Berkshire Theatre Festival

Berkshire Theatre Festival
Berkshire Playhouse

The Red Barn at the Berkshire Theatre Festival
Address Stockbridge, Massachusetts
United States
Coordinates 42°16′55″N 73°18′04″W / 42.282036°N 73.301226°W
Owner Non-profit Organization
Opened 1928
Website
http://www.berkshiretheatre.org/

The Berkshire Theatre Festival is one of the oldest professional performing arts venues in the Berkshires, celebrating its 80th anniversary season in 2008.

History

The main building of the Berkshire Theatre Festival was originally the Stockbridge Casino, designed by Stanford White and built in 1887. At one point the center of social life in Stockbridge, by 1927 it fallen into disuse. Mabel Choate, the daughter of one of the casino's founders, purchased the property for $2,000, but wasn't interested in the casino itself (she moved the Mission House to the property). Three prominent Stockbridge residents, sculptor Daniel Chester French, businessman and artist Walter Leighton Clark, and Dr. Austen Fox Riggs, formed a committee called the Three Arts Society to save the casino; Choate sold the building to them for $1 on the condition that it be relocated.[1] French, Clark, and Riggs agreed, and had the structure dismantled and moved to its current location.

After an extensive renovation, the newly christened Berkshire Playhouse opened on June 4, 1928, with a production of "The Cradle Song" with Eva Le Gallienne. Actors who have starred in productions at the Berkshire Playhouse include James Cagney, Lionel Barrymore, Lillian Gish, and Katharine Hepburn, and Buster Keaton. Notable producing directors have included Billy Miles, Joan White, Robert Paine Grose, George Tabori, Arthur Penn, Josephine Abady, Julianne Boyd, Bill Gibson, Richard Dunlap, and Arthur Storch.[2]

In 1967 the Three Arts Society was resolved and the Berkshire Playhouse was incorporated as a nonprofit corporation as the Berkshire Theatre Festival. In 1993, a formal season of plays was offered in the Unicorn Theatre to meet the growing popularity of the festival. Prior to that, the Unicorn had been in use for years to house various offerings over the course of the season, including a slate of cabaret and workshop productions in 1992. The Unicorn Theatre was completely replaced with a new facility opening prior to the 1996 season.

The Berkshire Playhouse facility was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976[3] and is a member of the National Trust.

Past seasons

Over the past 80 years, the Berkshire Theatre Festival has produced 550 fully staged productions, an eclectic mix of revivals, classics and premieres, embracing fully its role as a true theatrical “Festival.” More than 2,100 actors have worked at the BTF in more than 6,000 performances, including notable actors that have won Emmys, Oscars, and Tonys. Many playwrights at BTF have won Pulitzer and Nobel Prizes.

1928

1929

1930

1931

1932

1933

1934

1935

1936

1937

1938

1939

1940

1941

1942, 1943, 1944, 1945
(dark due to war)

1946

1947

1948

1949

1950

1951

1952

1953

1954

1955

1956

1957

1958

1959

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

Bert Shevelov and Larry Gelbart, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

The Rainmaker

1972

1973

The Gershwin Years

1974

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

1980

1981

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990

1991

1992

Quartermaine’s Terms – Simon Gray

1993

Unicorn Theatre:

1994

Unicorn Theatre:

1995
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

1996
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

1997
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

1998
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

1999
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

2000
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

2001
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

2001 BTF PLAYS

2002
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

2002 BTF PLAYS

2003
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

2004
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

2005
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

2006
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

2006 BTF PLAYS!

2007
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

Theatre for Young Audiences

2008
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

Theatre for Young Audiences:

2009
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

Theatre for Young Audiences:

2010
Main Stage:

Unicorn Theatre:

Theatre for Young Audiences:

Education

BTF education programming, which started in 1929 with one of the first summer apprentice training programs in the United States, is part of the lives of thousands of students annually, and though it has experienced many incarnations, it has never faltered in its commitment to educating the emerging artists of each decade.

BTF PLAYS!— a school residency program for 4-6 graders—is part of the curriculum in nine Berkshire county schools. It was designed to give voice to young student's stories through playwriting. Staffed by professional artists-in-residence, the program is priced low enough for public schools to afford and teaches young people how to communicate their thoughts and feelings through playwriting, storytelling, and performance. Each summer, the theatre’s Summer Performance Training Program, which offers scholarships to students who need financial help, works with up to 15 performing arts students between 18-25. The program produces two plays that are seen by more than 10,000 young people throughout July and August. The BTF’s Touring Component, part of the school residency program, also performs for many additional schools and museums throughout western Massachusetts each year.

Notable Artists

Buster Keaton
Ethel Barrymore
Thornton Wilder
Calista Flockhart
Christopher Walken in The Rain Maker
Al Pacino in Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie (1967)
Dustin Hoffman in Fragments (1966)
Gene Hackman in Fragments (1966)
Karen Allen
Linda Hamilton
Jeffrey Donovan in Toys in the Attic (2000)
Randy Harrison in Equus, Amadeus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Mrs. Warren's Profession, Waiting for Godot, Ghosts, The Endgame, and The Who's Tommy Kate Baldwin A Little Night Music (2014)

References

External links