved to Boston in 1997 for an extended run. The theatre’s prominence grew with the world premiere of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin (BSC 2004; Broadway 2005-2008, winner of two Tony Awards). Other notable productions include the world premiere of Christopher Demos-Brown’s American Son (BSC 2016; Broadway 2018); Mark St. Germain’s Freud’s Last Session (BSC 2009; Off-Broadway 2010-2012); Leonard Bernstein, Comden & Green’s On the Town (BSC 2013; Broadway 2014, four Tony Award nominations); Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company, starring Aaron Tveit (BSC 2017); and West Side Story in honor of Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins’ centenaries (BSC 2018). BSC develops and commissions new work with two programs: PlayWorks, which supports the creation of new plays, and the Musical Theatre Lab, which develops new musicals. Since 1995, BSC has produced 38 new works, 19 of which have moved to New York and major US regional theatres. Following the industry-wide shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, BSC was the first Equity theatre in the US to return to live performance with its critically acclaimed production of Harry Clarke, starring BSC Associate Artist Mark H. Dold and directed by Ms. Boyd.
The 2021 season, featuring a series of critically acclaimed indoor and outdoor productions, included Chester Bailey by Joseph Dougherty starring father and son Reed and Ephraim Birney, Eleanor by Mark St. Germain and starring Tony Award winner Harriet Harris, the world premiere of Sister Sorry by Alec Wilkinson, the revue Who Could Ask for Anything More? The Songs of George Gershwin and the world premiere of Boca, a collection of short comedies by Jessica Provenz. The season concluded with the world premiere of A Crossing: A Dance Musical, created in association with Calpulli Mexican Dance Company, choreographed by Joshua Bergasse and Alberto Lopez and directed by Bergasse, which won 8 Berkshire Theatre Awards including Outstanding Production of a Musical.