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

BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY ANNOUNCES 2012 ASSOCIATE ARTISTS
Darren R. Cohen, Mark H. Dold, Renee Lutz, and Debra Jo Rupp Honored

(PITTSFIELD, MA) March 7, 2012 – Barrington Stage Company (BSC), under the leadership of Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director, and Tristan Wilson, Managing Director, announces four new Associate Artists. Formed in 2010, the Associate Artists Program’s inaugural honorees were composer/lyricist William Finn, actor/director Christopher Innvar and playwright Mark St. Germain. This year’s new Associate Artists are music director Darren R. Cohen, actors Mark H. Dold and Debra Jo Rupp, and production stage manager Renee Lutz.

Associate Artists are integral members of the BSC theatre family who have made extraordinary contributions to the theatre. They have helped the theatre accomplish its mission, both by collaborating on top-notch work at BSC and by fostering a close relationship with the community. Associate Artists are part of the artistic team and help by suggesting plays and musicals to be produced, by developing new work on both the Mainstage and Stage 2 and by consulting with the Artistic Director on various projects, both artistic and educational.

Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director, commented, “Each of these artists has made a significant contribution to Barrington Stage. Our audiences might recognize the many talents of Mark H. Dold and Debra Jo Rupp because they have appeared on our stages many times but just as important are the artists “behind the scenes” – Darren R. Cohen and Renee Lutz. We are thrilled that Darren, Mark, Renee, and Debra Jo are now officially Associate Artists of Barrington Stage.

Darren R. Cohen has music directed 12 productions at Barrington Stage including The Game, Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd, Cabaret, Mack & Mabel, and Follies. Representative New York credits include A Chorus Line, Chicago, Make Me A Song, Zombie Prom, Carnival, A…My Name Is Still Alice, The Fantasticks, And the World Goes ‘Round, Nunsense and Show Me Where the Good Times Are. Regional: Sacramento Music Circus, Goodspeed, North Shore Music Theatre, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse, San Jose CLO, The MUNY, Kansas City Starlight, George Street Playhouse, Westport Playhouse, Downtown Cabaret Theatre. Cohen authored The Complete Professional Audition and is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.

Actor Mark H. Dold has numerous BSC credits spanning seven seasons including Cyrano, The Importance of Being Earnest and Private Lives, as well as playing C.S. Lewis in Mark St. Germain’s Freud’s Last Session. Mark continued this role and has appeared in more than 500 performances of Freud Off-Broadway, first at the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre and then at New World Stages. Other credits: Broadway: Absurd Person Singular. Off-Broadway: Shockheaded Peter, The Little Shubert; NY Shakespeare Festival; Classic Stage Company; Manhattan Theatre Club; TFNA; WPA; INTAR. Regional Highlights: Mark Taper; Old Globe (San Diego Critics Circle Award); Chicago Shakespeare; Shakespeare DC; Long Wharf (Connecticut Critics Circle Award); Trinity Rep; Yale Rep. FILM: 3 Windows, Say You’ll Be Mine, Junior Creative, Charlie’s Party. TV: 6 years on All My Children, Third Watch, Gossip Girl, Third Watch, Conviction, Brother Outsider (PBS), Law + Order (original, SVU + Criminal Intent), The Progressives (miniseries), Novel Reflections (pilot). Mark studied at The Yale School of Drama.

Debra Jo Rupp has appeared in the BSC productions of Ring ‘Round the Moon, To Kill A Mockingbird and The Laramie Project. She has made more than 300 television appearances and is best known as ‘Kitty Forman’ in That 70’s Show. Her most recent television role was as ‘Vicky’ on Better with You. Other notable appearances include Seinfeld’s booking agent, Katie, and Phoebe’s sister-in-law on Friends. Sally Field directed her in HBO’s acclaimed series From the Earth to the Moon. Film credits include She’s Out of My League, Jackson, The Act, Kickin’ it Old Skool, Clockwatchers, Spymate, Lucky Thirteen, Sgt. Bilko and Big. Her voice can be heard in the Emmy-winning Teacher’s Pet with Nathan Lane (both cartoon and feature film), Garfield and Air Buddies. Broadway and NY credits include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Kathleen Turner and Charles Durning, Frankie and Johnnie in the Clair de Lune and A Girl’s Guide to Chaos. She was last seen Off-Broadway in Butcher of Baraboo directed by Judith Ivey, as well as several regional productions at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Barrington Stage and Berkshire Theater Festival. This summer she will star in the world premiere of Mark. St. Germain’s new play Dr. Ruth, All the Way at Barrington Stage.

Renee Lutz has been a production stage manager with Barrington Stage since the company was founded in 1995. She has stage managed more than 40 productions at BSC including The Game, Guys and Dolls, Sweeney Todd, West Side Story, Follies, Funny Girl, Crucible, South Pacific, Cabaret and Mack & Mabel. She stage managed the national tour of Merchant of Venice starring F. Murray Abraham. Other venues include numerous off-Broadway and regional theatres, including Goodspeed Musicals, A.R.T., Playwrights Horizons, MTC, The Public Theater, La Jolla, Primary Stages, Theatre for a New Audience, the Wein Festwochen, and the Royal Shakespeare Festival. Lutz is married to actor Gordon Stanley.

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 workshopped, and premiered William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which later transferred to Broadway’s Circle-in-the-Square Theatre where it won two Tony Awards and played more than 1,000 performances. In 2009/2010 Barrington Stage produced the world premiere of Mark St. Germain’s Freud’s Last Session, which later moved Off-Broadway to the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater and then to New World Stages and has played more than 600 performances. Barrington Stage was voted “Best Live Theatre” by The Berkshire Eagle readers in 2011 and was named “Best Theatre Company” in Metroland’s Best of the Capital Region 2009-2011.

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