(Pittsfield, MA) – The Berkshire Theatre Critics Association (BTCA) is pleased to announce the nominees for the 5th Berkshire Theatre Awards, known colloquially as The Berkies. This would be the 5th annual awards, but of course last year no awards were given because of the pandemic, so this year’s awards recognize shows that…
by Barbara Waldinger Fairy tales never lose their power to affect us, no matter how old we get. Jeffrey Mousseau’s beautiful production of The Snow Queen at Ancram Opera House both moves and delights us as we root for the good guys to triumph over evil. Mousseau, co-director of Ancram…
by Roseann Cane Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life, it may surprise you to learn, did not do well at the box office when it was released in 1946. Arguably one of the most cherished American movies ever made, it has since become an international favorite, traditionally watched during the…
by Roseann Cane As you enter the Trojan Hotel, the bar and ballroom of which date from 1830, the immersion begins. The hotel, abandoned for decades, has been restored by members of the Troy Foundry Theatre and the cast and crew of Yellow, a world premiere devised work, a commission with…
by Barbara Waldinger Pipeline, Dominique Morisseau’s heartbreakingly beautiful, Obie Award-winning play, is currently being presented by WAM Theatre at Shakespeare & Company’s Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre in a production directed by Dawn M. Simmons. The title of the play, which received its World Premiere in 2017 at Lincoln Center Theater,…
by Barbara Waldinger In a Study Guide for Barrington Stage Company’s production of American Underground, the playwright, Brent Askari, asserts that he likes telling “genre stories”—in this case, thrillers. Publicity for this World Premiere, winner of a Bonnie and Terry Burman New Play Award, asks: “How do you put a…
by Gail M. Burns Oldcastle Producing Artistic Director Eric Peterson has written a play about the ongoing local PFOA crisis. In case you don’t live locally, plants in North Bennington VT, Hoosick Falls, NY, and various other local towns used chemicals that leached PFOA (Perfluorooctanoic acid) into the soil and…
by Barbara Waldinger What an impact a director can have on the success of a play! Jason Odell Williams’ Church and State, having been produced last season by Berkshire Theatre Group on the Unicorn’s proscenium stage, is currently running at Circle Theatre Players’ Fuess Performing Space at Sand Lake Center…
