2026 10×10 New Play Festival line-up celebrates its fifteenth season with date nights, coffee shops, and a Christmas Eve story
100 Minutes of comedy and drama to unfold with familiar faces in fast-paced theatrical relay as centerpiece of Pittsfield’s 10×10 Upstreet Winter Arts Festival
Pittsfield, Massachusetts – With a cast of Barrington Stage Company favorites, BSC presents 10 fast-paced plays full of drama, comedy, wit, and irreverence, in its annual 10×10 New Play Festival, the cornerstone of Pittsfield’s Upstreet Winter Arts Festival. Now in its fifteenth year, 10×10 will run for five weeks, from February 12 through March 15, on the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center in Downtown Pittsfield.
“The 10×10 New Play Festival is one of the most highly-anticipated events of the Barrington Stage season. From our staff, to our brilliant cast and indefatigable crew – everyone who has a hand in bringing these ten plays to life does so with a sense of elation,” notes Barrington Stage Company Artistic Director Alan Paul, who will direct three ten-minute plays this year. “I am thrilled that this year’s festival features three plays directed by BSC’s Artistic Coordinator Moira O’Sullivan, who is a talented emerging director – and features a play written by our Director of Development, playwright Jessica Provenz. 10×10 is truly a labor of love for me and everyone at the company.”
The 2026 10×10 New Play Festival marks a return cast of audience-favorites including Matt Neely of Williamstown, Mass., Peggy Pharr Wilson of Dalton, Mass., Robert Zukerman of Chatham, NY, and Raya Malcolm and Maya Loren Jackson of New York City. This year the cast welcomes newcomer Avery Whitted, also from New York City. All 10×10 New Play Festival performances take place on the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center in Downtown Pittsfield, February 12 through March 15, 2026. Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays at 2pm.
Directors for 10×10 are Emmy-nominated Matthew Penn (Law & Order) (BSC’s Judgment Day, Typhoid Mary) returning for his tenth year at the helm; BSC Artistic Director Alan Paul; and in her 10×10 directorial debut, BSC Literary and Artistic Coordinator, Moira O’Sullivan.
“We are ecstatic to partner with Barrington Stage Company for the 10×10 Upstreet Winter Arts Festival for its fifteenth year,” said Jen Glockner, the City of Pittsfield’s Director of Cultural Development. “BSC’s 10×10 New Play Festival is the signature event of the festival. We can’t wait to see what’s in store this year!”
Tickets are expected to sell quickly and performances frequently sell out. Early ticket purchases are encouraged. Tickets start at $40 and are available at barringtonstageco.org or by calling 413.242.6411.
Barrington Stage Company 2026 10×10 New Play Festival
A Modest Proposal II
by David MacGregor
Two State Senators come up with an innovative, “out of the box” solution to addressing unwanted pregnancies in a state that has outlawed abortion.
Best By Date
by Scott Mullen
Date night goes awry when a man learns how short life can be.
Cricket
by Erin Osgood
Minutes before a funeral and still in her bathrobe, Elsie follows a mysterious chirping sound…
Do You Hear an Echo?
by Cynthia Faith Arsenault
Personal technology enhances our lives — unless and until it doesn’t!
Love Shovel
by John C. Davenport
A shovel proves useful in digging up romance… and that’s not all.
Missed Disconnections
by Samara Siskind
In the age of swiping left or right, three hopeless romantics defy the odds by looking for love the good old-fashioned way… on Craigslist.
Tannenbaum
by James McLindon
In a tree lot on Christmas Eve, the owner and his employee learn who they can trust… and who they can’t.
The Rebound Quiz
by Byron Nilsson
Marty loves old movies, so when he’s confronted in the coffee shop he frequents with two failing relationships, he brings a romantic approach to solving these problems.
Top Shelf Tolstoy
by Maximillian Gill
A new arrival in a small town finds her quest to check out a copy of a Tolstoy novel thwarted when she discovers that the library has resorted to drastic means to raise funds.
Waking Greek
by Jessica Provenz
Phil and Mary wake to find themselves alone on a stage, in what they hope is a delightful french farce but turns out to be anything but.
About Barrington Stage Company
Barrington Stage Company (BSC), under the leadership of Artistic Director Alan Paul and Managing Director Greg Reiner, is an award-winning theater located in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in the heart of the cultural Berkshires. BSC was co-founded in 1995 by Julianne Boyd, its mission is to produce compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to engage our community with vibrant, inclusive educational outreach programs.
BSC attracts more than 60,000 patrons each year annually and earned national honors for its superior-quality productions and comprehensive educational programming, including the award-winning Playwright Mentoring Project, the Musical Theater Conservatory, Youth Theater, KidsAct! and other initiatives. The company is 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 theater’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, Betty Comden & Adolph Green’s On the Town (BSC 2013; Broadway 2014, four Tony Award nominations); Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company, starring Aaron Tveit (2017); and West Side Story in honor of Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins’ centenaries (2018).
BSC develops and commissions new work with two programs: PlayWorks, which supports the creation of new plays, and the Musical Theater Lab, which develops new musicals. Since 1995, BSC has produced 47 new works, 22 of which have moved to New York and major US regional theaters.