Berkshire Theatre Group To Open 90th Anniversary Season With Jason Odell Williams' CHURCH AND STATE

Berkshire Theatre Group (Kate Maguire, Artistic Director/CEO) kicks-off it's milestone 90thAnniversary Season with theprovocative and humorous play Church & State by Jason Odell Williams (Handle With Care). Directed by Charlotte Cohn (founding producer of the New York Music Theatre Festival and Mainstreet Musicals), the four-member cast features Judy Jerome (Two By Tennessee) as Sara Whitmore, Keira Naughton (The Rivals; BTG: I Saw My Neighbor on the Train and I Didn't Even Smile) as Alex Klein, Graham Rowat (Meteor Shower; BTG: Arsenic and Old Lace)as Senator Charles Whitmore, and Andy Talen (The Tempest) as Tom/Marshall/Reporter/Security Guy. Performances begin Thursday, June 14, 2018 for a limited run through Saturday, June 30, 2018 at The Unicorn Theatre, The Larry Viber Stage (6 East Street) in Stockbridge, MA. Opening night is Saturday, June 16 at 8:00 p.m.

Hailed as "crackling, resonant, humorous" by NPRand written by Emmy Award-nominated Jason Odell Williams ("Brain Games"),Church & State is a fast-paced and witty look at the life of a politician, whose belief system gets shaken to the core...three days before his bid for re-election. Church & Statewill have you talking, and tweeting, long after the curtain closes. Church & Stateis sponsored by: Lead Sponsor, Bobbie Hallig; Furlano and Arace, PC, Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Shubert Foundation.

Church & State premiered in Los Angeles in 2016 and received three Ovation Award nominations, including Best Playwriting for an Original Play and Best Production. For its Off-Broadway premiere in 2017 it received an Off-Broadway Alliance Award nomination for Best Play.

Church & State will play the following performance schedule: Monday - Thursday at 7:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m., Wednesday and Saturday at 2:00 p.m. Special Talkbacks will follow each performance.

Tickets for Church & State are priced at $56, and $47for Previews. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street, Pittsfield or by calling (413) 997-4444 or online atwww.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org.

The Ticket Office is open Monday-Saturday 10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., Sundays 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m., or on any performance day from 10:00 a.m. until curtain. All plays, schedules, casting and prices are subject to change.

Special talkback guests are as follows(subject to change without notice):

6/16 - Charlotte Cohn (Church & State, director) and Jason Odell Williams (Church & State, playwright)

6/18 - Laurie Norton Moffatt (Director and CEO of Norman Rockwell Museum)

6/19 - Adam Hinds (Senator from Massachusetts)

6/20 - Dr. Alan Chartock (WAMC, President/CEO)

6/20 - Jennifer Goewey and Tess Lane (Elizabeth Freeman Center representatives)

6/21 - Jodi Faith Sherman (Parkland's Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Alumna) and Charlotte Cohn (Church & State, director)

6/22 - Philip R. McKnight (Constitutional Law Professor)

6/23 - Anne Thalheimer (Everytown Survivor Fellow)

6/23 - Malcolm Nance (Author, Counterterrorism and Weapons expert, WAMC and MSNBC contributing analyst and Joe Donahue (WAMC Senior Director of News and Programming)

6/25 - Mark Barden (Sandy Hook Promise), his daughter, Natalie Barden and Greg Gibson (Author of Gone Boy; Representative of Everytown for Gun Safety and Antiquarium book seller)

6/26 - Greg Gibson (Author of Gone Boy; Representative of Everytown for Gun Safety and Antiquarium book seller)

6/27 - Chris Haley (Director of MA Department of Mental Health)

6/27 - TBA

6/28 - Josh Horwitz (Coalition to Stop Gun Violence)

6/29 - Jane Tillman(Evelyn Stefansson, Nef Director of the Erikson Institute for Education and Research of the Austen Riggs Center)

6/30 - Charlotte Cohn (Church & State, director) and Jason Odell Williams (Church & State, playwright)

6/30 - Dr. Andrew Gerber (Director of Austen Riggs Center)

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