#joan coombs

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"A Murder is Announced" at the Theater Barn is 'classic Christie' says Gail Burns

“A Murder is Announced” at the Theater Barn is ‘classic Christie’ says Gail Burns

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WAM Theatre Announces Expansion of Theatre Leadership

New Hires and Board Members Join Award-Winning Theatre LEE, MA [January 25, 2018] — WAM Theatre embarks on its ninth season with the announcement of two new members of the WAM Leadership Team and three new members of its Board of Directors.  Talya Kingston has been named Associate Artistic Director, and Max Galdos-Shapiro will join WAM as General Manager. Together with Artistic Director Kristen…

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Kyle McIlhone and Fleece.

Andrew Pace, Phil Rice and Matthew McFadden

Toby Wherry and Katrina Klein

Morgan Troia and Andrew Colford

Phil Rice, Morgan Troia and John Trainor

Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero opens at The Theater Barn, 654 Route 20, New Lebanon, NY on Thursday, July 7, 2016 at 8pm for a three week run through Sunday, July 24th. The Christie murder mystery has become an annual tradition at The Theater Barn so this year Samuel French, Inc. was able to obtain permission from the Christie Estate to bring Towards Zero exclusively to their audience. Written in 1944, this is often thought to be one of Agatha Christie’s finest works and it is sure to please her most ardent fans.

What is the connection between a failed suicide attempt, a wrongful accusation of theft against a schoolgirl, and the romantic life of a famous tennis player? To the casual observer, apparently nothing, but when a house party gathers at Gull’s Point, the seaside home of an elderly widow, earlier events come to a dramatic head. It’s all part of a carefully paid plan – for murder.

Director Chris Briante returning to the Barn after a critically acclaimed production of The Fantasticks last season has assembled a cast of talented Theater Barn veterans and newcomers for this popular Christie. Returning Barn veteran John Trainor will of course be on the stage with Barn favorites Joan Coombs, Phil Rice and Toby Wherry. Joining them are Morgan Troia, Kyle McIhone, Andrew Colford, Fleece, Matthew McFadden, Andrew Pace, and Katrina Klein.

Performances at the air-conditioned Theater Barn are Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm, Saturdays at 4pm and 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets are $27.00 for the evening performances and $25.oo for the Sunday matinee. For information and reservations, please call [phone]. www.thetheaterbarn.org

Agatha Christie mystery, “Towards Zero” at Theater Barn Agatha Christie’s Towards Zero opens at The Theater Barn, 654 Route 20, New Lebanon, NY on Thursday, July 7, 2016 at 8pm for a three week run through Sunday, July 24th.

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Annette Miller as Golda Meir in “Golda’s Balcony” at Shakespeare & Co. Photo by Enrico Spada.

Annette Miller (c) with John Douglas Thompson (r) at the opening of Red Velvet. Editor of Berkshire on Stage, Larry Murray (l), is on the left. Photo by Stephen Sorokoff.

Annette Miller as the Allergist’s WIfe. Photo by Kevin Sprague.

Annette Miller is a writer, singer and actor, noted for her many leading roles at Shakespeare & Company.

Annette Miller as the legendary Maria Callas in “Master Class”. Photo by Kevin Sprague.

Annette Miller as Maria Callas. Photo by Kevin Sprague.

An evening with Annette Miller and a few friends by Larry Murray

Partly a collage of theatre and music, Saturday August 29 promises to be an up-close and personal evening with Annette Miller as she invites everyone to join her for a fun evening of art, entertainment and surprises. For this outing she will be joined by close friends and artists, Joy Franz and Joan Coombs, with music direction by Matti Kovlar.

What makes this evening very special is that she and her friends will not be the only ones on the glorious Colonial Theatre stage, you can be there, too.

Berkshire Theatre Group presents Annette Miller in Now Is Our Time, part of the On The Stage Series. This unique concept gives audiences the opportunity to see their favorite artists up close and personal, on the historic Colonial stage.

Berkshire Theatre Group Programmer, Simon Shaw, says, “Sitting on the Colonial stage, looking out at the beautiful theatre as you watch the artist performing right in front of you is an unforgettable and amazing experience.”

Now Is Our Time explores the pleasures and perils of the third chapter in plays, poems, prose, and song. A theatrical collage by Annette Miller, featuring Joy Franz, Annette Miller and Joan Coombs, with musical direction by Matti Kovler. All proceeds of this event benefit BTG’s scholarship program.

Tickets to Now Is Our Time are $25, and include a post-show reception with the cast. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street, Pittsfield; at the Fitzpatrick Main Stage Ticket Office at 83 East Main Street, Stockbridge; by calling [phone] or online at www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org.

Appearing with Annette Miler are ( l to r) Joan Coombs, Matti Kovler (music director) and Joy Franz.

Annette Miller has performed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in Boston, regional theaters, and in film and television. She has been a leading actor at Shakespeare and Co for 18 seasons. She created the role of Golda Meir in Golda’s Balconybefore it went to Broadway and for which she received Boston’s Elliot Norton Best Actor award and Independent Reviewers of New England Award. In Florida, she received the Carbonell Best Actor Award nomination for her portrayal of Vi in August Osage County. Other favorite roles include Maria Callas in Master Class, Diana Vreeland in Full Gallop, Martha Mitchell in Martha Mitchell Calling (Elliot Norton Best Actor Nomination) Duchess of York in Richard III, Maria in Twelfth Night. Film credits include The Company Men, The Imported Bride Groom, The Next Karate Kid, The Eye Has To Travel (documentary on Diana Vreeland), and See How She Runs.

On TV Annette had a recurring role on As The World Turns and Ryan’s Hope. Other awards include Gann Academy Award for Excellence in the Arts, Boston Jewish Film Festival Award, Zev Cohen Leadership Award, and Excellency in the Performing Arts Award from the Boston Children’s Theater.  Annette holds a BA and MFA from Brandeis University and is now a Resident Scholar at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center where she wrote Now Is Our Time.

“Now is our Time” as Annette Miller and Friends invite you to join them onstage at the Colonial Theatre An evening with Annette Miller and a few friends by Larry Murray Partly a collage of theatre and music, Saturday August 29 promises to be an up-close and personal evening with Annette Miller as she invites everyone to join her for a fun evening of art, entertainment and surprises.

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John Trainor and Clara Childress.

Meg Dooley and Rie Lee.

John Trainor and Rie Lee.

Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced now at The Theater Barn Theatre review by Gail M. Burns

The annual murder mystery – almost always an Agatha Christie – does so well for The Theater Barn that they are running this year’s offering for three weekends instead of the usual two. A Murder is Announced offers lots of familiar faces on stage and familiar names in the program at the cheerful, no-frills family run theatre in New Lebanon, NY. John Trainor is once again wearing the trench coat as a Christie sleuth, Joan Coombs is dithering, Meg Dooley is playing the highly strung mistress of the house where the murders (yes, there are two) take place, Abe Phelps has designed a handsome set which is well lit by his son Allen Phelps, and a supporting cast of talented young actors struts their stuff.

A Murder is Announced is a 1977 stage adaption by Leslie Darbon of Dame Agatha Christie’s 1950 novel of the same title, which was her fiftieth published book. The novel was very well received and is considered classic Christie, so it is interesting that Dame Agatha didn’t dramatize it herself. If she had, I suspect we would have ended up with a smoother, funnier, less fraught work than director Aaron Holbritter has to work with here.

In a large country house called Little Paddocks in the small English village of Chipping Cleghorn, Miss Blacklock (Dooley) is minding her manners and presiding over her hodge-podge household of friends and relations with the questionable assistance of her lone servant Mitzi (Shannon Paul), a loquacious and excitable Russian. It is Friday, October 13, and uppermost on Miss Blacklock’s mind is the celebration of her dear friend Miss Bunner’s (Coombs), aka Bunny, birthday. Bunny has been Miss Blacklock’s companion ever since the latter returned from a long stay abroad nursing her late sister through a losing battle with tuberculosis. But the day-to-day concerns take a back seat when a notice in the personals column of the local Gazette announces a murder will take place at Little Paddocks at 6:30 that evening.

And, of course, it does. With Miss Blacklock, Bunny, Miss Blacklock’s visiting cousins, brother and sister Patrick (Noah Mefford) and Julia (Alyssa H. Chase) Simmons, a boarder Mrs. Philippa Haymes (Clara Childress), and nosy neighbor Mrs. Swettenham (Nancy Hammell), her nebbishy son Edmond (Caleb John Cushing), and, of course, Miss Marple (Rie Lee) in attendance. (Mitzi claims she was locked in the dining room when the shots rang out.) Next thing we know Inspector Craddock (Trainor) and local policeman Mellars (Levi Squier) are on the scene asking questions and taking notes. The corpse (also played by Squier) is identified as one Rudi Scherz, a hotelier who Miss Blacklock knew briefly in Switzerland. Why was he here? How did he come to die? Who was he trying to kill and why? Everyone is a suspect and everyone has waaaay to long of a story about why it wasn’t, it couldn’t have been, them.

Red herrings fly about over the course of six scenes, during which a second murder, this time by poison, occurs. In the end Miss Marple wraps up the mystery and tea is served. Of course.

The mystery I am left to solve as a theatre critic is how so many talented people, and people well versed in staging and performing in this particular type of drama, have created such a slow-paced and wobbly production. Only Trainor and Paul seem to know what they’re about on the stage. In fact Paul’s performance is so forthright and commanding that I got excited every time she walked on stage. “Oh good,” I thought, “Now something is going it happen!”

Yes, this is a cerebral mystery. It is talky and you must listen carefully to each character’s story and the clues they so carefully place, so the actors must speak slowly and clearly. There must be a sense of repressed secrets and heighten tension as each individual comes under suspicion, and yes, these people are, with the exception of Mitzi, very, very mid-20th century British. But that doesn’t mean they are inert. Holbritter has performed several times at The Theater Barn, and while this is his directorial debut here, he has a solid track record as a director at other Capital District theatres. But his direction here is glacially static.

Having seen the younger members of this cast – Mefford, Chase, Childress and Cushing – in the Barn’s raucous opening farce Moon Over Buffalo two weeks ago, I know the energy and physical humor they are capable of, so it is sad to see them so severely restrained here. But they all disport themselves well, despite wildly disparate and fluctuating attempts at British accents. They would do well to follow Trainor’s lead and simply not attempt any accent at all.

But to me the weakest links in this cast were Dooley and Lee, who often seemed unsure of their lines and spoke too softly. Someday I would like to see Coombs take a shot at Miss Marple, as I feel she would have the backbone and subtle humor to do something special with the role. Lee is spry and twinkly, but she never fully inhabits the role. Dooley looks marvelous in flattering costumes by Shimra Jamie Fine topped by her glorious flaming red hair, but her seeming insecurity in this central role was the main cause of the production’s over-arching sense of instability.

Hopefully during its three week run the production will gel and the cast will settle in to their roles. There is a huge audience for a good whodunit on a hot summer’s night, and those of you not tasked with analyzing and writing about this production will undoubtedly enjoy yourselves thoroughly. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you guessing right up until Miss Marple does her magic in the final scene.

The Theater Barn presents A Murder is Announced by Agatha Christie, adapted for the stage by Leslie Darbon, Directed by Aaron Holbritter; Costume Design – Shimra Jamie Fine; Set Design – Abe Phelps; Lighting Design – Allen Phelps; Stage Management – Cheryl Ann Thompson. Cast: Miss Blacklock – Meg Dooley; Miss Marple – Rie Lee; Inspector Craddock – John Trainor; Mitzi – Shannon Paul; Miss Bunner – Joan Coombs; Julia Simmons – Allysa J. Chase; Patrick Simmons – Noah Mefford; Mrs. Swettenham – Nancy Hammell; Edmond Swettenham – Caleb John Cushing; Mrs. Philippa Haymes – Clara Childress; Rudi Scherz/Mellars – Levi Squier. Two and a half hours with one 15 minute intermission. July 9-26, 2015. The Theater Barn, 654 Route 20, New Lebanon, NY. thetheaterbarn.org 518-794-8989.

“A Murder is Announced” at the Theater Barn is ‘classic Christie’ says Gail Burns Agatha Christie's A Murder is Announced now at The Theater Barn Theatre review by Gail M. Burns…

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Madcap farce "Moon Over Buffalo" to open Theater Barn 2015 Season

Madcap farce “Moon Over Buffalo” to open Theater Barn 2015 Season

(l to r) Alyssa Chase, Joan Coombs and Noah Mefford in Moon Over Buffalo at The Theater Barn in New Lebanon, NY through July 5, 2015. The Theater Barn begins its 32nd Anniversary Season this Friday, June 26, 2015 at 8pm with the hilarious and somewhat lunatic Moon Over Buffalo. Following the show the audience is invited to stay for a complementary wine and cheese reception with the cast to help…

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Three glorious nights in February - WAM takes its hit show, Emilie, on tour

Three glorious nights in February – WAM takes its hit show, Emilie, on tour

There’s more to an enhanced “reading” than you might imagine.

Lauren Gunderson’s play about Emilie Du Chatelet and Voltaire is well worth repeating by Gail M. Burns

WAM Theatre has been invited to present an enhanced staged reading of their critically acclaimed 2013 production of Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonightby Lauren Gunderson at three different locations in Berkshire…

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