2019 Season
On the Exhale
Written by Martín Zimmerman
Directed by Colette Robert
July 25 – August 4
When a college professor suffers the unthinkable loss of her son in a school shooting, she fixates not on the shooter, but on the weapon itself. Her attempts to understand what happened unleash unexpected feelings about power, violence, and the role we all play in this American epidemic. Starring Tara Franklin.
Sponsored by Wil Hastings and Antonia Lake
Media Sponsor:
Curve of Departure
Written by Rachel Bonds
Directed by Keira Naughton
August 8 – 18
A father, an ex-wife, a son, and the son’s partner gather in a New Mexico motel the night before the burial of the man to whom they are all connected, but to whom they feel little connection. As they prepare themselves for the funeral in the confines of the crowded room, they grapple with the family dynamics of the past, present and the future, all of which outsize the space they find themselves in. Curve of Departure is a tender drama told with humor and grace.
Sponsored by The Sunny Reid Fund
Media Sponsor:
Bar Mitzvah Boy
American Premiere
Written by Mark Leiren-Young
June 21 – July 1
Thursday 2pm & 8pm, Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm & 8pm, Sunday 2pm
“I’ll make a donation.”
“That would be lovely.”
“And then you’ll Bar Mitzvah me.”
A late-in-life Bar Mitzvah (and successful divorce attorney) is finding his his spiritual way while the rabbi guiding him is losing hers. The 2017 Jewish Playwriting Prize winner stars Berkshire favorite Tara Franklin and Boston veteran actor Will LeBow.
2018 Season Sponsored by Richard and Carol Seltzer
Artistic Director Sponsored by Jessica and Fred Olefson
Bar Mitzvah Boy Sponsored by Karen and Charles Schader
Disgraced
Written by Ayad Akhtar
July 5th-July 15th
Thursday 2pm & 8pm, Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm & 8pm, Sunday 2pm
“There’s a result to believing that a book written about life in a specific society fifteen hundred years ago is the word of God: You start wanting to recreate that society.”
A successful corporate attorney confronts the Muslim heritage he has hidden, even from himself. This Pulitzer Prize winning play explores the prickly and often painful territory of American identity. Featuring Kim Stauffer in her return to the Town Hall Theatre.
2018 Season Sponsored by Richard and Carol Seltzer
Artistic Director Sponsored by Jessica and Fred Olefson
Disgraced Sponsored by Cipora Brown and Steven Feiner
Mary’s Wedding
Written by Stephen Massicotte
July 26th-August 5th
Thursday 2pm & 8pm, Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm & 8pm, Sunday 2pm
“So tomorrow is Mary’s wedding, tonight is just a dream…It begins at the end and ends at the beginning.”
When Mary and Charlie find themselves sheltering from a storm in the same barn, they don’t yet realize their chance meeting will change their young lives. The tale of a great love told in the shadow of the Great War.
2018 Season Sponsored by Richard and Carol Seltzer
Artistic Director Sponsored by Jessica and Fred Olefson
Sponsored by Rhonda and Carl Steeg
Critics love MARY’S WEDDING!
Media Sponsor
The Aliens
Written by Annie Baker
August 9th-August 19th
Thursday 2pm & 8pm, Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm & 8pm, Sunday 2pm
“I don’t think I’m good enough. I don’t know. I’m not like a genius…or anything.”
“How do you know?”
Jasper and KJ have created their own universe behind a local coffee shop. What could these two drop-outs possibly teach 17-year-old Evan about life? James Barry, Joel Ripka, and Paul Pontrelli star in this play by Amherst native, MacArthur Fellow, and Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker.
2018 Season Sponsored by Richard and Carol Seltzer
Artistic Director Sponsored by Jessica and Fred Olefson
The Aliens Sponsored by Helene and Whiting Houston.
Media Sponsor
White Rabbit Red Rabbit
A Special Mid-Season Event
Written by Nassim Soleimanpour
July 19th–July 21st
Thursday 2pm, Friday 8pm, Saturday 2pm & 8pm
No actor has ever performed this play twice–not ever–so each show is guaranteed to be unique. It’s an international sensation steeped in mystery, so we won’t quote it here because even the actor doesn’t get to see the script until the lights come up on stage. The Berkshires’ own Debra Jo Rupp and Chester Theatre favorite Joel Ripka are two of the performers scheduled to appear. Please check www.chestertheatre.org for updates on scheduled performers.
Sponsored by The Sunny Reid Fund
I and You
Written by Lauren Gunderson
June 28 – July 9
W 8pm, Th 2pm & 8pm, F 2pm, Sa 8pm, Su 2pm
Anthony arrives at Caroline’s door bearing a battered copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, an assignment from their English teacher. Due tomorrow. As the two let their guards down, this seemingly straightforward poetry project unlocks a deeper mystery that has brought them together. I and You is an ode to youth, fate, and the strange beauty of shared humanity. I and You will be directed by Kristen van Ginhoven, Artistic Director of WAM Theatre, in her CTC debut.
Sponsored by Cipora Brown and Steven Feiner.
Skeleton Crew
New England Premiere
Written by Dominique Morisseau
July 13 – July 23
W 8pm, Th 2pm & 8pm, F 2pm, Sa 8pm, Su 2pm
In this “deeply moral and deeply American play” (The New York Times), Reggie has worked his way up to supervisor at a faltering auto factory. Now he has to decide whether he owes his loyalty to himself, to his bosses, or to long-time family friend Faye and the younger workers on the line, Dez and Shanita. In the spirit of August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, this third play from Morisseau’s Detroit Trilogy explores the hard choices facing Americans barely squeezing by. It was named by the New York Times as “one of six plays that reckon with an anxious America.”
Sponsored by Karen and Charles Schader.
