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When nice people have a meltdown: God of Carnage at the Theater Barn

When nice people have a meltdown: God of Carnage at the Theater Barn

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Boston Globe Obituary for Larry Murray Larry had such a wonderful long career in arts management and journalism, and made so many friends along the way. Thanks to Bryan Marquand of the Boston Globe for putting together this fine tribute. Read Larry's Obituary in The Boston Globe

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The Passing of Larry Murray

The Passing of Larry Murray

It is with great sadness that I share the news of the passing of Larry Murray, founder of this site. Larry passed away quietly early on March 10 following a long battle with cancer. He is survived by his two sisters, nephews and nieces, and innumerable friends. His obituary and further updates will be posted as they become available. It was Larry’s wish that I, Gail M. Burns, take over and…

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David Joseph is nominated for his work in The Consul, The Tramp, and America’s Sweetheart

David Adkins earned a nomination for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

Annie Golden and Jeff McCarthy were both nominated for Broadway Bounty Hunter. Photo by Scott Barrow.

Deborah Rush is nominated for her work in An American Daughter. Photograph T. Charles Erickson.

Stephan Wolfert in Cry Havoc! earned a nod.

Tod Randolph in ‘Or,’ at Shakespeare & Company, 2016. Photo by Ava G. Lindenmaier.

Marisa Tomei stars in The Rose Tattoo at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Berkshire County, MA [October 11, 2016] – In the last twelve months, more than 300,000 people attended a live theatre production in or around Berkshire County. With 75 stage productions employing hundreds of professionals, making theatre is an important cog in the area’s cultural economy. In fact, many consider the region a hot spot for Broadway bound shows, and a popular summer destination for theatre-goers from around the nation.The region’s theatre critics have joined together to create a new Berkshire Theatre Awards program to recognize the importance of their work.

The group announced today more than 120 nominations from which 25 winners will be selected. Participating in the Awards program are twenty arts journalists who will cast their final votes in the coming days, with the winners to be announced by the end of October. The project was organized by Larry Murray, and a working committee which includes Peter Bergman, Robert Bruyr, Gail M. Burns, Macey Levin, Gloria Miller, and Ed Sedarbaum.

“Thanks to its exceptional resident theatre companies, the Berkshires have sent more than a dozen shows to Broadway in the past few years, while attracting the best people in show business to our region,” says Larry Murray. “Writers and composers like Theresa Rebeck (Seared, Seminar, Bad Dates, Mauritius) and William Finn (25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Falsettos) have homes in the area where they create the drama and music we get to see on our stages before anyone else, while directors like John Rando (On the Town) and Scott Ellis (The Elephant Man) have successfully transferred the innovative work they first created here to Broadway.

There is a special Larry Murray Award, to be given to a person or theatre project that advances social, political or community issues. Receiving one of the nominations are the three Vermont theatre companies that teamed up to produce all three plays in Alan Ayckbourn’s The Norman Conquests last summer – the Dorset Theatre Festival, Northern Stage Company, and the Weston Playhouse Theatre Company – while Kristen van Ginhoven, Co-founder and Artistic Director of WAM Theatre, and Julianne Boyd Artistic Director of Barrington Stage, are the other two contenders for this inaugural special award.

Seven shows received more than five nominations each including 11 for The Pirates of Penzance and eight for Broadway Bounty Hunter, both produced by Barrington Stage Company. Seven nominations were received for Or, and six for The Merchant of Venice at Shakespeare & Company. Also popular with five nominations each are The Rose Tattoo (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Little Shop of Horrors (Berkshire Theatre Group), and American Son (Barrington Stage).

Here are the categories and nominations:———————————————————————————-

Outstanding Production of a Play – Large Theater:

All My Sons (Weston Playhouse Theatre Company)

American Son (Barrington Stage Company)

Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (Berkshire Theatre Group

Or, (Shakespeare & Company)

The Rose Tattoo (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Tribes (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Production of a Play – Intimate Theatre:

The Consul, The Tramp, and America’s Sweetheart (Oldcastle Theatre Company)

Constellations (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Cost of Living (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Cry Havoc (Shakespeare & Company)

The Homecoming (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Outstanding Production of a Musical – Large Theatre:

Little Shop of Horrors (Berkshire Theatre Group)

     Mamma Mia (Weston Playhouse Theatre Company)

The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Production of a Musical – Intimate Theatre:

Big River (Oldcastle Theatre Company)

Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage Company)

Fiorello (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Sister Act (Mac-Haydn Theatre)

Outstanding Production of a New Play:

American Son (Barrington Stage Company)

And No More Shall We Part (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

The Consul, The Tramp, and America’s Sweetheart (Oldcastle Theatre Company)

Cost of Living (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

My Jane (Chester Theater Company)

Or, (Shakespeare & Company)

The Stone Witch (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Outstanding Production of a New Musical:

Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage Company)

Presto Change-O (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor – Large Theatre:

Christopher Abbott in The Rose Tattoo (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Joshua Castille in Tribes (Barrington Stage Company)

Jonathan Epstein in The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare & Company)

John Hadden in The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare & Company)

Michael Hayden in American Son (Barrington Stage Company)

Will Swenson in The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor – Intimate Theatre:

Joey Collins in The Homecoming (Berkshire Theatre Group)

David Joseph in The Consul, The Tramp, and America’s Sweetheart (Oldcastle Theatre Company)

Alfred Molina in And No More Shall We Part (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Wendell Pierce in Cost of Living (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Stephan Wolfert in Cry Havoc (Shakespeare & Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor – Large Theatre:

Marinda Anderson in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Dorset Theatre Festival)

Rebecca Brooksher in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Tod Randolph in Or, (Shakespeare & Company)

Molly Regan in All My Sons (Weston Playhouse Theatre Company)

Marisa Tomei in The Rose Tattoo (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Tamara Tunie in American Son (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor – Intimate Theatre:

Kate Baldwin in Constellations (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Tara Franklin in Sister Play (Chester Theatre Company)

Annie Golden in Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage Company)

Jane Kaczmarek in And No More Shall We Part (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Maddie Jo Landers in The Taming (Shakespeare & Company)

Christiana Nelson in Ugly Lies The Bone (Shakespeare & Company)

Debra Jo Rupp in Kimberly Akimbo (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Supporting Performance by a Male Actor – Large Theatre:

David Adkins in Cat On a Hot Tin Roof (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Alex Gibson in The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company)

John Hadden in The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare & Company)

Andre Ware in American Son (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Supporting Performance by a Male Actor – Intimate Theatre:

Carson Elrod in The Chinese Room (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Jeff McCarthy in Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage Company)

Rylan Morsbach in The Homecoming (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Scott Wattanabe in Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage Company)

Lenny Wolpe in Presto Change-O (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Supporting Performance by a Female Actor – Large Theatre:

Kate Abbruzzese in The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare & Company)

Jane Carr in The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company)

Nehassiu De Gannes in Or, (Shakespeare & Company)

Deborah Rush in An American Daughter (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Scarlett Strallen in The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Supporting Performance by a Female Actor – Intimate Theatre:

Jenni Barber in Presto Change-O (Barrington Stage Company)

Chelsea Doren in Fiorello (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Dana Harrison in Holy Laughter (WAM Theatre)

Sue Jean Kim in The Chinese Room (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Katy Sullivan in Cost of Living (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

 Outstanding Direction of a Play – Large Theatre:

Julianne Boyd for American Son (Barrington Stage Company)

Jonathan Croy for The Two Gentlemen of Verona (Shakespeare & Company)

Trip Cullman for The Rose Tattoo (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Tina Packer for The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare & Company)

Mary B. Robinson for All My Sons (Weston Playhouse Theatre Company)

Alice Reagan for Or, (Shakespeare & Company)

Jenn Thompson for Tribes (Barrington Stage Company)

Evan Yianoulis for Table Manners (Dorset Theatre Festival)

Outstanding Direction of a Play – Intimate Theatre:

Jo Bonney for Cost of Living (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Gregg Edelman for Constellations (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Eric Hill for The Homecoming (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Louisa Proske for Peerless (Barrington Stage Company)

Eric Tucker for Cry Havoc (Shakespeare & Company)

Outstanding Direction of a Musical – Large Theatre:

Tim Fort for Man of La Mancha (Weston Playhouse Theatre Company)

Ethan Heard for Little Shop of Horrors (Berkshire Theatre Group)

John Rando for The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Direction of a Musical – Intimate Theatre:

Julianne Boyd for Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage Company)

Tim Howard for Big River (Oldcastle Theatre Company)

John Saunders for Chicago (Mac-Haydn Theatre)

Steve Stettler for Murder for Two (Weston Playhouse Theatre Company)

Outstanding Choreography – Large Theatre:

Joshua Bergasse for The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company)

Parker Esse for Little Shop of Horrors (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Michael Raine for Mamma Mia (Weston Playhouse Theatre Company)

Outstanding Choreography – Intimate Theatre:

Maddie Apple for Sister Act (Mac-Haydn Theatre)

Michael Callahan for Fiorello (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Jeffrey Page for Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage Company)

Jenna Ware for The Emperor of The Moon (Shakespeare & Company)

Outstanding Scenic Design for Play or Musical:

David L. Arsenault for The Norman Conquests (Dorset, Weston, and Northern Stage)

Beowulf Borritt for The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company)

Yael Pardess for The Stone Witch (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Carl Sprague for Fiorello (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Reid Thompson for Little Shop of Horrors (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Mark Wendland for The Rose Tattoo (Williamstown Theatre Festival)

Outstanding Lighting Design for a Play or Musical:

Shawn E. Boyle for The Stone Witch (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Lara Dubin for The Mountaintop (Chester Theatre Company)

Alan C. Edwards for Constellations (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Michael Giannetti for Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (Dorset Theatre Festival)

Jason Lyons for The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company)

Matthew Miller for The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare & Company)

Best Costume Design for a Play or Musical:

Jess Goldstein for The Pirates of Penzance (Barrington Stage Company)

Jimm Halliday for Into The Woods (Mac-Haydn Theatre)

Tyler Kinney for The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare & Company)

Govane Lohbauer for Or, (Shakespeare & Company)

David Murin for Little Shop of Horrors (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Bobby Frederick Tilley for Broadway Bounty Hunter (Barrington Stage Company)

Outstanding Sound Design for Play or Musical:

Toby Aliya for Tribes (Barrington Stage Company)

Amy Altadonna for Or, & Ugly Lies The Bone (Shakespeare & Company)

Ed Chapman for Mamma Mia (Weston Playhouse Theatre Company)

Scott Killian for Constellations (Berkshire Theatre Group)

Rider Q. Stanton for The Addams Family (Mac-Haydn Theatre)

Corey Wheat for The 39 Steps (Oldcastle Theatre Company)

Larry Murray Award:

1. Julianne Boyd, Barrington Stage Company, for her issue-related programming and community outreach.

2. Kristen van Ginhoven, WAM Theatre, for combining meaningful theatre with charitable support of women’s causes.

3. The Producing Directors of the Dorset Theatre Festival, Weston Playhouse Theatre Company, and Northern Stage for their collaborative co-production of the three plays comprising

The Norman Conquests.

Berkshire Theatre Award Nominations Announced Berkshire County, MA – In the last twelve months, more than 300,000 people attended a live theatre production in or around Berkshire County.

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Graham Jarvis & Colton Haaker - Motorcycle documentary

Graham Jarvis & Colton Haaker – Motorcycle documentary

Life has many paths. Which line will you take? Is it worth making sacrifices to become a world-class professional rider, or is it better to ride motorcycles for pure enjoyment? Riders like Graham Jarvis and Colton Haaker give their insights. Checkpoints was created by Traction eRag at http://tractionerag.ca/ and Motojournalism and features Graham Jarvis, Colton Haaker, Paul Rodden, Larry Murray…

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Brett Milanowski and Erin Waterhouse in God of Carnage at the Theater Barn.

Kathleen Carey and Aaron Holbritter

Aaron Holbritter and Brett Milanowski

Kathleen Carey and Erin Waterhouse

Brett Milanowski and Erin Waterhouse

Upper: Brett Milanowski (l) and Aaron Holbritter (r) Lower: Erin Waterhouse (l) and Kathleen Carey (r)

God of Carnage at the Theater Barn Theatre Review by Gail M. Burns and Larry Murray

Larry Murray: At first, I was lulled into the thought that God of Carnage at the Theater Barn was going to be a civil, if testy exploration of the issues surrounding a playground fight between two boys. The two sets of parents meet to calmly discuss the situation in this gem of a play by French playwright Yasmina Reza, translated by Christopher Hampton. The words and tone changes as the polite niceties soon give way to more primal behavior.

Gail M. Burns: In present day Brooklyn Michael (Aaron Holbritter) and Veronica (Kathleen Carey) have invited Alan (Brett Milanowski) and Annette (Erin Waterhouse) over to discuss the fight between their eleven year old sons. It seems that Alan and Annette’s Benjamin has whacked Michael and Veronica’s Henry with a stick, resulting some superficial injuries and two broken teeth. The adults, who have not met until this encounter, are gathered awkwardly to discuss and “resolve” this crisis.

Larry: With direction by Phil Rice, this dark comedy comes as close to being the theatrical answer to an R-rated movie as I have ever seen on stage, as four grownups duke it out using every sort of humor you can imagine, from deadpan cracks to gross-out gags. There is something wickedly delightful in being able to watch other people’s decorum go south along with their marriages, and it is obvious that the actors have managed to cross the fierceness of Albee’s Virginia Wolf with TV’s laugh-out-loud characters in The Honeymooners.

Gail: Hampton has smoothly morphed Reza’s upper-middle class Parisians into upper-middle class New Yorkers – Alan is a lawyer, Annette is in wealth management, Michael runs a wholesale business for household hardware, and Veronica is a professional do-gooder and author. Michael and Veronica’s living room, where all the action takes place, is sleek and well appointed, with expensive art books ostentatiously displayed on the coffee table. Abe Phelps has designed a smart set, which, although spare, is also crowded enough to give the actors a challenge negotiating it and allows Rice the opportunity to create a variety of stage pictures.

Larry: In the end I found something to like as well as to loathe about each of the characters. Brett Milanowski as Alan was about as loud, inconsiderate and oblivious to other people’s feelings as any lawyer I have ever met, while Erin Waterhouse as his wealth management wife Annette seemed completely out of touch with her real self.

Gail: There are a group of outstanding theatre artists living and working in the New York Capitol Region who we barely get to see in the Berkshires. Neatly situated halfway between the two, the Theater Barn does a great service in luring the likes of Waterhouse, Holbritter, and Carey over our way. Milanowski was the only unknown quantity for me in this production, and he does not disappoint – I understand he has played this role before in the Boston area where he lives and works. Carey is an actress who commits fully to every role she plays. A petite woman, she is physically fearless and the audience loved it when she literally took flight as Veronica launched into full attack mode on the enormous Michael.

Larry: The actors did an incredible job, throwing themselves into their roles, right down to the finest details like exchanging knowing looks, and doing a slow burn while the other half makes a fool of themselves. Together as husband and wife, and then as husbands vs. wives, the dynamics of their relationships kept changing, especially once some rum was introduced into the picture.

Gail: There are obvious comparisons to Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? but Reza’s play is less than half as long and she gives her two couples a clear stress point from which to start. And Albee’s couples are painfully childless. Men and women are very different animals, and yet heterosexual couplehood is necessary for the propagation of the species so a certain degree of coexistence is necessary to achieve that end. Ultimately all spouses both love and hate one another, and no ground is more bitterly contested than that of child-rearing. The “boys” do gang up against the “girls” before the night is out. The children in question are both male, and the men have a very different take on what happened between their sons and how the situation might be resolved, if resolution is even necessary.

Larry: It didn’t take long for director Rice to ratchet up the actors for this physical marathon of a play in which there were few moments when someone wasn’t moving, fussing or collapsing. Adding to the concern over the boys making up, there is also psychic trouble as we learn about Nibbles the Hamster, and Michael’s disposition of the critter in the middle of the night. If he is willing to kill a helpless hamster, or for Alan to lie to the public, what else are we capable of?

So we have a boy with two broken teeth, a murdered hamster, and the ongoing worries about the knee operation and prescriptions for Michael’s mother. Then there is the evolving crisis of Alan’s client, a pharmaceutical company in crisis over a drug that has side effects. I suppose beyond the comedy there is a message about the animal natures of people, the futility of a decorous facade.

Gail: Absolutely. These are the seemingly most civilized and educated of people. Veronica speaks highly of “Western civilization” and her pride in being the embodiment of its highest principles. And yet each of the four characters emits animalistic howls at one point or another. This is where the physical look of this production becomes a key element. In addition to Abe Phelps’ fine set, Shmira Jamie Fine has costumed the actors perfectly, and Allen Phelps’ cool lighting design is spot-on.

Larry: I thoroughly enjoyed this whirlwind of a play, and particularly recommend it to those who are inhibited from telling people exactly where to go. It offers more finger-pointing, name-calling, stomping around and throwing things than any play in memory. But it is also a rare and cathartic chance to live vicariously through the characters on stage, witness a four way prize fight – and then go back to being, well…normal.

The Theater Barn presents God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, Translated by Christopher Hampton, Costume Design by Shimra Jamie Fine, Set Design by Abe Phelps, Lighting Design by Allen Phelps, Stage Management by Cheryl Ann Thompson, Directed by Phil Rice. Cast: Alan – Brett Milanowski; Annette – Erin Waterhouse; Michael – Aaron Holbritter; Veronica – Kathleen Cary. 90 minutes with no intermission. September 11-20, 2015 at the Theater Barn, New Lebanon, NY. [phone]. http://www.theaterbarn.com

When nice people have a meltdown: God of Carnage at the Theater Barn God of Carnage at the Theater Barn Theatre Review by Gail M. Burns and Larry Murray…

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Randy Harrison will appear with The Skivvies in Williamstown, MA.

Randy Harrison returns to the Berkshires with The Skivvies by Larry Murray

Great actors have often reported feeling “almost naked” on stage with hundreds of people gazing at them. This coming Sunday and Monday that fantasy almost becomes reality when the Skivvies take the stage in Williamstown, and have shamelessly recruited some pretty amazing actors to join them in stripping down to the basics in order to simply make good music. And actors go for it. Most just want to have a little fun to let off steam after playing deep, dramatic roles on stage, and this is especially true for the annual migration of New York City actors to the Williamstown Theatre Festival where Mandy Greenfield is Artistic Director. In a stroke of near genius, she presents the return of the sizzling musical comedy duo The Skivvies July 26th and July 27th at Goodrich Hall.

To the best of my knowledge, Randy Harrison who played Justin in the landmark series Queer as Folk has never appeared on a Williamstown Theatre Festival stage before, so it looks like he will go to any lengths to make his debut. He will strip down to his tighty whities (or whatever strikes his fancy) as he joins the fun in these upcoming shows with The Skivvies. Harrison has no fear of trying just about anything on stage. Harrison’s last appearance in the Berkshires was with his QWAN Theatre Company at the Colonial Theatre.

Just in case you haven’t heard about The Skivvies, they are the singers Lauren Molina (WTF’s Ten Cents a Dance) and Nick Cearley (All Shook Up) and they are back for a second summer to turn the heat way, way up as they perform stripped down mash-ups of pop songs and show tunes . . . in their underwear. But they won’t be on stage virtually naked and alone, no siree, that will never happen in Billstown. They’ve managed to recruit some pretty special guests who will match them in the bare it all (or most) department as special guests Randy Harrison (“Queer As Folk”), Alison Fraser (WTF’s Far From Heaven), Benjamin Scheuer (The Lion), and Will Swenson (WTF’s upcoming The Moon for the Misbegotten) join them for two nights of music and mischief on July 26th & 27th at 7:30 pm at Goodrich Hall. Tickets start at $80, which include premium seats and access to an exclusive party after the show; Regular seating is $40.

This photo I took of Randy Harrison in 2010 has traveled around the world.

These Randy Harrison photos were taken during an interview.

Randy Harrison is well known to the Berkshires, if not the Williamstown crowd, from his time with the Berkshire Theatre Festival. And it didn’t hurt his name recognition that he played the youngest character in the legendary and groundbreaking series Queer as Folk which has earned him a worldwide fan base. There is a link between that daring television series being screened around the world and the growing awareness and acceptance of gay people. The downside is that the role typecast the actor as his character, Justin, so Harrison who had been acting since his childhood quickly moved on to Broadway (Wicked) before beginning a six year run with Kate Maguire and the Berkshire Theatre Group where he made his Berkshire debut a decade ago as Alan Strang in a memorable Equus. This was followed by his electrifying Lucky in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot which he describes as his favorite role ever, and Tommy in The Who’s Tommy. Those who follow the popular actor’s appearances delighted in his current arrival in Mr. Robot the hottest series ever on the USA Network. When he is not on stage, Harrison can be found doing his own thing at any number of NYC nightspots, form guest appearances on Your Hit Parade to fun evenings with The Skivvies. Harrison is part of the satirical theatre cooperative QWAN (QUality Without a Name) along with Jenn Harris, Jack Ferver, Chris Coulson and Matthew Wilkas (the latter currently playing Black Stache in Peter and the Starcatcher at the Weston Playhouse)

The Wall Street Journal calls these wildly popular undie-rockstars “smart, sophisticated . . . ingenious” and Out Magazine declares that they’ve “managed to carve out a niche that we never knew existed: Part Weird Al parody and part sexy burlesque . . . an unusual explosion of satire and sultry.”

TICKETS AND SCHEDULE

Tickets for all Williamstown Theatre Festival productions can be purchased online at wtfestival.org, by phone at 413-597-3400, or in person at the ‘62 Center for Theatre and Dance Box Office at 1000 Main St (Route 2), Williamstown, MA 01267.

WTF: Randy Harrison to strip down with Will Swenson, Alison Fraser, Benjamin Scheuer and The Skivvies Randy Harrison returns to the Berkshires with The Skivvies by Larry Murray Great actors have often reported feeling "almost naked" on stage with hundreds of people gazing at them.

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Marinda Anderson

(l to r) Marinda Anderson and Avery Glymph.

(l to r) Marinda Anderson and Chantel Jean Pierre.

(l to r) Marinda Anderson and Elain Graham.

All photos by Andrew Boyce

An admiring look at “Intimate Apparel” at Dorset Theatre Festival Theatre Review by Gail M. Burns and Larry Murray

Esther: It was as though God kissed my hands when I first pulled the fabric through the sewing machine and held up a finished garment. I discovered all I need in these fingers.” – Lynn Nottage, Intimate Apparel

Gail M. Burns: When we were picking the shows we would commit to travel to see this season, this production of Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage and directed by Giovanna Sardelli at the Dorset Theatre Festival was at the top of my list. DTF Artistic Director Dina Janis has a strong commitment to producing the work of female playwrights and hiring female directors, and I knew that commitment would translate into an excellent production of this popular play by a Pultizer Prize-winning playwright.

Larry Murray: In the Berkshires we know a lot about the history of the Gilded Age, but in that same era, in 1905, in Manhattan, Esther Mills, a 35-year-old African-American seamstress, is trying her best to do two things: save enough money to open a beauty parlor, and to get married before her biological clock runs out. Her story is both heartfelt and heartbreaking as director Giovanna Sadelli moves the complex story and cast of six from basic tropes into a stirring tale of everywoman that is ultimately as uplifting as it is heartbreaking.

Gail: This is a very sad play, although it escapes being a tragedy because, while Esther has been through the wringer and has a hard road ahead of her at the final curtain, she can still support herself with her skills.

Larry: The painful revelations along the way gave each of the actors a chance to shine, but it is the script, the writing of Lynn Nottage that enables Esther (Marinda Anderson) to pour out bits and pieces of her heart to her clients – the white, upper-class Mrs. Van Buren (Janie Brookshire) and the black prostitute, Mayme (Chantal Jean-Pierre) – as well as the Jewish man from whom she buys her fabrics (Charles Socarides.) The trio reciprocate with painful revelations and dreams of their own. All through the initial scenes we meet the equally lonely George (Avery Glymph) – a native of Barbados employed in the back-breaking and often deadly work of digging the Panama Canal – in short snippets of his letters to Esther, which reveal only part of his character. When he comes to New York to claim her as his bride, Glymph shifts gear and character to reveal the opportunist and liar George really is.

Gail: The central theme of this play is loneliness, and the unfair ways in which race, religion, employment, marriage, even our clothing, gets in the way of what we all need, which is love and companionship. Even stripped to their “intimate apparel” – as almost everyone is at one point in this play – they are still so encumbered by who and what they are so that they just miss making the real human contact they crave. Sardelli gets very realistic character portraits from her actors – all of whom are superb – even though the play is quite deliberately stagey.

Larry: The set for this multiple scene play was ingenious. Scenic designer Andrew Boyce clearly worked closely with Sardelli to achieve a design that helped the actors to pull off this play so effectively. Complemented with an effective lighting design by Michael Giannitti, the team created an almost seamless cinematic effect, one which made the scene changes as natural as turning the page in a novel. And oh, those costumes, the work of Sydney Maresca, I really found them to be documentary worthy designs. But with the constant lacing of the corsets to achieve the hourglass look that was so popular at the time, I felt they also stood in for the sins of those years, the restrictive rules and suffocating prejudices that so hobbled the ability of so many people of color to get an education, a decent job, or just a fair hearing.

Gail: Not just people of color, but all women. We may complain today about Spanx, but they do not bruise and puncture our skin, prevent us from breathing, or cause us to miscarry our babies as corsets did. Esther is extremely lucky to have a skill considered “appropriate” for a woman that enables her not only to support herself as an independent person – rather than as a servant – but to save her money as well. That was very unusual. Upper class women – who were primarily white – did not work, and would not have been hired to do so if they had wanted or needed to. Women of color were generally “in service.” The only other profession open to women was prostitution, which was lucrative but obviously socially constricting.

Larry: The various gender roles that we meet in Intimate Apparel, especially the ones demanded of Esther by her husband George, provide both feminist and racial commentary. Mrs. Van Buren is under pressure to have children. Mayme has no hope for any other job than as a prostitute. George is desperate for a chance to make something of himself, but the new white European immigrants get all the jobs.

Gail: Intimate apparel does not ensure intimate relationships, although the fact that she sees her clients so comparatively naked (these were the days when skirts were placed on pianos so their legs wouldn’t be exposed) does lead them to believe they have a closer relationship to Esther than is actually the case. But as she finds when she marries, even the ultimate intimacy of sexual intercourse does not ensure a bond between two people.

Larry: Socarides delivered a complex portrayal of the Jewish merchant, Mr. Marks, who was so orthodox he couldn’t let a woman touch him who was not his wife or a blood relation. But Esther and he had a similar love of fabrics, and marveled over some of the handcrafted treasures he found. In those scenes I was totally at home, I knew these characters, their love of beauty and how even today finely made treasures that are one of a kind can bring people together even a century later.

Gail: It was heartbreaking to see their scenes together because, despite their common interests and attraction, they both know that there is nowhere on the planet where a white Jew and a black Christian could live together, let alone marry, in peace and safety.

Larry: Nottage was inspired by the unidentified photos of a black couple on their wedding day, and a black seamstress at her sewing machine from the turn of the 20th century, which are projected at the ends of Act I and Act II respectively. We will never know their real stories, but Nottage wanted to write about people like that, the vast majority of us who live and long and love and work in absolute anonymity. Dorset Theatre Festival has done both them, and us, a great favor, giving us a vivid and intensely alive play that uncovers the naked truth about how difficult life can be, even today, and provided us insights into the hearts and souls of characters who should never be forgotten.

Dorset Theatre Festival presents Intimate Apparel, by Lynn Nottage. Director – Giovanna Sardelli; Costume Design – Sydney Maresca; Set Design – Andrew Boyce; Lighting Design – Michael Gianitti; Sound Design – Ryan Rumery; Production Stage Manager – Joanna Obuzor. Cast: Mrs. Dickson – Elain Graham, Esther – Marinda Anderson, George – Avery Glymph, Mrs. Van Buren – Janie Brookshire; Mr. Marks – Charles Socarides, Mayme – Chantal jean-Perre. Two and a half hours with no intermission. June 25 – July 5, 2015 at the Dorset Theatre Festival, Dorset, VT. DorsetTheatreFestival.org [phone].

Marinda Anderson a standout in intricate and touching “Intimate Apparel” at Dorset Theatre Festival All photos by Andrew Boyce An admiring look at "Intimate Apparel" at Dorset Theatre Festival Theatre Review by Gail M.