FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
BSC Press Director Charlie Siedenburg, 551-655-0968
BARRINGTON STAGE CLOSES IN ON CAPITAL CAMPAIGN
One year challenge to raise $300,000 by July 2013
(PITTSFIELD, MA) Barrington Stage Company, the award-winning theatre in downtown Pittsfield, under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, and Managing Director Tristan Wilson, has been given a challenge to raise $300,000 by July 31, 2013.
Barrington Stage received a new funder challenge of $350,000. This funding will be secured if the theater can raise $300,000 by July 31, 2013. (The total left to raise is $650,000 out of an original $7 million campaign.) BSC is committed to raising the additional funds within the one-year time period in order to secure this challenge. Completing the campaign will enable Barrington Stage to pay off the remaining loans that were taken out during the construction of theatre.
With the closing of the Capital Campaign, Barrington Stage will be able to focus more attention on its artistic initiatives, including the New Works Initiative, which was launched earlier this year.
“Barrington Stage believes that new work is the heart and soul of theatre,” said Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. “If theatre is to thrive and create meaningful and new experiences for audiences, then supporting playwrights and their visions of the world we live in is a necessity. We are determined to raise $300,000 so we can complete the Capital Campaign and concentrate on creating new work.”
In 2005 Barrington Stage Company began a $7 million capital campaign to purchase and renovate the former Union Square Theatre, a vintage 1912 vaudeville theatre in disrepair, and the adjacent historic Octagon House, located in downtown Pittsfield, MA. Renovations began in January 2006 and a sold-out production of West Side Story inaugurated BSC’s first full season in Pittsfield in the completed theatre in June 2007.
The theatre is now a state-of-the-art 520-seat proscenium theatre and the neighboring Octagon House serves as Administrative Offices.
Today, Barrington Stage presents over a dozen shows annually, employs more than 100 seasonal and full-time employees and brings over 48,000 audience members through the doors of the theatre each year.
To make a contribution to our capital campaign or get more information about naming opportunities, please contact Brad Schiesser, Development Services Manager, by phone at 413-997-6115 or by email at bschiesser@barringtonstageco.org.
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, 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 and 775 performances. Barrington Stage was voted “Best Live Theatre” by The Berkshire Eagle readers in 2011 and 2012 and was named “Best Theatre Company” in Metroland’s Best of the Capital Region 2009-2012.
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