15th Annual 10×10 New Play Festival: Behind-the-Scenes

 

15th Annual 10×10 New Play Festival: Trailer

CAST

Maya Jackson (Woman 2) BSC: 10×10 (2020, 2021). Broadway: The Skin of Our Teeth, Death of a Salesman. Theater: The Blood Quilt (Lincoln Center), Rosie is Red and Everybody is Blue (Capital Rep), Problems Between Sisters (Studio Theatre), Blues for an Alabama Sky (McCarter Theatre), Curious Incident (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Television: Suspicion.

Raya Malcolm (Woman 1) BSC: 10×10 (2025). Theater: Steel Magnolias (Majestic Theater); Samuel Beckett’s Play (Troy Foundry); Shake It Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret, The Shallows (reading) (Shakespeare & Co.); Next Act New Play Summit, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Capital Repertory); Things I Know to Be True, Breakwater (Great Barrington Public); Henry IV: Parts 1 & 2, Romeo & Juliet (Saratoga Shakespeare). When not acting, Raya practices yoga, sings with local trio Hold On Honeys, and tends to her many houseplants. www.rayamalcolm.com @holdonhoneys

Matt Neely (Man 2) BSC: 10×10 (13 yrs), The Crucible. Off Broadway: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Hospital. Off-Off Broadway: The Trial, The Heart of a Dog, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Furies, Twelfth Night, Sex and Other Collisions, Spare Change, Marriage, Unreal City.  MFA in Acting from Carnegie Mellon University and The Moscow Art Theater, BS Skidmore College. Matt is a Selectman in Williamstown. Check out his new podcast about creativity at thevibecontrol.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. Love to Margo, Allie and Tommy!

Avery Whitted (Man 1) BSC Debut. Off Broadway: Garside’s Career, Chains (Mint Theater Company), Candida (Gingold Theatrical Group), Against The Hillside (Ensemble Studio Theatre). Regional: A Sherlock Carol (Capital Repertory Theater), Henry IV, Part 1 (Folger Theater), Jazz (Baltimore Center Stage). Television: FBI: Most Wanted, Magnum P.I., The Vanishing of Sydney Hall, In the Tall Grass. BFA Mason Gross School of the Arts.

Peggy Pharr Wilson (Woman 3) BSC: Associate Artist, Forgiveness, Boca, America V2.1, Gaslight, His Girl Friday, Guys and Dolls, The Crucible, To Kill A Mockingbird, Carousel, Laramie Project: Epilogue, 10×10 (15 yrs). Theater: Off Peak, Dad, Public Speaking 101 (Great Barrington Public); Doubt (BAT); Leap Year (Shakes & Co); Six Women with Brain Death (co-author, and performed in New York, Chicago, Dallas & Kansas City); Sweeney Todd (best actress Ovation Award Denver Post), Shirley Valentine, Moon for the Misbegotten, 3 Viewings and many others (Creede Repertory Theater); Dallas Theatre Center, Theatre 3, Kansas City Rep, Unicorn, KC Lyric Opera, White River, Rose Theatre.

Robert Zukerman (Man 3) BSC: Twentieth production at BSC, tenth 10×10. Two dozen shows Off and waaay Off Broadway. Regional work in CA, CO, CT, DC, FL, MA, MD, NJ, NY, PA, RI, TN, VA, VT. His TV, radio, and film credits are too obscure to mention, but he has toured US Air Force bases for the USO and narrated Talking Books for the Library of Congress. Trained at London’s Guildhall School, he holds a PhD in Theatre History, served as Theatre Program Director at the New York State Council on the Arts, and is a loud and proud cornetist with the Ghent (NY) Band.

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PLAYWRIGHTS

Cynthia Faith Arsenault (Do You Hear an Echo?) Cynthia, psychologist by day, writer by night, is a co-founder of the long-standing north of Boston playwriting group, aptly named Group. She is published in Best 5 Minute Plays for Teens, Best 10 Minute Plays of 2017, A Solitary Voice (also available as audiobook), Best Women’s Monologues of 2019 at monologuebank.com, and Best New Ten Minute Plays of 2020. In addition to her many directing and producing credits, there have been over 150 readings and productions of her monologues and plays in most of the U.S. states, Canada, Dubai, London and Australia.

John C. Davenport (Love Shovel) BSC: 10×10 (2013). John is a Seattle-based career journalist and former stand-up comic who veered into playwriting, which he usually does while seated. He has had productions (mostly one-act comedies) in 27 states, London, Australia, Canada and Panama. His full-length plays have been produced in Chicago, Dallas, Seattle and Bremerton, Wash. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and Seattle Playwrights Circle and co-founder of Red Rover Theatre Company.

Maximillian Gill (Top Shelf Tolstoy) Max is a playwright based in New York. His work has been staged by a number of companies and festivals in the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia. His plays have made the finalist and semi-finalist lists for the Eugene O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Seven Devils Playwrights Conference, and the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, among others. He is a member of the New Ambassadors Theatre Company and the American Renaissance Theatre Company in New York City. Much of his work can be read on New Play Exchange. 

David MacGregor (A Modest Proposal II) David was born in Detroit and writes plays and screenplays. He is a Resident Artist at The Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea, MI, where ten of his plays have been produced. His work has been produced from New York to Tasmania and published by Playscripts, Heuer Publishing, and Theatrical Rights Worldwide. He adapted his play Vino Veritas into a feature film starring Emmy-winner Carrie Preston, and his short play For Old Time’s Sake was adapted into the film Easy Way Out starring Oscar-nominee John Savage. david-macgregor.com

James McLindon (Tannenbaum) BSC: 10×10 (2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2024, 2025). James is a member of the Nylon Fusion Theatre Company in New York. His plays have been produced or developed at theaters across America and around the world including the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference (selection and six-time semifinalist), Lark, PlayPenn, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, hotINK Festival, Irish Repertory, CAP21, Samuel French Festival, Victory Gardens, Hudson Stage Company, Abingdon, New Repertory, Lyric Stage, Detroit Rep, Great Plains Theatre Conference, Seven Devils, Telluride Playwrights Festival, Ashland New Plays Festival, Boston Playwrights Theatre, Colony Theatre, Theatricum Botanicum, Circus Theatricals, and Arkansas Rep. They have been published by Dramatic Publishing, Smith & Kraus, Brooklyn Publishing, Applause Books, Next Stage Press, and Original Works Publishing.

Scott Mullen (Best By Date) BSC: 10×10 (2017, 2019, 2020, 2021). Scott has written over 350 short plays, which have been produced over 1000 times around the world, including at the South Pole. He has also written a handful of full-length plays and play collections, including Airport Encounters, as well as a half-dozen TV movies. He is always thrilled to be a part of this festival.

Byron Nilsson (The Rebound Quiz) Byron’s lusty comedy Mr. Sensitivity was featured at the NY International Fringe Festival and Drivers was seen at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Oil Boy had a staged reading at Green Kill in Kingston, NY, and Girl with a Camera was produced this summer by Two of Us Productions in Copake, NY. He recently wrote a new book and lyrics for the 19th century comic opera The Ship’s Captain, and directed productions of it in 2021 and 2022. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild, Actors’ Equity, and SAG-AFTRA. banilsson.blogspot.com

Erin Osgood (she/her) (Cricket) Erin is a playwright, actress, and Dramatists Guild member whose work has been produced throughout the country and abroad. She has an MSW from the University of Michigan and is a Make-a-Wish volunteer. Erin enjoys traveling, a good book, Cavatappi with shallots and mushrooms in a parmesan cream sauce, an underdog winner, 70 degree weather, and Fireball. She loves to laugh, cry (often at the same time), and can curse with the best of them. She especially enjoys having very talented people bring her words to life (because they make her look good). www.erinosgood.com

Jessica Provenz (Waking Greek) BSC: 10×10 (2020, 2021, 2024, 2025). BSC commissioned and premiered BOCA, directed by Julianne Boyd with Debra Jo Rupp, Peggy Pharr Wilson and Robert Zukerman, now playing in Pompano Beach (outside Boca Raton!), after a dozen productions including GableStage, Florida Rep and Act II Playhouse. True Art premiered at Dorset Theatre Festival starring Jayne Atkinson with workshops at Westport Country Playhouse, Pioneer Theatre, and The Directors Company. Other plays include Tightrope (with development at BSC, Shakespeare & Co, and GB Public), A Wake on Chappaquiddick (Cape Cod Theatre Project, New Georges), Andromeda (Barrow Group, Berkshire Playwrights Lab), and Better than Chocolate (Juilliard). A two-time recipient of the Lecomte du Noüy for Emerging Playwrights and Writer-in-Residence at Edith Wharton/Straw Dog, Jessica is BSC’s Director of Development. Education: Northwestern (B.S), Juilliard (Artists Diploma). 

Samara Siskind (Missed Disconnections) Samara is an award-winning playwright whose plays have been produced across the globe and published by Playscripts, Brooklyn Publishers, Next Stage Press, and featured in The Best Ten-Minute Plays of 2023 and 2024, and The Best Women’s and Men’s Stage Monologues of 2024 and 2025 from Smith & Kraus. Samara is the Resident Dramaturg for Athena Project, a graduate of Webster University’s Conservatory of Theatre Arts, and a proud member of the Dramatists Guild. www.samarasiskind.com

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CREATIVES

Alan Paul (Director) is the Artistic Director of Barrington Stage Company. BSC credits include The Weekend, Camelot, Cabaret, A Tender Thing, and Next To Normal. Alan spent 15 seasons at the Tony Award-winning Shakespeare Theatre Company, where he served as Associate Artistic Director. STC Highlights include Camelot, Kiss Me, Kate, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Man of La Mancha, Our Town,The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night, The Winter’s Tale, The Boys from Syracuse, the film of Patrick Page’s All the Devils are Here, and the world premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s Peter Pan and Wendy. Alan has directed productions at theaters across the country including Kiss Me, Kate at Seattle’s 5th Avenue Theatre and The King and I at Chicago’s Drury Lane Theatre, for which he was nominated for a Jeff Award for Best Director. In Washington, Alan has directed at the city’s top theaters, including The Pajama Game at Arena Stage, Cabaret at Olney Theatre Center, Spring Awakening and Next to Normal at Round House Theatre, The Rocky Horror Show and Silence! The Musical at Studio Theatre, and I Am My Own Wife at Signature Theatre. Alan has worked extensively in classical music, directing at Portland Opera, Palm Beach Opera, and The Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center. Alan is a frequent collaborator with the National Symphony Orchestra and directed John Williams 90th Birthday Celebration, which featured Steven Spielberg, Yo Yo Ma, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Daisy Ridley.

Matthew Penn (Director) BSC: 10×10 (10 yrs), Judgment Day, Typhoid Mary.  Penn is an Emmy-nominated director who has directed and/or produced over 200 hour-long dramatic television dramas, including iconic series such as Law and Order, The Sopranos, and NYPD Blue and Damages. Penn directed the film Sweet Taste of Freedom, which was shot entirely in the Berkshires. On stage, Penn directed Jane Anderson’s Mother of the Maid at New York’s Public Theater, starring Glenn Close. Berkshire theater audiences know Penn from his work at many of the county’s theaters: During the 2024 season, Penn directed Survival of the Unfit at the Great Barrington Public Theater. The production was selected as the “most accomplished production” of the 2024 Berkshire summer season. Penn’s other Berkshire credits include: The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike (Shakespeare & Co.); The Actor’s Nightmare and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You (BTG). Penn was a Co-Artistic Director of Berkshire Playwrights Lab for 12 seasons.

Moira O’Sullivan (Director) BSC: Asst. Director, The Weekend, Primary Trust, 10×10 (2024, 2025). Moira is the Literary & Artistic Coordinator at Barrington Stage Company. Previously, she was the Director of New Works at Playhouse on Park. Directing: The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful, Snow White, Shakespeare 4 Kids (Playhouse on Park); Fortune’s Children, Changing Fortunes, A Womb with A View (Hartford Opera Theatre); The Mon Valley Medium (The Emerging Artists Festival); Rosemary, Sharp Lines (New Wave Theater). Associate/Assistant Directing: Primary Trust (Theaterworks Hartford, Connecticut Critics Circle Best Play), All is Calm, The Agitators (Playhouse on Park); A Tuna Christmas (Portland Stage). Script selection: Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, NAMT Festival of New Musicals, The Playwrights Center, Jewish Plays Project, The Clauder Competition. BFA NYU Tisch, UCB Comedy. www.moiraosullivan.com

Amina Alexander (Lighting Design) BSC: The Weekend. Off Broadway: Duke & Roya, Alex Edelman – Just for Us, Superhero at The Sheen Center. Theater: Fat Ham (Oregon Shakespeare Festival)’; Waitress (Phoenix Theatre Company). Assistant lighting design credits: Black No More (Signature Theatre), KPOP (Broadway), Shucked (Broadway), Hell’s Kitchen (Off Broadway/Broadway). Lighting Designer & Production Manager for ModasProAV+. Formally the Lighting Design fellow for Black Theatre Coalition 21/22. 

Peggy Walsh (Costume Design) BSC: 10×10 (2023, 2024, 2025). This is Peggy’s third year designing for 10×10; a creative and fast-paced challenge. She has worked for theatres all over the country, but after being introduced to the Berkshires in 2011, she decided to settle here. She has designed for Shakespeare & Company’s Fall Festival of Shakespeare for the last 14 years. Favorite design projects are Children of Eden, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Angels in America, Little Women, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and Pirates of Penzance. She also designs for Pittsfield’s Shakespeare in the Park, Berkshire Community College and various other venues in the area.

Nathan Leigh (Sound Design) BSC: Waiting For Godot, Anna In The Tropics, 10×10 (2024). Nathan is the co-artistic director of the arts collective cirqueSaw, and inventor of the Familect programming language. With partner Nicole Orabona, Nathan created the digital interactive performances labRats (NarraScope Featured Work 2025, IndieCade Nomination 2026, GDC Experimental Games Showcase 2026), Void Main and POV: You Are An AI Achieving Consciousness (Young-Howze Awards Immersive Production of the Year 2023, No Proscenium Special Editor’s Award 2024). Nathan is currently producing the stop-motion feature The Golem. www.nathanleigh.net

Leo Fuller (Prop Design) BSC: 10×10 (2024). Leo is a Prop & Scenic Artisan currently based in New York. This is Leo’s second 10×10, and he is honored to return and uplift these new stories through his craft, using experience gained working at Long Island’s Gateway Playhouse, The Opera Theater of Saint Louis, Missouri’s Arrow Rock Lyceum, and Utah’s Tuacahn Amphitheater.

Reneé Lutz* (Production Stage Manager) BSC: Associate Artist, 60+ BSC productions over 27 years: Fall Springs, Into the Woods, West Side Story, Royal Family of Broadway, Gaslight, Company, Ragtime, American Son, Tribes, Sweeney Todd, Man of La Mancha, Cabaret, Follies, etc. Select Theater: GNIT (dir. Oliver Butler), Skin of Our Teeth (dir. Arin Arbus), Pericles (dir. Trevor Nunn), Merchant of Venice (dir. Darko Tresnjak — national tour & Royal Shakespeare Company), Hamlet (dir. Darko Tresnjak), Barrington Public, ART, NY Public Theater, Primary Stages, Lincoln Center, La Jolla, Goodspeed, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, Signature, Classic Stage, Vienna Festwochen, BTF, Yale Rep, Hartford Stage, Theater for a New Audience, Coconut Grove. She is a trustee of retired 1931 FDNY fireboat John J. Harvey. Best credit and longest run: her husband, actor Gordon Stanley.

Rebecca Johnston (Assistant Stage Manager) Based in NYC, Rebecca finds enjoyment and fulfillment in new work development, corporate events, and giving her time to Broadway Cares and her Union. Off Broadway: The Orchard, Wine in the Wilderness, United States vs Ulysses. Regional: Romeo + Juliet (American Stage), Next to Normal (BSC). Tours: Winnie the Pooh, Dog Man the Musical. Other: Gaylord Hotels, Royal Caribbean, Virgin Voyages, Universal Orlando. Rebecca is grateful to the audience for their support of the arts and asks you kindly to plan to vote in the midterm election. @rebeccatheatregirl4276

READ THE PROGRAM HERE