Chester Theatre Company Announces 2026 Season

What does the future hold? Can we change the world? Those are the questions at the heart of Chester Theatre Company’s 2026 season. Our four plays are strikingly different, yet each brims with humor, courage, a touch of grit, and the thrill of discovery. Futurist Buckminster Fuller, fearless activist Fannie Lou Hamer, a…

Favorites of 2025: Paula Kaplan-Reiss

After a fulfilling theater season of seeing close to 50 plays, musicals, and staged readings, I have walked away with some impressive highlights which have stayed with me. How fortunate to live in an area rich with gifted playwrights and talented performers, not to mention the able staff and crew…

Favorites of 2025: Barbara Waldinger

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…

Favorites of 2025: Jeannie Marlin Woods

Once again, the remarkable Berkshires theatre scene was replete with variety, excellence, and creativity. Writing in December, as I look back on a season that stretched from October 2024 to October 2025, there were successes and a few productions that were not yet ready for prime time. However, this reviewer…

Winners of the 2025 Berkshire Theatre Awards Announced

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…

Nominees for 2025 Berkshire Theatre Awards Announced

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…

Chester Theatre Company Seeks Managing Director

Chester Theatre Company in Chester, MA seeks a full-time managing director to partner with our co-artistic directors and our board of directors to lead our critically acclaimed summer theatre. Now in it’s 37th season, Chester Theatre Company produces contemporary professional Equity theatre in an intimate setting, creating community and offering audiences…

Chester Theatre Company Closes 2025 Season with “Mr. Joy”

Chester Theatre CompanyMR. JOYBy Daniel Koa BeatyDirected by Vernice Miller AUGUST 7 – 17 What happened to Mr. Joy?  A Harlem community takes stock when a Chinese immigrant’s shoe repair shop mysteriously doesn’t open one morning, causing an array of customers to realize what the shop owner has meant in…