Great Barrington Public Theater Rolls Out 2022 Summer Season

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — In summer 2022, from early June to mid-August, Great Barrington Public Theater is expanding its season to introduce a new Solo Festival with four premiere, full-length, single-actor plays, followed by two new ensemble plays on the main stage. 
 
The Solo Festival lineup includes premiere works featuring Berkshire resident, and writer/comedienne Alison Larkin, multiple Emmy-nominated actress Sharon Lawrence, as well as new works by actor/writers Will LeBow and James Morrison. The ensemble plays will include a brand-new comedy by Mark St Germain, as well as a new drama.
 
"After last season's ringing success, we decided to widen our lens celebrating the concept of new work," Artistic Director Jim Frangione said. "We're very excited about these new works, all of which revolve around themes of humanity that we hope will resonate with audiences as we emerge from months of isolation."
 
Great Barrington Public Theater will bring this run of new plays to the Liebowitz Black Box Theater and the McConnell Theater in the Daniel Arts Center at Bard College at Simon's Rock, Great Barrington. Tickets will be priced between $20 and $50.
 
"We invite every theater lover here in the Berkshires, Boston, the Hudson Valley, New York City and beyond to be with us for an especially lively summer," Deann Simmons Halper, Executive Director added. "We're thrilled to present new comedies and dramas with superb writers, actors and designers as we look forward to lighting up the summer on two separate stages."
 
The Public's season opens in the Daniel Arts Center's Liebowitz Black Box Theatre with the Great Barrington Public Solo Fest running June 3 – July 10. This four-show series begins with "Grief," the Musical…a Comedy, written and performed by Alison Larkin, with music by Gary Schreiner and directed by James Warwick (June 3 – 12). 
 
Next in the Great Barrington Public Solo Fest (June 16 – 19), is Robin Gerber's new play, "The Shot," based on the life of Katherine Graham, the Pulitzer Prize-winning publisher of The Washington Post. "The Shot" is directed by local writer and director Michelle Joyner and stars Emmy-nominated and award-winning actress Sharon Lawrence in the role of Katherine Graham.
 
"Leave Your Fears Here" (June 30 – July 10) is a memoir written and performed by stage and screen actor James Morrison. The play will be directed by Housatonic resident Robert Egan, Artistic Director of the internationally renowned Ojai Playwright's Conference, where this piece was developed. 
 
The final play in the Great Barrington Public Solo Fest is "The Bard The Beat The Blues." This piece will run in rotation throughout the Solo Fest (June 8 – July 8). 
 
On July 14 with "Public Speaking 101," a brand-new comedy by Berkshire playwright Mark St. Germain, will run at the McConnell Theater mainstage. It will run through July 24. Jim Frangione will direct.
 
From Aug 4 to Aug. 14 "Things I Know to Be True," by award-winning playwright Andrew Bovell (Broadway–When the Rain Stops Falling) will run. Great Barrington Public will present the East Coast premiere of this new play. Judy Braha will direct.
 
More information on the ten-week, two-stage season can be found in the coming weeks as plans roll out on the Great Barrington Public Theater site and on Facebook. Tickets will go on sale on April 1, but seating is limited, especially in the case of the Berkshire Solo Series. Early purchase is encouraged.
 

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Classical Beat: Tanglewood Music Festival Concludes Its Classical Season

By Stephen DanknerSpecial to iBerkshires

Tanglewood Music Festival Concludes Its Classical Season 

This week, Tanglewood concludes its magnificently curated, presented and performed 2024 classical music summer festival season with panache by showcasing several performing soloists and a noted Finnish conductor – all making their Tanglewood debut performances. Orchestral masterworks by Brahms, Beethoven, Elgar and Ravel, as well as stellar concerto performances of works by Mozart and Chopin will take center stage in the Shed. These, in addition to several outstanding Ozawa Hall chamber music programs, leading to the traditional Tanglewood Music Festival season- concluding performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 ('Choral') will enthrall listeners. Read below for the details, including the end-of-season Popular Artists appearances in the Shed and in Studio E, Linde Center for Music and Learning..

Four Tanglewood Classical Highlights This Week 

A brilliant violin/piano recital program in Ozawa Hall will feature pianist Alessio Bax and violinist James Ehnes in their Tanglewood debuts performing Mozart (Violin Sonata No. 21 in E minor, K.304); Brahms (Violin Sonata No. 1 in G, Op. 78) and Beethoven (Violin Sonata No. 9 in A, Op. 47 'Kreutzer') (August 21).

The rising star American conductor Ryan Bancroft makes his BSO debut in the Shed, along with the elegantly expressive pianist Bruce Liu in Chopin's enraptured Piano Concerto No. 1, followed by Elgar's deeply moving Enigma Variations (August 23). 

Conductor Karina Canellakis and the BSO accompany violinist James Ehnes in Chausson's sensitively lyrical "Poème" on a program that features the Tanglewood Festival Chorus in the Shed (Brahms: 'Shicksalslied'); they will also perform works by Beethoven and Ravel (August 24).

Ludovic Marlot will conduct BSOs performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 on Sunday, August 25 at 2:30 pm in the Shed.

Full Tanglewood Schedule of Concerts, Events

Wednesday, August 21

8 p.m., Seiji Ozawa Hall

Tanglewood Recital Series

James Ehnes, violin

Alessio Bax, piano

MOZART Sonata No. 21 in E minor, K.304

BRAHMS Sonata No. 1 in G, Op. 78

BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 9 in A, Op. 47, ('Kreutzer')

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