PITTSFIELD, MASS.: Barrington Stage Company has announced its 2018 season, featuring nine productions.
“This is the year of women’s stories at BSC,” said artistic director Julianne Boyd in a statement. “Whether it’s three generations of women whose entire lives are defined by that fabulous invalid, the theatre (The Royal Family of Broadway), or a woman who walked out on her family 15 years earlier and makes an unexpected visit home (A Doll’s House, Part 2), or a baker who struggles to find her voice in a changing world (The Cake), or the first female Chinese immigrant to enter the United States (The Chinese Lady), or an African-American woman called upon to be the face of her race by her well-meaning friends (Well-Intentioned White People)—these are stories we want to share with our audiences now.”
The season will start with Mark St. Germain’s Typhoid Mary (May 23-June 16), about Mary Mallon, the first person in the U.S. identified as an asymptomatic carrier of the pathogen associated with typhoid fever, and her personal struggle between religion and science. Matthew Penn will direct.
Next up will be the world premiere of The Royal Family of Broadway (June 7-July 7), with a book by Rachel Sheinkin, music and lyrics by William Finn, based on the original play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, and adapted by Richard Greenberg. The musical, loosely based on the Barrymore family, is set in the 1920s and serves as a love letter to Broadway. John Rando will direct and Joshua Bergasse will choreograph.
The season will continue with Bekah Brunstetter’s The Cake (June 24-July 14), a comedy about a conservative Christian baker tasked with baking a wedding cake for a gay couple. Jennifer Chambers will direct.
Following will be Lucas Hnath’s A Doll’s House, Part 2 (July 12-28), which imagines Nora Helmer’s life 15 years after the conclusion of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Joe Calarco will direct.
Next will be the world premiere of Lloyd Suh’s The Chinese Lady (July 19-Aug. 11), presented as a coproduction with Ma-Yi Theater Company, about Afong Moy, a women from Beijing who was brought to the United States and put on display as the “Chinese Lady” in 1834.
The season will continue with West Side Story (Aug. 3-Sept. 1), with book by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. The musical transports Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet to New York City, with two lovers caught between warring gangs. Robert La Fosse will choreograph, and Boyd will direct.
Next will be Rachel Lynett’s Well-Intentioned White People (Aug. 16-Sept. 8), about a woman’s exploration of race and friendship after a personal racial attack affects her relationship with a well-intentioned white friend.
Following will be The Glass Menagerie (Oct. 3-21), by Tennessee Williams, about the collision of reality and illusion for a family living in St. Louis during the Great Depression. Boyd will direct.
The season will conclude with Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach (July 25-Aug. 12), with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Timothy Allen McDonald. The musical, based on the book by Roald Dahl, follows a young orphaned boy who finds an enchanted peach and travels to New York City with its magical powers.
Founded in 1995, the company develops and produces new works for audiences of all ages.
