Pittsfield Mass: Barrington Stage Company Artistic Director, Julianne Boyd
Spelling Bee Highlights Berkshire Season
By: Charles Giuliano - Mar 14, 2008
Now in its second season in a renovated theatre in Pittsfield the Barrington Stage Company is settling in and paying down a debt of some $7.5 million. Since 2006, when the drive began, BSC has raised $4.8 million. Its original location was Great Barrington, hence Barrington Stage. There was a tough transition during the 2006 season when shows were presented in a musical chairs of venues. In the process the company lost a segment of its original audience while striving to establish a new one.
With the smash hit "West Side Story" which opened the 2007 season, by tracking of zip codes of ticket buyers, Julianne Boyd, the director of the company, states that they lured back much of that eroded South County audience because "We offered the only musical in the Berkshires last summer."
It was the end of a typically busy day as the summer season approaches when Boyd met with us to discuss the state of the art of her company and plans for the coming summer season. The dialogue started in a subdued manner then soared into high gear as Boyd became engaged in making her points and debating critical comments including a defense of the recent production "Trumbo." The two person play, which Boyd directed, focused on Dalton Trumbo, a black listed Hollywood screen writer, and his son. It was not reviewed with enthusiasm although she insisted that the production was a great success in initiating a wider understanding of the persecution of the radical left following WWII.
She burst out of her chair and acted out a response to dramatize her point. It was such a stunning moment that I inevitably asked if she had ever aspired to act. Clearly she has the necessary talent and charisma. But she demurred that she had no such ambition although she had acted now and then "in college."
The shoulder season leading into the summer started with the aforementioned "Trumbo," and will continue with a one night performance by Idina Menzel on April 3 and the one man show "I Am My Own Wife," May 21-June 8. High season opens with a musical "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" June 11 through July 12. It will be followed by Main Stage productions of "The Violet Hour" by Richard Greenberg, directed by Rob Ruggiero, July 17 through August 2, and Noel Coward's popular comedy "Private Lives" directed by Boyd, from August 7 through 24.
The musical "Spelling Bee" with music and lyrics by William Finn, book by Rachel Sheinkin, and concept by Rebecca Feldman was created, workshopped and developed by BSC in the winter of 2004 and was presented that summer to sold out audiences. The locally generated production went on to Broadway where it earned two Tony Awards in 2005 and then toured nationally. Its return to the Berkshires this summer is a much anticipated victory lap and safe bet to repeat as a boffo sell out.
Boyd is counting on the fact that "Spelling Bee," like the hit "West Side Story" last summer, will be money in the bank. The season is designed to open with the strongest show and the greatest box office potential. The strategy is that an influx of revenue funds the season to follow with its annual budget of $2.7 million. With the finances of the season front loaded, so to speak, it allows for some risk taking and adventure in balancing the range of what is offered. Last year it meant being able to stage "Uncle Vanya" which Boyd described presenting as "a comedy which is how Chekhov had intended." Instead of the usual strum und drang which she acted out with humor in a display of bathos. Taking a chance with "Vanya," apparently, was much appreciated by those who saw the production many of whom were accordingly encouraged to become patrons and donors. Her challenge for this season will focus on "The Violet Hour" which she says never reached its full potential when the original production of the 1919 based, jazz age drama was miscast.
"People try to pigeon hole us but we like to keep them guessing," Boyd said. Primarily, however, she and BSC are best know for developing musicals, such as "Spelling Bee," and for their comedies. The company is not known for intense dramas or experimental productions. She discussed the straight forward design and development of no frills theatre with comfortable seats and plenty of leg room.
"Spelling Bee gave us national prominence" Boyd said. "It was developed here. It came to us originally with about two and a half songs and a book. Overall, musicals are much more difficult to do. There are so many people involved. Each person is involved in the decisions. There is the book and writer, the lyricist and or composer, the director and choreographer, the musical director, and the producer. On a play you have just one or two people to work with but in a musical you have to get the whole team together to make decisions. Initially, I wasn't interested in doing any of the classics, like Chekhov. But I have changed my mind. The play is already done and you don't have to work through rewrites."
Having come to the Berkshires from Boston with the bookends of the Huntington Stage with mostly mainstream productions, and the avant-garde, over the top, American Repertory Theatre, I expressed to Boyd that I wished that there was more of the latter in the mix of what is offered locally. While we may expect more of the Huntington style this season now that its long term artistic director, Nicholas Martin, has taken over at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, the response was on the lines of, don't hold your breath, for anything like the edgy ART.
Boyd was outrageously funny as she launched into a screed of objections to the kind of productions staged by the ever challenging and controversial, Cambridge based, ART. Her case in point, which she illustrated graphically, was the ever shifting platform used for a provocative staging of Sartre's "No Exit." She railed against how it did not allow actors to do what they do best. Rather they were constantly struggling to get their footing on the ever lurching stage. I objected that, in fact, I had particularly loved that production. The careening device of a gyrating stage was an apt metaphor for Sartre's notion of hell. It disoriented the audience, brilliantly, just as it tumbled about the actors.
But Boyd would have none of my defense of this cutting edge theatre or its potential for the Berkshires. Smashing home her point, set, match, she exclaimed hilariously how during one performance of ART's "No Exit" an actress apparently suffered motion sickness and lost her lunch on stage.
Oh well. It is not unusual that directors and critics do not see eye to eye. We sparred a bit over differences of opinion regarding the recent production of "Trumbo." She insists that the letters were meant to be read rather than memorized. The staging struck me and other critics as overly static. This led me to ask her opinion of the Berkshire based critics in general. Compared to the standards of New York and Boston, often I feel that they are overly soft and fuzzy. But that just got her dander up and Boyd stated that too many of the local scribes try to act like "New York critics" by being overly harsh and not honestly reporting on their actual experiences. She wondered why certain individuals, who have yet to write a positive review of BSC, even bother to attend the theatre because they really don't care for it. "I love the theatre" she exclaimed with a great and compelling exuberance.
Indeed, that's just what it takes to found and sustain a company. Few comprehend what enormous devotion and energy is involved. In addition to drama, the play's the thing, after all, there is also the issue of bricks and mortar. For example, the conference room where we met, in the octagon shaped house, next to the theatre, which houses offices for the company. It was a part of the deal when the property was purchased for $785,000. Some $500,000 was provided from the General Electric fund of the City of Pittsfield with provisions for longevity and public service.
Asked about the octagon building and the conference room, Boyd took pride to say that it was originally a set of several small rooms. She and her team oversaw the design and renovation. "Did you ever see it before" she exclaimed "It was a crack house with peeling paint."
A lot of that "This Old House" spirit informs all aspects of BSC. Boyd is determined to build and sustain audiences. As a part of that mandate she is committed to providing affordable theatre. There is a Pay What You Can policy for those 35 and under with a $5 per ticket minimum on one designated Friday performance of every Mainstage and Stage 11 show. Also 20 half price tickets are set aside offered daily at locations in Great Barrington, Pittsfield, North Adams and Chatham, New York. When accompanied by an adult, kids under 13 are admitted free and there are half price tickets for 14 to 21 year olds for most performances. There are all kinds of deals offered to assure that everyone gets a chance to attend live theatre.
Overall, the hard work appears to be paying off. During 2007, the BSC had an overall attendance of 45,000. This is distributed between 520 seats for the Mainstage, 100 for Stage II. and 125 for the Youth Theatre. There was 90% attendance for "West Side Story," 60-65% for "Black Comedy," and 50-55% for "Uncle Vanya." So far, it was the strongest season for BSC which is now striving to become a year round theatre. "In 2007 we recaptured the South County audience we lost in 2006 while our Pittsfield based attendance grew six fold."
Which is to say that Boyd is in for the long haul. Break a leg.
http://www.barringtonstageco.org/