FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BSC Press Director Charlie Siedenburg, 551-655-0968
Charlie_siedenburg@yahoo.com

Barrington Stage Company Celebrates 10 Years in Pittsfield
With Champagne Toast & Performance of “His Girl Friday” Sunday, August 9 at 5pm 

(PITTSFIELD, MA)  Barrington Stage Company, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Tristan Wilson, celebrates its 10th Anniversary as one of the cultural anchors in Downtown Pittsfield, with a special performance of the American screwball comedy His Girl Friday, on Sunday, August 9 at 5pm at Barrington Stage’s Boyd-Quinson Mainstage.

Former Pittsfield Mayor James Ruberto, who was instrumental in convincing Barrington Stage to move from the Consolati Performing Arts Center at the Southern Berkshire Regional School in Sheffield to Pittsfield, will be in attendance along with Pittsfield City officials, the renovation team, former Pittsfield Cultural Czar Megan Whilden, BSC Board Members, along with cast members of the Mainstage inaugural production of Ring ‘Round the Moon. There will be a champagne toast prior to the 5pm curtain.  Tickets are available at (413)-236-8888 or online at barringtonstageco.org. 

“Moving to Pittsfield has allowed Barrington Stage to blossom and flourish as never before. Our performance schedule has grown from 10 weeks to six months, using 4 performance spaces in downtown Pittsfield. In 2006 we had 28,000 patrons, today we welcome 55,600 patrons through our doors. Growth such as this can only occur with a supportive community that understands the importance of the arts leading the economy,” said Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. 

In July 2005, Barrington Stage purchased the former Berkshire Music Hall and historic Octagon House for $8 45,000, and following an 8-month renovation of the theater and Octagon House (which now houses the administrative offices), BSC opened its doors on August 10, 2006 with Anouilh’s Ring ‘Round the Moon featuring Tony-winner Carole Shelley, Christopher Innvar, Ginifer King, and Mark H. Dold, directed by Julianne Boyd.

Since 2006, Barrington Stage has presented nearly 2,600 performances/events to over 450,000 patrons (as of August 2015) in its Mainstage, Stage 2 and Youth Theater productions, which include concerts, cabarets and readings.

Between the years 2006 through 2015, Barrington Stage has employed 2,336 actors, designers, directors and staff, who have lived and worked in Pittsfield.

BSC has invested over $8 .5 million in building and capital improvements in downtown Pittsfield.  BSC generates over $5 million/year in economic activity in Berkshire County. Over the ten year period, it’s an estimated total of $40 – 45 million.

Since the move to Pittsfield , productions that started at BSC and have moved to New York include Freud’s Last Session, The Burnt Part Boys, The Memory Show, See Rock City and Other Destinations, Dr. Ruth, All the Way, Dancing Lessons, and the Tony nominated revival of On The Town.

Selected Highlights from 10 Years in Pittsfield include:

In 2006, BSC launched its acclaimed Musical Theatre Lab with performances in the Berkshire Athenaeum, and by 2008, moved to the VFW Hall on Linden Street.  To date, BSC’s Musical Theatre Lab has presented 9 world premieres and numerous reading and workshops. 

In 2007, BSC’s youth at-risk program, Playwright Mentoring Program , was awarded the Coming Up Taller Award from The White House.   In 2015 Barrington Stage received the Commonwealth Award, Massachusetts’ highest honors in the Arts, Humanities and Sciences for Creative Youth Development.

In 2010, BSC’s Mainstage was renamed the Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, after Founding Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Founding Board President Mary Ann Quinson.

In 2012, BSC spearheaded the city’s first 10X10 Festival which now includes over 75 events, including the popular 10X10 New Play Festival  in February.  To date, BSC’s 10X10 New Play Festival has presented 40 10-minute plays, many of them works of new and established playwrights.

The purchase of the VFW Hall in 2012 enabled BSC to have a permanent 114-seat home for new plays and musicals, a new rehearsal space and a cabaret space for 99 patrons.  Renamed for long-time BSC Board Member Sydelle Blatt and her husband, Lee, the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center houses the St. Germain Stage and Mr. Finn’s Cabaret.

Mr. Finn’s Cabaret opened in 2012 and has featured such performers/songwriters as Liz Callaway and Ann Hampton Callaway, Tonya Pinkins, Joe Iconis, Quentin Earl Darrington, Carmel Dean, Niko Tsakalakos, Paul Green, Alysha Umphress, and Wanda Houston.

In 2011 BSC partnered with the Berkshire Museum to present its popular Youth Theater productions, and is currently playing Shrek to sold-out performances through August 8.

In 2015, BSC created the Musical Theater Conservatory, an in-depth summer training program for serious pre-professional performers, directors and choreographers.

About Barrington Stage Company

Barrington Stage Company, a professional award-winning Equity regional theatre located in the heart of the Berkshires, in Pittsfield, MA, was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. Barrington Stage’s mission is three-fold: to present top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways to bringing new audiences into the theatre—especially young people.  Barrington Stage garnered national attention in 2004 when it premiered William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which later transferred to Broadway, where it won two Tony Awards. In 2009/2010 Barrington Stage produced the world premiere of Mark St. Germain’s Freud’s Last Session, which later moved Off-Broadway and played for two years. St. Germain’s Becoming Dr. Ruth (which premiered at BSC as Dr. Ruth, All the Way in 2012) played Off-Broadway at the Westside Theatre in fall 2013. BSC’s all-time record-breaking musical, On the Town, originally presented in 2013, is currently on Broadway with BSC as a co-producer. Barrington Stage was voted “Best Live Theatre” by The Berkshire Eagle, was named “Best Theatre Company” in Metroland’s Best of the Capital Region, and Best Summer Theater in New England by Yankee Magazine.

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