Sponsored by
Judith Goldsmith

The Birds

By CONOR MCPHERSON
Directed by JULIANNE BOYD

Inspired by Daphne du Maurier’s chilling short story and the basis  for Alfred Hitchcock’s legendary film, this suspense-filled adaptation by acclaimed Irish playwright Conor McPherson is an emotionally stirring, psychological thriller. Mysterious masses of birds have begun to attack at high tide, driving strangers Nat and Diane to take refuge in an isolated, abandoned cabin and to form a bond to survive their haunting new circumstance. Yet if two is company, three is a crowd, as the sudden arrival of a young woman with a mysterious background ruffles feathers and quickly threatens to destroy their so-called sanctuary.

Run Time: Approx. 80 minutes without an intermission.

Sponsored in part by
Audrey and Ralph Friedner & Richard Ziter, MD
The 2017 St. Germain Stage Season is sponsored by the Claudia and Steven Perles Family Foundation.
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About The Birds

“This play is as relevant as an MSNBC newscast, as important to see and understand as the Constitution. In this play Boyd and her cast bring us a vision of next year, or the year after… This is important theater presented in an important way and in the intimate St. Germain theater in Pittsfield”

– Berkshire Bright Focus

“Boyd’s crisp production is propelled by a quartet of terrific performances.”

– Valley Advocate

STEVIE RAY DALLIMORE (Nat) is thrilled to be returning to the stage and making his BSC debut! He lives in Chattanooga, TN where he is the Artistic Director of The Muse of Fire Project and Director of Theatre at The McCallie School. Film/TV: All Saints, Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Ender’s Game, American Reunion, A Joyful Noise, Devious Maids, Nashville, Drop Dead Diva, Gossip Girl, Law & Order. Broadway/Regional: Doubt, Henry IV, The Beauty Queen of Leenane, Stones in His Pockets, Three Sisters. He also teaches filmmaking and has directed several plays and two short films.

SASHA DIAMOND (Julia) BSC: peerless. Broadway: Significant Other. Off Broadway: Kentucky, Double Suicide at Ueno Park! (Ensemble Studio Theatre), The Wong Kids (Ma-Yi Theatre Company—Off Broadway Alliance Award), The Winners (HotCity Theatre). Workshops with The Lark Play Development Center, Long Wharf Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, Second Generation Productions and the Flea Theater. Proud member of Ensemble Studio Theatre. Sasha is excited to return to BSC. www.SashaDiamond.com

KATHLEEN MCNENNY (Diane) Broadway: The Father, Fish in the Dark, Enemy of the People, Death of a Salesman, Coram Boy, The Constant Wife, After the Fall, A Few Good Men. Off Broadway: Gates of Gold, Mind Game, Three Travellers, Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Winter’s Tale. Regional Theatre: Death of a Salesman (Pittsburgh Public), Outside Mullingar (Philadelphia Theatre Co.), Equus (Guild Hall), Moon for the Misbegotten, (McCarter), Richard III (New Jersey Shakespeare Festival), Beyond Therapy, Good German (Westport Playhouse—CT critics’ nomination for Best Actress), Our Town, Sylvia, Sight Unseen, Human Events (George Street Playhouse). TV: Elementary, Chicago Justice, Person of Interest, The Black Box, The Good Wife, New Amsterdam, Law & Order: CI and SVU, Third Watch, Pennsylvania Miners’ Story MOW. Films: A Happy House, Morning Glory, Music and Lyrics, School of Rock, Life with Mikey, It Could Happen to You. Training: Juilliard.

ROCCO SISTO (Tierney) BSC: His Girl Friday. Broadway: The King and I, Seminar, To Be or Not To Be, A Month in the Country, The Comedy of Errors. Recent Off Broadway: The Light Years, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Loot, Volpone, Measure for Measure. Television: Madame Secretary, Bluebloods, Law & Order(s), The Sopranos, CSI, Star Trek TNG. Film: Donnie Brasco, Frequency, Lorenzo’s Oil, Eraser, Far and Away, A Bird of the Air and many independent films including the cult hit, The American Astronaut. Awards include three Obie Awards including one for sustained excellence. Drama League Award and Drama Desk Nomination. Student of Peter Kass.

CONOR MCPHERSON (Playwright) was born in Dublin in 1971. Plays include: Rum & Vodka (Fly-by-Night Theatre Co., Dublin), The Good Thief (Dublin Theatre Festival—Stewart Parker Award), The Weir (Royal Court, Duke of York’s, West End; Walter Kerr Theatre, New York—Laurence Olivier, Evening Standard, Critics’ Circle, George Devine Awards), Dublin Carol (Royal Court, West End; Atlantic Theater, New York), Port Authority (Ambassadors Theatre, West End; Gate Theatre Theater, Dublin; Atlantic Theater, New York), Shining City (Royal Court, Gate Theatre, Dublin; Manhattan Theatre Club, New York—Tony Award nomination Best Play), The Seafarer (National Theatre, Abbey Theatre, Dublin; Booth Theatre, New York—Laurence Olivier, Evening Standard, Tony Award nominations Best Play), The Veil (National Theatre) and The Night Alive (Donmar Warehouse). Theatre adaptations include Daphne du Maurier’s The Birds (Gate Theatre, Dublin; Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis) and August Strindberg’s The Dance of Death (Donmar at Trafalgar Studios).

JULIANNE BOYD (Director) is the founder (1995) and Artistic Director of the Barrington Stage Company (BSC) in the Berkshires (MA) where she has directed many productions. This past season she directed two world premieres: Christopher Demos-Brown’s American Son, which won the Laurents-Hatcher Award for Best New Play of 2016 by an emerging playwright, and the musical Broadway Bounty Hunter by Joe Iconis, Jason SweetTooth Williams and Lance Rubin. Other productions she has directed include the world premieres of Mark St. Germain’s Dancing Lessons and Dr. Ruth, All The Way as well as the critically acclaimed revival of Goldman and Sondheim’s Follies. She has also produced the world premieres of William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Mark St Germain’s Freud’s Last Session as well as the recent Broadway revival of On The Town.

In 2006, Boyd and William Finn created the Musical Theatre Lab where 17 new musicals have been developed since its inception.

Boyd conceived and directed the Broadway musical Eubie!, a show based on the music of Eubie Blake which starred Gregory Hines and garnered 3 Tony nominations. She also co-conceived and directed (with Joan Micklin Silver) the award-winning Off-Broadway musical revue A…My Name Is Alice (Outer Critics’ Award) and its sequel A…My Name Is Still Alice. Over the past thirty-five years she has worked extensively in New York and regional theatres.

In 2007 she served on Governor Deval Patrick’s transition team and was his advisor on the arts for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

From 1992 to 1998 Ms. Boyd served as President of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, the national labor union representing professional directors and choreographers in the U.S. She holds a Ph.D. in Theatre History and Criticism from CUNY Graduate Center.

She and her husband Norman have three grown children.

DAVID M. BARBER (Scenic Design) BSC: Sleuth, The Crucible, All My Sons, Best of Enemies, Lord of the Flies, Scott and Hem, An Enemy of the People, His Girl Friday, Camping with Henry and Tom. Off Broadway: ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore, Women Beware Women, The Most Deserving, The Orphans’ Home Cycle, The Vandal, others. Regional: Denver Center, Hartford Stage, CATF, Centerstage, ART, Pittsburgh Public, Colorado Shakespeare, Cleveland Public, Two River, Idaho Shakespeare, others. Television: E! Entertainment, The TODAY Show, Football Night (Art Director), Woodstock ‘99 (Production Designer). Film: It’s All Relative, Day 39 (Production Designer). Other: Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant (ensemble member). Awards: Drama Desk, Henry Hewes, Connecticut Critics Circle, Denver Critics Circle.

ELIVIA BOVENZI (Costume Design) BSC: Kunstler and peerless. New York credits: Kunstler (Off Broadway at 59E59 for New York Shakespeare Exchange), Much Ado About Nothing, The Rape of Lucrece, Hamlet and Titus Andronicus. She was an assistant costume designer for the Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof, and for MTC’s The Father and Incognito. Other assistant credits: Plenty (Public Theater), War Paint (Goodman Theatre) and Kiss Me Kate (Hartford Stage). MFA: Yale, where her credits include An Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Yale Rep/Berkeley Rep), Cloud Nine and Richard II. www.eliviabovenzi.com

ALEX BASCO KOCH (Projection Design) Selected credits: Broadway: Irena’s Vow (Walter Kerr). Off Broadway: Buyer & Cellar (Barrow Street; Rattlestick), Body of an American (Primary Stages), The Liquid Plain (Signature Theatre), Lenin’s Embalmers (Ensemble Studio Theatre). Regional: Marley (Center Stage, Baltimore), Invisible Man (Court Theatre, Chicago; Studio Theatre, Washington DC; Huntington Theatre Company, Boston), ReEntry (Center Stage, Baltimore; Round House, Washington DC; Actors Theater of Louisville). www.alexbascokoch.com

DAVID THOMAS (Sound Designer) has designed over 100 plays and musicals across the country. New York designs include productions for Peccadillo Theatre Company, Storm Theatre, Urban Stages, Astoria Performing Arts Center (NYIT Award: Best Production) and others. Regional designs include The Old Globe, Yale Repertory Theatre, Arvada Center, Capital Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival and Bucks County Playhouse. Mr. Thomas has served as an assistant or associate sound designer on 7 Broadway productions, including 2 that were nominated for sound design Tony Awards. MFA: Yale School of Drama.

BRIAN TOVAR (Lighting Design) Selected Off Broadway: The View Upstairs, Wild Goose Dreams, Tamar of The River (Drama Desk nomination), The Wildness, City Of, The Underclassman, Sex Tips, Sleeping Rough, Spidermusical, Accidentally Like a Martyr, The Wendy Complex, The Wendigo. Regional: Goodspeed, Signature, Denver Center, Two River, Northern Stage. Brian is the Founder/Creative Director of NYC-based design company IONIC. Design credits include The NFL, Remy Martin, Audi, Bravo, Porsche, Citibank, Samsung, Jaguar, Refinery29, Nike, Museum of Ice Cream, among others. www.BrianTovarDesign.com | www.Ionic.nyc @tovarbri

RYAN WINKLES (Fight Choreographer) BSC: The Pirates of Penzance, Broadway Bounty Hunter, peerless, American Son, Man of La Mancha, His Girl Friday, A Little More Alive, Kiss Me Kate, Golem of Havana, Scott & Hem, Much Ado About Nothing, See How They Run, The Game, Guys and Dolls, The Black Suits, Mormons Mothers and Monsters, Carousel. NY Theatre: The Golden Apple (City Center). Regional: Richard III, Antony and Cleopatra, All’s Well That Ends Well, Julius Caesar (Shakespeare and Company), To Kill a Mockingbird (Weston Playhouse), Taking Steps (Mixed Company), The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls (WAM Theatre), Mrs. Packard (Bridge Repertory Theatre).

MICHAEL ANDREW RODGERS (Production Stage Manager) BSC: The Pirates of Penzance, Presto Change-O, Best of Enemies, Pool Boy, The Memory Show, Breaking the Code, The Other Place, Romance in Hard Times, Going to St. Ives, Zero Hour, Lost in Yonkers, Butler. International Tours of: Priscilla: Queen of the Desert, Burn the Floor and Blue Man Group. NYC premiere of Tony Kushner’s Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide, directed by Michael Greif (Public). World premieres of: Terrence McNally’s Golden Age directed by Walter Bobbie (Kennedy Center), A Midsummer Night’s Dream directed by Anne Bogart (SITI), over 20 productions at the Prince Music Theater, as well as work for Lincoln Center, Drama Desk, Legends in Concert. A proud member of Actors’ Equity. BA Flagler College, MFA University of Alabama.

PAT MCCORKLE (Casting) (C.S.A.) McCorkle Casting LTD is pleased to be named “Associate Artist” and has been casting actors for Barrington Stage for 15 years. Broadway: Over 50 productions including On the Town, Amazing Grace, End of the Rainbow, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Amadeus, She Loves Me, A Few Good Men. Off Broadway: highlights — Clever Little Lies, Sheer Madness, Tribes, Our Town (Barrow Street), Freud’s Last Session, Toxic Avenger, Almost, Maine, Driving Miss Daisy. Feature film: Premium Rush, Ghost Town, The Thomas Crown Affair, Die Hard with a Vengeance, School Ties, etc. Television: Twisted, St. George, Sesame Street, Hack, Californication, Max Bickford, Chappelle’s Show, Strangers with Candy, Barbershop, etc. mccorklecasting.com

CHARLIE SIEDENBURG (Berkshire Press Representative) joined the Barrington Stage family in 2005 and has represented over 80 BSC productions. His work has led to features in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, USA Today and American Theatre Magazine. He began working as a publicist in 1990 at the Barn Theatre in August, MI, working with folks like Marin Mazzie and Tom Wopat. His many PR credits include the Metropolitan Opera (Live in HD), Paper Mill Playhouse (1999-2004), George Street Playhouse, Hartford Stage, Goodspeed Musicals, Long Wharf Theatre and Two River Theatre Company. Charlie is personal publicist to Broadway’s Leslie Kritzer and Patrick Page. Charlie serves as National Press Rep for Chautauqua Theater Company, Project Shaw, Surflight Theatre and Wagner College Theatre. Charlie is a 1995 Theatre/Arts Administration graduate of Wagner College on Staten Island, where he currently teaches Theatre Appreciation.

Coming soon!