Circle Mirror Transformation

August 10-20

Written by Annie Baker

Directed by Daniel Elihu Kramer

In this work by Pulitzer Prize winner and MacArthur fellow Annie Baker, five very different people come together in a Vermont community center for a theatre workshop. Their games and exercises teach them more about themselves and each other than they do about acting. 

Daniel Elihu Kramer, former Producing Artistic Director, returns to Chester to close out the 34th Season. Tara Franklin, current Co-Producing Artistic Director, plays Theresa, while former CTC intern Hero Marguerite plays Lauren.

Director Sponsor: Marisa Labozzetta and Martin Wohl

The Light

July 26-August 6

Written by Loy A. Webb

Directed by Christina Franklin

Rashad and Genesis have just gotten engaged. To celebrate, he wants to take her to a show by a local musician who’s made it big. When she refuses, secrets are revealed, and the past threatens to overshadow their future.

Production Sponsor: Emily Wojcik and Michael Thurston

Director Sponsor: Rhonda and Carl Steeg

Two friends stand guard at the site of one of the most stunning buildings the world has ever seen, the Taj Mahal. They protect it with their lives, yet they are forbidden from looking upon its beauty. But there is an ugly side to nearly everything. Perfection comes at a price, and those in power decide who pays and at what cost.

Production Sponsor: Charles and Jane Johnson

Director Sponsor: Jeanne and Frank Speizer

Design Sponsor: Dr. R. Allison Ryan

Read up on the Rehearsal Process in the Berkshire Eagle

Reviews:

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Nippertown

In The Spotlight

Actors Mona and Terry are on tour with an epic show entitled “Great Moments in Human Achievement.” In New Hampshire. On bicycles. While camping. The Making of a Great Moment is an uproariously funny love letter to the theatre, with two actors portraying dozens of characters: Bill Bowers stars as Terry, and Esther Williamson stars as Mona. both making their CTC debuts.

James Barry, newly named Co-Producing Artistic Director, along with Tara Franklin, directs this hilarious and heartfelt opener for Chester Theatre Company’s 34th season.

Production Sponsor: The Sunny Reid Fund

Director Sponsor: Cipora Brown and Steve Feiner

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Pride@Prejudice
Written and Directed by Daniel Elihu Kramer
June 23-July 3

Originally premiered at CTC in 2011, Pride@Prejudice is a reimagining of the beloved Jane Austen classic filled with bloggers, chat rooms, Austen enthusiasts, and even Jane herself. A hilarious and moving homage to Jane Austen’s most beloved novel, with 30 characters portrayed by five versatile actors, including Candace Barrett Birk who appeared in last season’s Tiny Beautiful Things, Marielle Young, who starred in Mary’s Wedding (2018) and The Night Alive (2019), and Luke Hofmaier, nominated for a Berkshire Theatre Award for Now Circa Then (2019). 

Brian Patterson and Claire Fort make their CTC debuts. 

Daniel Elihu Kramer will direct the production himself, giving this Chester favorite a fresh twist as the company welcomes its audiences back home for the season opener.

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Season Sponsors: Richard and Carol Seltzer Artistic
Director Sponsors: Karen and Chuck Schader
Education Sponsors: Ed and Carla Slomin
Production Sponsors: Charlie and Jane Johnson
Director Sponsors: Rhonda and Carl Steeg
Design Sponsors: Jeanne and Frank Speizer

Birds of North America
Written by Anna Ouyang Moench
July 7-17 Binoculars. Birds.

A Baltimore backyard. Over the course of a decade, a father and daughter navigate the changes in the climate and in their relationship. As the world around them shifts in ways both towering and minute, the one constant is the life list they keep in their birding notebook. Birds of North America is “a gentle reminder to seize the day for yourself and those you love.” (DC Metro)

Christopher Patrick Mullen, last seen in the 2004 production of The Pavilion, returns to Chester to play John.

Caitlyn will be played by Micheline Wu in her CTC debut.

Director Alex Keegan also makes her CTC debut.

Running time: 90 minutes without intermission.

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Season Sponsors: Richard and Carol Seltzer
Artistic Director Sponsors: Karen and Chuck Schader
Education Sponsors: Ed and Carla Slomin
Production Sponsor: The Sunny Reid Fund
Director Sponsors: Cipora Brown and Steven Feiner

Pass Over
July 28-August 7

Moses and Kitch want out of their Chicago neighborhood and off the corner to which they are tethered. They dream of the things that await them in the Promised Land—clean socks and the return of a dead brother—if only if they can pass over. This “surreal and morbidly funny existential drama” (Variety) was the first play performed when Broadway reopened in 2021.

Christina Franklin, whose work on 2021’s The Niceties received a Berkshire Theatre Critics nomination, returns for her second season at CTC.

Kayodè Soyemi will play Moses, Austin Sasser will play Kitch, and the production will also feature Berkshire Theatre Critics award winner James Barry playing two roles.

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Berkshire On Stage

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Season Sponsors: Richard and Carol Seltzer
Artistic Director Sponsors: Karen and Chuck Schader
Education Sponsors: Ed and Carla Slomin
Production Sponsors: Emily Wojcik and Michael Thurston
Director Sponsor: Wil Hastings

August 11-21
World Premiere

CTC’s season will close with this World Premiere Commission by Darcy Parker Bruce, sponsored by Frances Henry and Walter Korzec. Starring Tara Franklin (Tiny Beautiful Things, On the Exhale) and Raye Birk (Curve of Departure) as a daughter and father with history as murky as the dark side of the moon. Ace alternately maps craters searching for…something, and flips burgers at her day job as she tries to outrun the shadows of the past she shares with her dad, who spends his days watching gameshows from his lawn chair—on the moon. Pauli Pontrelli (I and You, The Aliens, Curve of Departure) returns for their fourth appearance at Town Hall as Ace’s co-worker, RJ.

Keira Naughton, nominated for a Berkshire Theatre Critics’ Award for 2019’s Curve of Departure, returns to direct her third show for CTC. She also staged last season’s Title and Deed.

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Season Sponsors: Richard and Carol Seltzer
Artistic Director Sponsors: Karen and Chuck Schader
Education Sponsors: Ed and Carla Slomin
Commission and Production Sponsors: Fran Henry and Walter Korzec
Director Sponsor: Dr. R. Allison Ryan

Title and Deed
Written by Will Eno
Directed by Keira Naughton
June 16-27

A man has traveled to where we live, from somewhere undisclosed. Business or pleasure? Neither. Will Eno’s script is bursting with moments that are simultaneously intriguing, amusing, and enigmatic. Title and Deed stars James Barry, known to CTC audiences for his work in The Aliens, The Night Alive, and Sister Play. Keira Naughton, who was nominated for a Berkshire Theatre Critics’ Award for 2019’s Curve of Departure, returns to direct.

The New York Times calls it “A haunting and often fiercely funny meditation on life.”

Running time: 70 minutes.

Sponsored by:
Ed and Carla Slomin
Rhonda and Carl Steeg