The play by Václav Havel will run November 1st and 2nd at 7:30 p.m. in Allen Theater
Sheffield, Mass. (October 24, 2024) – Berkshire School’s Theater Department is presenting its
fall production, The Memo, an absurdist comedy written by Václav Havel (translation by Paul
Wilson).
The first president of the Czech Republic, Václav Havel wrote The Memo (formerly The Memorandum) in 1965 as a satirical send-up against communist rule in Czechoslovakia. The play is about a ridiculous synthetic language that’s been installed at a generic workplace in order to streamline communications. The language aims to remove all possible misunderstandings in office communications, posing a hilarious and heartbreaking challenge to the agency’s self-proclaimed “humanist” director. The language turns out to be so complex, convoluted, and utterly absurd that nobody has the slightest clue how to understand, speak, or write it!
Theater Program Director Jesse Howard says “A play full of twists and turns, double-crosses, and triple-speak, The Memo is clever and funny enough that you’ll laugh despite your disbelief at the winding pathways of confusion the characters must endure!”
The production features local students Diarra Fall (Lakeville, CT), Ellie Grimmett (Lenox, MA), Hannah LaPier (Sheffield), and Diana Splawn (Sheffield). The Memo opens Friday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m. and runs through Saturday, November 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Berkshire School’s Allen Theater. There is a $2.00 suggested donation at the door. Follow the signs on campus to Allen Theater. No reservations are required, but arrive early for the best seats. The evening runs about one hour and 40 minutes with light refreshments available during a short intermission.
The Memo is best suited for audience members 8 years of age or older. For more information, please
email Jesse Howard at jhoward@berkshireschool.org.
The Theater Department at Berkshire School produces two plays and one musical on the Allen Theater mainstage each year. The program is a hands-on, all-voices-heard, ensemble-first experience, as students not only perform in the shows, but also drive every aspect of the production, including props, costumes, cast blog, sets, lighting, publicity and more. Recent performances have included Into the Woods, Matilda: The Musical, Legally Blonde, Rent, and High School Musical.
Berkshire School is a co-ed, college preparatory boarding and day school founded in 1907 with 400 ninth-12th graders and post-graduates, offering a forward-thinking curriculum on a 400- acre campus in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Students are encouraged to learn, in the words of the School motto: Pro Vita Non Pro Schola Discimus, “Learning—not just for school but for life.” Berkshire School, 245 North Undermountain Road, Sheffield,