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BSC Press Director Charlie Siedenburg, 551-655-0968

Barrington Stage Company Musical Theatre Lab
Presents a workshop production of

THE BLACK SUITS
A New Musical

Music and Lyrics by Joe Iconis
Book by Joe Iconis and Robert Emmett Maddock

Designed by Tony Winners Derek McLane and Paloma Young

Directed by John Simpkins
August 16 – September 2

 Annie Golden, Jason Hite, Ben Platt, Harrison Chad, Will Roland, and Sarah Cetrulo star

(PITTSFIELD, MA) August 3, 2012 – Barrington Stage Company, under the leadership of Julianne Boyd, Artistic Director, and Tristan Wilson, Managing Director, presents a workshop production of the new musical The Black Suits with music and lyrics by Joe Iconis and book by Joe Iconis and Robert Emmett Maddock.  The Black Suits is part of Barrington Stage’s Musical Theatre Lab, William Finn, Artistic Producer.  Directed by John Simpkins, with musical direction by James Sampliner, The Black Suits will run August 16 through September 2 at BSC’s St. Germain Stage (formerly Stage 2), located on the upper level of the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield.

The Black Suits is a rock musical about a high school garage band on suburban Long Island trying to win the St. Anne’s Battle of the Bands. Two teens struggle to learn how to be real friends as the inevitability of adulthood threatens to pull them apart. A musical about dreams, blood, Pop Tarts, records, drug runs, blue hair and the transformative coolness of rock and roll music.

Making their BSC debuts in The Black Suits are Annie Golden (Xanadu/The Full Monty) as Mrs. Werring, Jason Hite (Giant – Dallas Theatre Center) as John, Ben Platt (National Tour: Caroline, Or Change) as Chris, Harrison Chad (Caroline, Or Change) as Brandon, Will Roland as Nato, and Sarah Cetrulo as Lisa.

The Black Suits has sets by Tony Award-winner Derek McLane, costumes by Tony Award-winner Paloma Young, lighting by Jason Lyons, sound by Brad Berridge, and music direction by James Sampliner.  Swaine Kaui is the Drama League Directing Fellow.  Kate J. Cudworth is production stage manager.  Shakina Nayfack is Associate Producer.

The Black Suits is sponsored in part by Gregory Bulger and Richard Dix. The Barrington Stage Company Musical Theatre Lab is sponsored in part by Elayne Bernstein and Sol Schwartz.

Joe Iconis (Book, Music and Lyrics) Joe is a writer, concert performer, and lover of all things Pittsfield. Joe performed his Hell Raisers cabaret at BSC last summer and opened Mr. Finn’s Cabaret in May with Joe Iconis & Family.  He has been nominated for two Drama Desk Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award, and is the recipient of an Ed Kleban Award, a Jonathan Larson Award, and an ASCAP Harold Adamson Award.  He is the author of Bloodsong of Love, The Black Suits (book co–written with Robert Maddock), ReWrite, Theaterworks USA’s The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks and We The People. The Original Cast Recording of Things To Ruin, Joe’s theatrical rock concert, is available on Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight records. www.MrJoeIconis.com.

Robert Emmett Maddock (Book) is a Jonathan Larson award-winning lyricist and a graduate of the Tisch program at NYU. He is the lyricist of the Nightlife award-winning cabaret/concert “Triumphant Baby” (music by Joe Iconis) and the Daryl Lee Roth award-winning musical “Plastic! The Musical” (music by Joe Iconis and Reza Jacobs). Maddock’s writing has been featured in NYMF, NAMT and SPF events, as well as the Bound For Broadway concert series at Lincoln Center. The Dramatist magazine included Maddock on their list of “writers to watch.” He is presently writing a musical adaptation of Moby Dick. www.robertmaddock.com

John Simpkins (Director) John has directed the Off-Broadway productions of Bloodsong of Love, ReWrite, Plant That Ate Dirty Socks, Things to Ruin (co-conceiver) – all with Joe Iconis.  He directed last season’s The Bus at 59E59 Theatres.  Regional:  NC Theatre (Hairspray); Engeman Theatre (A Wonderful Life, Damn Yankees); Sacramento Music Circus (Cabaret, Annie); Lyric Oklahoma (Evita).  He has developed new works at Goodspeed, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Second Stage, Ars Nova, NAMT, NYMF, and York Theatre.  John is Artistic Director at Sharon Playhouse and faculty at NYU Steinhardt (Floyd Collins, Sweet Smell of Success, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Parade, Violet, The Fix).  www.john-simpkins.com

Join us for these FREE Events!

August 21. CONVERSATIONS WITH…The Making of The Black Suits with Joe Iconis and John Simpkins. Tuesday at 4:30pm. St. Germain Stage (formerly Stage 2) at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. The creative team discusses the process of creating a musical in Barrington Stage’s Musical Theatre Lab. Moderated by Musical Theatre Lab Artistic Head William Finn. Free (reservations recommended).

August 23. Post-Show Discussion: The Black Suits. St. Germain Stage (formerly Stage 2) at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield. Following the Thursday 7:30pm performance.

Performances of The Black Suits will take place at Barrington Stage Company’s St. Germain Stage (formerly Stage 2) located on the upper level of the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield, from August 16 through September 2. Performances  are Tuesday-Friday at 7:30pm, Thursday at 3pm (excluding August 16), Saturday at 4pm and 8pm, Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $15-$39; with preview prices of $15 on August 16 & 17. Seniors: $28 all matinees. Youth 18 and under $15 all performances except Saturday evenings.  Special discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. To purchase tickets or for more information, call the Barrington Stage Box Office at 413-236-8888 or visit www.barringtonstageco.org. The Box Office is located at 30 Union Street.

About Barrington Stage Company’s Musical Theatre Lab
The Musical Theatre Lab, created in 2006, is a place for young musical theater writers to develop their work on all levels: from staged readings to workshops to full productions.  Since its creation, eight world premieres and four workshops have been produced. The critically acclaimed The Burnt Part Boys (2006), written by Nathan Tysen, Chris Miller and Marianne Elder, received a production at Playwrights Horizons in May/June 2010, and is now published by Music Theatre International. Kirsten Childs, who wrote the 2007 world premiere Funked Up Fairy Tales, continued developing her musical at the Sundance Institute in December 2007.  Barry Wyner’s 2007 hit musical Calvin Berger recently received critical acclaim at the George Street Playhouse. See Rock City & Other Destinations by Adam Mathias and Brad Alexander was produced in 2008 and later played at the Transport Group in NYC, where it won a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical.  Sara Cooper and Zachary Redler’s The Memory Show received critical acclaim and will be seen Off-Broadway in 2013.

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 ran 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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