Casting Announced for Berkshire Theatre Group's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST & NINA SIMONE: FOUR WOMEN

Berkshire Theatre Group has announced Tony Award-winner Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie) has joined the cast as Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest. Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner David Auburn (Proof; BTG: The Skin of Our Teeth, The Petrified Forest) will direct BTG's production that will run from June 18 through July 10 under the Main Stage Tent outside at Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge.

In Nina Simone: Four Women, a quartet of amazing voices will fill the stage. Directed by Gerry McIntyre (Broadway: Once on This Island, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Off-Broadway: Spamilton; BTG: Godspell, A Chorus Line, Oklahoma!) and featuring Tony and Grammy Award nominee Valisia LeKae (Broadway: Motown the Musical, The Book of Mormon, 110 in the Shade; BTG: Rock & Roll Man) as Nina Simone, this production will run from August 13 through September 5 outside in the courtyard at Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge.

Maguire says, "There is nothing like watching great actors perform, and we have some of the most wonderful in the industry with us this summer. It is our privilege to host directors David Auburn and Gerry McIntyre, as they take us on two remarkable theatrical journeys this summer on the grounds of our Stockbridge campus. Surrounded by the talents of our designers who will be creating immersive audience experiences, our actors are looking forward to being back 'on the boards' and illuminating the lives of an eclectic and powerful array of characters."

Tickets for all of BTG's exciting summer season productions are on sale now. BTG is offering a 10% discount on tickets for all front-line workers. All plays, schedules, casting and prices are subject to change. Tickets may be purchased at The Colonial Theatre, online at www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org or by calling (413) 997-4444. Ticket office hours are every day from 12pm-5pm, or on any performance day from 12pm until curtain.

BTG's Pittsfield Campus is located at 111 South Street, (Colonial Theatre/Colonial Big Tent) Pittsfield, MA. BTG's Berkshire Theatre Festival/Stockbridge Campus is located at 6 East Street (Unicorn Theatre/Courtyard Outside the Unicorn) & 83 East Main Street (Fitzpatrick Main Stage/Main Stage Tent) Stockbridge, MA.

At Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge

Outside Under the Main Stage Tent

The Importance of Being Earnest

by Oscar Wilde

directed by David Auburn

at The Fitzpatrick Main Stage
Outside Under the Main Stage Tent

Previews: Friday, June 18 at 7pm
Opening: Sunday, June 20 at 7pm

Press Night: Wednesday, June 23 at 7pm
Closing: Saturday, July 10 at 7pm
Tickets: Preview: $50
Tickets: $75

ABOUT:

The Importance Of Being Earnest tells the story of two bachelor friends, dandy Algernon Moncrieff and reliable John (Jack) Worthing, as they take on double lives to court the attentions of the desirable Gwendolyn Fairfax and the romantic Cecily Cardew. But the gallants must then grapple with the uproarious consequences of their ruse...and with the formidable Lady Bracknell. The results are a world filled with chaos, mistaken identity and uncontrollable laughter! Oscar Wilde's much loved, exhilarating and enduring masterpiece will be set outside under a tent on a three-quarter thrust stage.

Surrounded by the bucolic grounds of Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, the production will be directed by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner David Auburn (The Adventures of Augie March, Lost Lake, The Columnist, Proof; BTG: The Skin of Our Teeth, The Petrified Forest), and will feature David Adkins (BTG: The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?; The Petrified Forest) as Reverend Canon Chasuble; Rebecca Brooksher (Broadway: Burn This, The Real Thing; Off Broadway: Dying City; BTG: The Petrified Forest, Cat On A Hot Tin Roof) as Gwendolyn; Shawn Fagan (Off Broadway: Mint Theatre, Pearl Theatre; BTG: The Petrified Forest; Regional: Arena Stage, Cleveland Playhouse, Shakespeare Theatre of NJ) as Algernon Moncrieff; Harriet Harris (Broadway: The Man Who Came to Dinner, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Present Laughter, Cry Baby, Cinderella, It Shoulda Been You; BTG: The Skin of Our Teeth, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Arsenic and Old Lace; TV/Film: Ratched, Frasier, Phantom Thread, Memento, Addams Family Values) as Lady Bracknell; Corinna May (Broadway/National Tour: The Graduate; BTG: Holiday Memories, Benefactors, Same Time, Next Year; Homestead Crossing, Two-headed) as Miss Prism; Claire Saunders (BTG: The Skin of Our Teeth; TV/Film: Modern Love, Law & Order: SVU, Tell Me a Story, The Good Cop, The Intern) as Cecily; Matt Sullivan (Off Broadway: The Roads to Home; BTG: The Skin of Our Teeth, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You) as Lane/Merriman and Mitchell Winter (Off Broadway: Sleep No More; TV/Film: Oh Jerome, No; Mr. Robot; Regional: Yale Rep) as Jack Worthing.

The creative team of The Importance of Being Earnest consists of direction by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winner David Auburn, scenic design by Bill Clarke, costume design by Hunter Kaczorowski, lighting design by Daniel J. Kotlowitz, sound design by Scott Killian, movement direction by Isadora Wolfe, stage-managed by Jason Weixelman and assistant stage-managed by Juliet Jewett.

At The Unicorn Theatre

Outside in the Courtyard

Nina Simone: Four Women

by Christina Ham

directed by Gerry McIntyre

music direction by Danté Harrell

The Unicorn Theatre
Outside in the Courtyard

Preview: Friday, August 13 at 7pm
Press Night/Opening: Saturday, August 14 at 7pm
Closing: Sunday, September 5 at 2pm

Tickets: Preview: $50
Tickets: $75

ABOUT:

Nina Simone: Four Women imagines a conversation, often through music, between Simone and three African-American women. Set in the fragments of a shattered world, audiences will be in the Courtyard surrounded by the gritty and historic Mellon Barn outdoors at Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge. The production will be directed by Gerry McIntyre (Broadway: Once on This Island, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat; Off-Broadway: Spamilton; BTG: Godspell, A Chorus Line, Oklahoma!) who choreographed last summer's hit Godspell and will feature Tony and Grammy Award nominee Valisia LeKae (Broadway: Motown The Musical, Book of Mormon, Ragtime) as Nina Simone. In the aftermath of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in 1963, Nina Simone rocked the nation with "Four Women," her tribute in song to the four young girls lost in the tragedy. Scholar and artist Thulani Davis called the song "an instantly accessible analysis of the damning legacy of slavery, that made iconographic the real women we knew and would become."

The cast for Nina Simone: Four Women is as follows: Darlesia Cearcy (Broadway: Once On This Island, Shuffle Along, The Color Purple; TV/Film: High Fidelity, Madame Secretary, FBI, and House of Cards) as Aunt Sarah; Adrianna Hicks (Broadway: SIX the Musical; The Color Purple, Aladdin) as Sweet Thing; Sasha Hutchings (Broadway: Oklahoma, Hamilton, My Fair Lady, Motown the Musical, Memphis; TV/Film: Run The World, Fosse/Verdon, The Bold Type, Jessica Jones, Master of None, Blue Bloods, The Dangerous Book for Boys, and SMASH) as Sephronia; and Tony and Grammy Award nominee Valisia LeKae (Broadway: Motown the Musical, The Book of Mormon, 110 in the Shade, Ragtime; TV/Film: The Blacklist , Blue Bloods, Live at the Lincoln Center (Camelot) and the 60th and 67th Annual Tony Awards; BTG: Rock & Roll Man) as Nina Simone.

The creative team of Nina Simone: Four Women includes direction by Gerry McIntyre, music direction by Danté Harrell, scenic design by Randall Parsons, costume design by Sarafina Bush, lighting design by Matthew E. Adelson, sound design by Kaique DeSouza and stage-managed by Jason Weixelman.

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