peerless

JULY 21 – AUGUST 6

DIRECTED BY LOUISA PROSKE

FEATURING SASHA DIAMOND, ETHAN DUBIN, RONALD ALEXANDER PEET, LAURA SOHN, and ADINA VERSON

(Pittsfield, MA) Barrington Stage Company (BSC), the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA under the leadership of Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director Tristan Wilson, is proud to present Jiehae Park’s comedy, peerless.

Directed by Louisa Proske (BSC Engagements), peerless begins performances July 21, 2016, opens July 24, and runs through August 6, 2016, at the St. Germain Stage (36 Linden Street).

peerless tells the story of brilliant, ambitious twin sisters L and M when they realize that perfect academics and superb extracurricular activities aren’t enough to get into their dream college – so they decide to take matters into their own hands. peerless is a comedy…until it isn’t.

peerless features Sasha Diamond as “M,” Ethan Dubin as “D/D’s Brother,” Ronald Alexander Peet as “BF,” Laura Sohn as “L,” and Adina Verson as “Dirty Girl/Preppy Girl.”

The design team includes John McDermott (sets), Elivia Bovenzi (costumes), Oliver Wason (lights), Jeremy Bloom (sound). Ryan Winkles is fight choreographer. Marjorie Wood is production stage manager.

Louisa Proske (Director) directs classical theatre, new plays and opera with equal passion. Productions include Engagements (Barrington Stage), One Day When We Were Young (Assembly, Edinburgh), ‘Tis Pity She’s A Whore (The Tank), Cymbeline and As You Like It at Yale School of Drama, and a European tour of Macbeth. Opera productions include Lucia di Lammermoor, Daphnis & Chloé (Heartbeat Opera), Falstaff (Dell’Arte Opera). She is Co-Artistic Director of Heartbeat Opera (“a radical endeavor” – The New Yorker, “pioneers” – The Wall Street Journal) and teaches at Maggie Flanigan Studio. Upcoming: Malaprop and other Short Plays (Red Bull Theater), Così fan tutte (Loft Opera), Agrippina (Juilliard Opera), Carmen (Heartbeat Opera).

Jiehae Park (Playwright) plays include peerless (Yale Rep premiere, Cherry Lane Mentor Project, Barrington Stage) and Hannah and the Dread Gazebo (Oregon Shakespeare Festival premiere, 2017). She is one of the writers of Wondrous Strange (2016 Humana/ATL). Development: Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor, Soho Rep, Playwrights Horizons, the Public’s EWG, I73, NYTW, Old Globe, Dramatists Guild Fellowship, Ojai Conference, Playwrights Realm, BAPF, and the amazing Ma-Yi Writers Lab. Awards/recognitions: Leah Ryan, Princess Grace, Weissberger, ANPF Women’s Invitational (Grand Prize), two years of the Kilroys List. Commissions: Playwrights Horizons, McCarter, Williamstown, Geffen. Residencies: MacDowell, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, McCarter/Sallie B. Goodman. She is an NYTW Usual Suspect and 2016-17 Hodder Fellow at Princeton. As a performer: La Jolla Playhouse, Studio Theatre, Tiny Little Band, REDCAT, and most recently Sleep (Ripe Time/The Play Co) and Every Angel Is Brutal (Clubbed Thumb Summerworks). BA, Amherst; MFA, UCSD.

The popular Conversations With… series continues with ”The Pressure Cooker Young People Face in Order to Get into College,” on July 24 at 1:00pm. Getting into college is now a full-contact sport. Playwright Jiehae Park will discuss how she translated this intense process for the stage to both comedic and dramatic effect. Free Event. Reservations suggested. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). Barrington Stage Box Office: (413) 236-8888 or online at www.barringtonstageco.org.

The performance schedule for peerless is as a follows: Tuesday – Saturday evenings at 7:30pm, and Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 3:00pm. Please note – there is no 3:00pm performance on Thursday, July 21, and Saturday, July 23. Performances will be held at the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). Tickets: $20-$46. Barrington Stage Box Office: (413) 236-8888 or online at www.barringtonstageco.org.

peerless is sponsored by Jude Sabot and sponsored in part by Dr. Art and Terry Wasser. The 2016 St. Germain Stage Season is sponsored by The Claudia and Steven Perles Family Foundation.

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, opened on Broadway in 2014 with BSC as a co-producer, where it was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival. Barrington Stage was named “Best Theatre Company” in Metroland’s Best of the Capital Region 2009-2012, and was voted “Best Live Theatre” by The Berkshire Eagle readers in 2011, 2012, and 2015.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT

WWW.BARRINGTONSTAGECO.ORG

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