Barrington Stage Company Presents THE BEST OF ENEMIES, Opens 7/21

Barrington Stage Company, the award-winning theatre in Downtown Pittsfield, MA, under the leadership Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and Managing Director TriStan Wilson, presents The Best of Enemies, a world premiere by the author of BSC's longest-running hit play, Freud's Last Session.

Directed by Julianne Boyd, The Best of Enemies performs on the Mainstage from July 21 through August 6. The press opening is Wednesday, July 27 at 7pm. The production stars John Bedford Lloyd as C. P. Ellis, Aisha Hinds as Ann Atwater, Clifton Duncan as Bill Riddick, and Susan Wands as Mary Ellis.

Inspired by the best-selling book by Osha Gray Davidson, The Best of Enemies is a true story about the relationship between C.P. Ellis (a Grand Cyclops of the KKK) and Ann Atwater (an African-American civil rights activist) during the desegregation of the Durham, NC schools in 1971. The Best of Enemies exposes the poison of prejudice in the hearts of Atwater and Ellis who, by facing each other, are forced to face the worst, and best, in themselves.

The Best of Enemies is designed by David M. Barber (sets), Scott Pinkney (lights), Kristina Lucka(costumes), and Brad Berridge (sound). Michael Andrew Rodgers is production stage manager.

The Best of Enemies is sponsored by Sydelle and Lee Blatt and is presented as part of the Lift Ev'ry Voice Festival, celebrating African-American Culture & Heritage in the Berkshires. This project is made possible in part by a grant from the Pittsfield Cultural Council with funding from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, as part of the 250th Anniversary of Pittsfield.

John Bedford Lloyd (C.P. Ellis) Broadway: Some Americans Abroad, The Rainmaker, Tartuffe. Carnegie Hall: Showboat. Off-Broadway: Ethan Coen's Offices at the Atlantic Theatre Company. Williamstown: six seasons. Guthrie Theatre: Arthur Miller's Resurrection Blues (world premiere). Westport Playhouse: The Drawer Boy. Television: John Adams, The Bronx is Burning, Blue Bloods, Pan Am, A Legal Mind, Remember WENN (Screen Actors Guild Award nomination). Film: Super Troopers, Crossing Delancey, Tough Guys Don't Dance, Nixon, The Abyss, Bourne Supremacy, Philadelphia, The Manchurian Candidate, The Hoax, Wall Street 2. Volunteer with Rehabilitation Through the Arts, a theatre outreach program operating inside New York State prisons.
Aisha Hinds (Ann Atwater) Brooklyn born and educated at the University of Miami, Aisha is thrilled to return to the stage in The Best of Enemies, after a nine year hiatus. Hinds work in television and film includes notably HBO's True Blood, ABC's Detroit 187, TNT's HawthoRNe, Showtime's Weeds, and recently appearing with Russell Crowe in The Next Three Days and Denzel Washington in Unstoppable, truly feels most honored to humbly pay homage to the life, work, and service of Ann Atwater in this role. Some of Hinds' stage credits include Fences, Anything Goes, Tartuffe, Boy Times Man, Colored Museum, Mighty Gents, and Mame.

Clifton Duncan (Bill Riddick) is making his Barrington Stage debut. He has appeared Off-Broadway at City Center Encores! (Lost in the Stars), The Public Theater (Twelfth Night) and as a featured artist at Ars Nova's ANT Festival (the uniVERSE project, his hip-hop solo piece). Regional credits include Williamstown, Arena Stage, Signature Theater, The Shakespeare Theater in D.C., The O'Neill Center, Kansas City Rep, The Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, Hangar Theater, Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Chautauqua Theater Company, The Shakespeare Company. He was also recently seen on Comedy Central's Onion Sports Network. Clifton received his MFA at NYU's Graduate Acting Program.

Susan Wands (Mary Ellis) has acted on Broadway, Off & Off-Off Broadway. In regional theater she has worked at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Old Globe Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, St. Louis Rep, Merrimack Rep, Virginia Stage and others. Favorite roles include: Margery Pinchwife in The Country Wife (directed by Julianne Boyd), Hermione, Blanche, Imogen, Camille, Rosalind, Sally Talley, Isabelle, Cressida, Helena, Doll Tearsheet and Mrs. Cheveley. Television roles include guest lead appearances on several daytime dramas, the "Law & Order" series and in the HBO series "Boardwalk Empire."
Mark St. Germain (Playwright) wrote Freud's Last Session, Barrington Stage Company's longest running play. Now playing Off-Broadway, it has passed its 300th performance and will be performed nationally and internationally next season. He's written Ears on a Beatle (BSC), The God Committee (BSC) and Out of Gas on Lover's Leap. Other plays include Camping with Henry and Tom (Outer Critics Circle Award and Lucille Lortel Award) and Forgiving Typhoid Mary. His new play, Mrs. Lincoln's Seance, will have a reading at BSC this summer. Mark co-wrote the screenplay for Carroll Ballard's Warner Brothers film, Duma. He most recently directed and produced the documentary My Dog, An Unconditional Love Story, featuring Richard Gere, Lynn Redgrave and Glenn Close among many others. It was chosen to be the first documentary shown on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Television credits include Writer and Creative Consultant for The Cosby Show, Life Stories and Dick Wolf's Crime and Punishment. With Randy Courts, he has written the musicals The Gifts of the Magi, Johnny Pye and the Foolkiller, winner of an AT&T "New Plays for the Nineties Award," both produced at the Lamb's Theater, NYC. Jack's Holiday was produced at Playwrights Horizons. Mark's musical, Stand By Your Man - The Tammy Wynette Story was created for Nashville's Ryman Theater and has toured nationally. Mark wrote the children's book Three Cups, illustrated by April Willy, for an independent publishing company which has just been picked up for national distribution by the internationAl Thomas Nelson Publishers. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists where he was given the Joe A. Callaway Award, a member of the Dramatists Guild and the Writer's Guild East. He was awarded the "New Voices in American Theatre" award at the William Inge Theatre Festival. Mark is a Board Member and Associate Artist at Barrington Stage Company.

Osha Gray Davidson (Author) has been a regular contributor to Rolling Stone magazine. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Mother Jones, The Nation, The New Republic, Salon.com, The Washington Post, Woman's Day, Popular Science and Grist. He is the author of five books of non-fiction, covering topics from sea turtles (Fire in the Turtle House) to the National Rifle Association (Under Fire) to the nexus of race and class in America (The Best of Enemies). Osha also co-wrote the screenplay for the IMAX documentary Coral Reef Adventure. He publishes the The Phoenix Sun, a syndicated online news and analysis site covering solar power from the American Southwest.

The Best of Enemies will be presented at the BSC Mainstage, 30 Union St., Pittsfield. Performances are Tuesday and Wednesday at 7pm, Thursday through Saturday at 8pm, Friday Matinees at 2pm (excluding Friday, July 22), and Sunday at 5pm. Additional Wednesday matinee August 3 at 2pm. Opening Night: Wednesday, July 27 at 7pm. Tickets: $15-$58. Seniors: $35 all matinees. Youth 18 and under $15 all performances except Saturday evening.

FREE EVENT "Conversations With..." Tuesday, July 26 at 4pm. Race and Redemption in Durham, N.C., with Ann Atwater. Mainstage, 30 Union Street, Pittsfield. Meet the African-American civil rights activist (on whom the character in The Best of Enemies is based) to learn how she and Ku Klux Klan leader C.P. Ellis were transformed when they were finally able to overturn their long-held beliefs. This free event is moderated by playwright and BSC Associate Artist Mark St. Germain. Reservations are recommended and may be made by calling the BSC Box Office at 413-236-8888.

About Barrington Stage Company
Barrington Stage Company, a professional award-winning Equity regional theatre located in the heart of the Berkshires, in Pittsfield, MA, was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd. Barrington Stage's mission is three-fold: to present top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways to bringing new audiences into the theatre-especially young people. Barrington Stage garnered national attention in 2004 when it workshopped, and premiered William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin's musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which later transferred to Broadway's Circle-in-the-Square Theatre where it won two Tony Awards and played more than 1,000 performances. In 2009/2010 Barrington Stage produced the world premiere of Mark St. Germain's Freud's Last Session, which later moved Off-Broadway to the Marjorie S. Deane Little Theater, where it resumed performances on January 14, 2011. For more information, log on to www.barringtonstageco.org.

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