Berkshire Theatre Group to Present Sensory Friendly Performances For Summer 2022 Season
Performances include B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching, Once, Songs For a New World, and Edward Albee’s Seascape.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jun. 15, 2022
Berkshire Theatre Group has announced that this season BTG has expanded the sensory-friendly programming and will offer a sensory-friendly performance for many of its summer season shows.
A "sensory-friendly" performance is a production that is slightly modified to accommodate individuals with sensory-input disorders, such as people on the autism spectrum. At a sensory-friendly performance, the "house rules" are relaxed. As such, people may need to get up, move around, and leave the theatre during the performance; theatre lighting will remain at half for the duration of the performance; and sound may be modified. The goal is to create an environment where people with autism or sensory needs, along with their families, can enjoy coming to the theatre together and feel comfortable, supported and free to be themselves.
The sensory-friendly performance dates are:
B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching: Tuesday, July 5 at 7pm
Once: Tuesday, July 12 at 7pm
Songs For a New World: Tuesday, August 2 at 7pm
Edward Albee's Seascape: Thursday, October 13 at 7pm
Tickets for all of BTG's exciting summer season productions are on sale now. All plays, schedules, casting and prices are subject to change. To purchase tickets, visit www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org or contact the Colonial Ticket Office by calling 413-997-4444.
The ticket office is open Tuesday through Sunday 12pm-5pm or on any performance day from 12pm until curtain.
BTG's Pittsfield Campus is located at 111 South Street, (The Colonial Theatre) Pittsfield, MA. BTG's Stockbridge Campus is located at 6 East Street, (The Unicorn Theatre) Stockbridge, MA.
At The Unicorn Theatre
B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching
written by Tara L. Wilson Noth
directed by Kimille Howard
at The Unicorn Theatre
on the Larry Vaber Stage
Sensory Friendly: Tuesday, July 5 at 7pm
Tickets: Sensory Friendly: $15
ABOUT:
After unbearable loss, a grieving attorney takes a pro bono case representing a black teenager accused of murder. When an alluring stranger steps in to help, she is left questioning who she is and what she wants. While fighting for the young man's innocence, she is forced to confront the devastating truth about marriage, race and the woman she has chosen to be.
B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching is a play about the choices we make and the unspoken lies we tell ourselves to make peace with those choices.
At The Colonial Theatre
Once
based upon the motion picture written and directed by John Carney
music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová
book by Enda Walsh
directed by Gregg Edelman
music direction by Andy Taylor
movement direction by Isadora Wolfe
at The Colonial Theatre
Sensory Friendly Performance: Tuesday, July 12 at 7pm
Tickets: Sensory Friendly $15
ABOUT:
From the very first note, Once draws you in and never lets go. Winner of eight 2012 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Book of a Musical, Once tells the story of a guy who gave up on love and music and the girl who inspired him to dream again.
On the streets of Dublin, an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant are drawn together by their shared love of music. "Guy" is a singer and songwriter who spends his days fixing vacuums in the Dublin shop he runs with his father and his nights playing his music in local pubs. He is on the verge of giving up music altogether when "Girl," walks into the bar, hears him play and refuses to let him abandon his guitar. Over the course of one fateful week, an unexpected friendship and collaboration quickly evolve into a powerful but complicated love story.
Featuring all of the magical songs from the critically acclaimed film, including the Oscar-winning "Falling Slowly," this is the only show to have music that won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Olivier Award and a Tony Award. Achingly beautiful, joyously uplifting, it strikes an unforgettable chord in audiences and speaks to the power of music to connect us all. A show like that only comes around Once.
At The Unicorn Theatre
Songs For a New World
written and composed by Jason Robert Brown
directed and choreographed by Gerry McIntyre
music direction by Danté Harrell
at The Unicorn Theatre
on the Larry Vaber Stage
Sensory Friendly: Tuesday, August 2 at 7pm
Tickets: Sensory Friendly: $15
ABOUT:
It's about one moment. It's about hitting the wall and having to make a choice or take a stand or turn around and go back. These are the stories and characters of today, the Songs for a New World. The first musical from Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown (Parade, Bridges of Madison County), this moving collection of songs examines life, love and the choices that we make.
With a small, powerhouse, multi-ethnic cast and a driving, exquisitely crafted score that runs the gamut of today's popular music, Songs for a New World brings us face to face with those moments in life when everything seems perfect and then goes sideways. Most importantly, however, it's about surviving those moments. It's about the way we regroup and thrive under a new set of circumstances-a new world-even against seemingly overwhelming odds.
At The Unicorn Theatre
Edward Albee's Seascape
written by Edward Albee
directed by Eric Hill
at The Unicorn Theatre
on the Larry Vaber Stage
Sensory Friendly: Thursday, October 13 at 7pm
Tickets: Sensory Friendly: $15
ABOUT:
Winner of the 1975 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Edward Albee's Seascape brings true eloquence to its compelling yet subtle examination of the very meaning and significance of life itself. Told with Edward Albee's signature ironic wit and razor sharp perception, Seascape finds Nancy and Charlie, a middle-aged couple, on a deserted stretch of beach, relaxing after a picnic lunch, talking idly about home, family and their life together. She sketches, he naps, and then, suddenly, they are joined by two lizards who have decided to leave the ocean depths and come ashore.
Initial fear, and then suspicion of each other, are soon replaced by curiosity and, before long, the humans and the lizards are engaged in a fascinating dialogue. The lizards are contemplating the terrifying, yet exciting, possibility of embarking on life out of the water; and the couple, for whom existence has grown flat and routine, holds the answers to their most urgent questions. These answers are given with warmth, humor and poetic eloquence. The emotional and intellectual reverberations will linger in the heart and mind long after the play has ended.
Sensory Friendly Performance Dates
B.R.O.K.E.N code B.I.R.D switching: Tuesday, July 5 at 7pm
Once: Tuesday, July 12 at 7pm
Songs For a New World: Tuesday, August 2 at 7pm
Edward Albee's Seascape: Thursday, October 13 at 7pm
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