2025 was an exciting and innovative season—a mix of new plays and classics, chock full of exceptional performances, directors and designers. Barbara Waldinger’s Top Ten Plays For first rate ensemble performances: Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Robert Egan. Dorset Theatre Festival The Piano Lesson by August…
Great Barrington, MA — BERKSHIRE OPERA FESTIVAL (BOF) announces its 2026 summer season under the vision of Co-founders Brian Garman (William E. Briggs Artistic Director) and Jonathon Loy (Director of Production), and new President and CEO Natalie Johnsonius Neubert. In its 11th year, the company remains unique in the culturally rich Berkshires for producing opera at the highest level. This season, Berkshire Opera…
PITTSFIELD, MA (October 14, 2025) – The Board of the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association (BTCA) has presented the 2025 Berkshire Theatre Critics Awards, colloquially known as The Berkies, on Monday, November 10, at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield. This is the ninth time in ten years that these awards have…
PITTSFIELD, MA (October 14, 2025) – The Board of the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association (BTCA) has announced the nominees for the 2025 Berkshire Theatre Awards, colloquially known as The Berkies. The awards will be presented on the evening of Monday, November 10, 2025, at Zion Lutheran Church in Pittsfield. This…
by Barbara Waldinger To celebrate their tenth anniversary, the Berkshire Opera Festival has selected one of the most beloved, most frequently produced operas in the Verdi canon: LA TRAVIATA. According to Maestro Brian Garman, Conductor, Artistic Director and Co-founder of the company, Berkshire audiences have often requested this masterpiece, and now the BOF has delivered…
by Mark G. Auerbach Ali Louis Bourzgui, the Pittsfield actor who starred in the recent Broadway revival of The Who’s Tommy, takes on the role of Orpheus in Hadestown, beginning May 6. For details: https://hadestown.com/ Eliza Gonzales, UMass Theatre Assistant Professor of Voice and Acting, makes her Broadway debut as voice and dialect coach…
The Performing Arts season opens with Olli‘s Berkshire Previews on April 4 where ten artistic directors will present their season by Zoom over six weeks, each Friday morning, beginning at 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM. Each artistic director will have 45 minutes to talk and take questions. The opening class features a Critics…
Great Barrington, MA — The “innovative, clever and thoroughly professional” (Bachtrack) BERKSHIRE OPERA FESTIVAL (BOF) is proud to announce the appointment of Natalie Johnsonius Neubert as its new President and CEO. Johnsonius Neubert comes to BOF with long and extensive experience in all facets of arts administration, with particular focus on development and marketing. Most recently, she served four…
