Harriet Harris to Star in Comedic Double Feature with Berkshire Theatre Group

Berkshire Theatre Group (BTG) and Kate Maguire (Artistic Director/CEO) are thrilled to announce an additional Unicorn Theatre production, the comedic double feature: Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and The Actor's Nightmare, featuring Tony Award-winner, Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Phantom Thread, Frasier; BTG: Arsenic and Old Lace) as Sister Mary Ignatius.This cast also features Jenn Harris (Silence! The Musical, Modern Orthodox; BTG: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Heidi Chronicles), Tom Story (BTG: The Glass Menagerie,Camelot, The Heidi Chronicles) and Matthew Sullivan (The Roads to Home; BTG:Arsenic and Old Lace).

This production is directed by Emmy Award-nominated Matthew Penn (Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang, Orange is the New Black,Sopranos, The Beauty Queen of Leenane). Matthew Penn grew up at Berkshire Theatre, as he is the son of former Berkshire Theatre Festival Artistic Director and Tony Award-winner, Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde). Matthew says, "Berkshire Theatre was my first experience around the magic of theatre. It was the confluence of both family and dear family friends coming together to create some memorable theater with the Berkshire Theater at the center."

Additional casting for Berkshire Theatre's 90th Anniversary Season will be announced in the next several weeks. Tickets for all of BTG's summer season productions are on sale now. Summer season passes are available for purchase at $111 for a three-show pass, and $222 for a six-show pass. BTG continues its commitment to offering accessible theatre for everyone, with tickets starting as low as $15 for adults, and $10 for children 16 years or younger. Tickets may be purchased in person at the Colonial Ticket Office at 111 South Street, Pittsfield or by calling (413) 997-4444 or online at www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org. The Ticket Office is open Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Sundays 10am-2pm or on any performance day from 10am until curtain. All plays, schedules, casting and prices are subject to change.

Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You

and

The Actor's Nightmare

by Christopher Durang

directed by Matthew Penn

featuring Harriet Harris, Jenn Harris, Tom Story and Matthew Sullivan

at The Unicorn Theatre

The Larry Vaber Stage

BTG's Stockbridge Campus, 6 East Street

Previews: Thursday, August 16 at 7pm and Friday, August 17 at 8pm

Opening Night: Saturday, August 18 at 8pm

Talkback: Monday, August 20, following the 7pm performance

Closing: Friday, August 31 at 8pm

Tickets: Preview: $47

Tickets: $56

Sponsored by: Lead Sponsor, Bobbie Hallig; Massachusetts Cultural Council, The Shubert Foundation

About:
Written by Obie Award-winner Christopher Durang, the comedic double feature,Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and The Actor's Nightmare is an absurdly hilarious evening of theatre. Featuring Tony Award-winner Harriet Harris(Thoroughly Modern Millie, Phantom Thread, Frasier; BTG: Arsenic and Old Lace) as Sister Mary Ignatius, Jenn Harris (Silence! The Musical, Modern Orthodox; BTG: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), Tom Story (BTG: The Glass Menagerie, Camelot, The Heidi Chronicles) and Matthew Sullivan (The Roads to Home; BTG: Arsenic and Old Lace). Hailed as "consistently clever" by The New York Times when it first opened in 1981,Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You and The Actor's Nightmare are still bitingly witty satires on the psychology of belief and belonging.

This farcical production is directed by Emmy Award-nominated Matthew Penn (Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang, Orange is the New Black,Sopranos, The Beauty Queen of Leenane). Matthew Penn grew up at Berkshire Theatre, as he is the son of former Berkshire Theatre Festival Artistic Director and Tony Award-winner, Arthur Penn (Bonnie and Clyde).

Matthew Penn (Director) is an Emmy Award-nominated director, with over 200 hour-long dramatic television shows to his credit, including: The Mist, Queen of the South,Orange is the New Black, Blue Bloods, Damages, Royal Pains, as well as classic series like, The Sopranos, NYPD Blue and Law and Order. In the theatre, Penn has distinguished himself in both drama and comedy. Berkshire audiences know him from:The Beauty Queen of Leenane by Martin McDonagh, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang and Mother of the Maid by Jane Anderson. He is Co-Artistic Director of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab.

Harriet Harris BTG: Arsenic and Old Lace. Broadway: The Man Who Came to Dinner, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Cry Baby, Cinderella, It Shoulda Been You. Off-Broadway: The Low Road, The Roads to Home, Rude Entertainment. Regional: Hollywood, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Tartuffe. Film: Phantom Thread, Love is Strange, Memento, Addams Family Values. TV: Frasier, Desperate Housewives. Awards: Tony and Drama Desk-award winner.

Jenn Harris is a New York-based Actress/Writer/Producer. Her web series New York is Dead, which she co-wrote, starred in and produced, premiered at The Tribeca Film Festival in 2017 and won Best Comedy at the NYTVF. She won a Lortel and Theatre World Award for Modern Orthodox, stared as Jodi Foster in Silence! The Musical, was in the revival of All in the Timing, and many more off beat productions in NYC and regionally. Film: Gayby (official selection SXSW 2012), Fits and Starts, Better Living through Chemistry, Confessions of a Shopaholic. TV: High Maintenance, 30 Rock,Blacklist, Younger, Bored to Death, Eastsiders and Difficult People. Her podcast,Touché Podcast, with Jeff Hiller, chats about fighting your way to the middle.

Tom Story has appeared in over sixty five plays in New York, Washington DC and in cities throughout America. This summer marks Tom's 20th Anniversary with Berkshire Theatre; he has appeared in many productions at Berkshire Theatre Group, and he directed Design For Living in 2014. He has received seven Helen Hayes nominations and a Fox Foundation Fellowship. He is a graduate of Duke University and The Juilliard School.

Matthew Sullivan Arsenic and Old Lace at Berkshire Theatre Group, The Roads to Home by Horton Foote, at The Cherry Lane Theater; Standing on Ceremony at The Minetta Lane Theater; Macbeth and Coriolanus at New York Shakespeare Festival;Hay Fever at The Guthrie Theater; Tovarich, I Capture the Castle, Noises Off, The Devil's Disciple, Playboy of the Western World at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Four seasons with The Acting Company. Juilliard School.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos

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