Shakespeare & Company Presents Lucy Kirkwood's THE CHILDREN

Shakespeare & Company presents Critics Circle and Susan Smith Blackburn Award-winning playwright Lucy Kirkwood's timely play The Children, directed by James Warwick, back for his second season with the Company after last season's acclaimed Mothers and Sons. The Children runs from July 18 to August 18 in the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, and was a 2018 Tony Award Best Play nominee. With searing insight and comic flair, Kirkwood invites audiences to grapple with an age-old question, "what about the children?"

"The Children deals with pressing issues surrounding environmental change with extraordinary insight, compassion and humor," says Director James Warwick. "The three characters in the play explore, personally and professionally, how they can contribute to a safer environment for generations to come."

The play follows two retired physicists who have taken shelter in a borrowed cottage off The English coast, coping with the aftermath of a nuclear power plant accident. Quite suddenly, an unexpected visitor arrives from their past. The story unfolds with fascinating twists and humor amongst three long-time friends who share a guarded history and a passion for life in the face of glaring reminders of its fragility.

"Kirkwood's play is a revelation and inspiration for those of us concerned with climate change," continued Warwick. "But it is also about the child in us all who feels overwhelmed and powerless in the face of such daunting challenges. She asks complex questions in her play but does so through an intriguing story line and richly drawn, recognizable relationships. It's an inspiring story about the resolve of the human spirit in the face of great adversity."

The production is generously sponsored by the Claudia K. Perles Family Foundation, and will feature three familiar faces to the Shakespeare & Company stage, Ariel Bock (Rose), Jonathan Epstein (Robin), and Diane Prusha (Hazel). The creative team includes Sandy Cleary (Stage Manager), Sarah Woolf (Assistant Stage Manager), Grace Eldred (Wardrobe), Patrick Brennan (Props Master & Set Designer), Deborah A. Brothers (Costume Designer), James W. Bilnoski (ME & Lighting Designer), Amy Altadonna (Sound Designer), and Caleb Harris (Associate Technical Director).

Tickets for The Children are available online at shakespeare.org, or by calling Shakespeare & Company's box office at (413) 637-3353. The show runs from July 18 to August 18 in the Elayne P. Bernstein, Theatre which is air-conditioned and wheelchair accessible. Shakespeare & Company is located at 70 Kemble St. in Lenox, Massachusetts.

The Company's 2019 Summer Season also includes four Shakespeare productions, The Taming of the Shrew , The Merry Wives of Windsor, Twelfth Night, and special workshop production of Coriolanus plus The Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks, and Tony Award nominee, Time Stands Still by Donald Margulies.

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