Indoor and Outdoor Productions at New and Reopened Theaters Highlight ‘Sapphire Season’
As the 2022 summer theater season approaches, Shakespeare & Company has a full season of Classic and Modern titles planned to be performed on four stages, both outdoors and indoors, for the first time in its 45-year history.
The Company’s ‘Sapphire Season –’ a nod to the traditional, 45-year anniversary gift – also carries the theme “Sigh no more…one foot in sea and one on shore.” Chosen to symbolize an emergence from difficult times that, nevertheless, are still close behind, the season theme is borrowed from the song from Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing – one of three Classic productions announced for the season. Modern titles will be announced mid-March.
Much Ado About Nothing will be staged at The New Spruce Theatre, Shakespeare & Company’s terraced, 500-seat amphitheater constructed in summer 2021, from July 2 through August 14, directed by Kelly Galvin.
Allyn Burrows, Shakespeare & Company’s Artistic Director, said the stage pays homage to both Greek amphitheaters and the Company’s own history, as a troupe that began by performing on the grounds at Edith Wharton’s The Mount in Lenox, Mass.
“We’re thrilled that this venue can serve present times and future generations of theater-lovers,” he said. “Now, Shakespeare’s words resonate among these spruce trees, as they have in the pines at The Mount, and the lilacs of the Roman Garden Theatre.”
The season will also include two Classic performances in the Tina Packer Playhouse, Shakespeare & Company’s 400-seat scaffold-and-canvas theater-in-the-round: An Iliad, to be staged from Friday, June 3 through Sunday, July 3, directed by Jeffrey Mousseau and featuring MaConnia Chesser – and Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, directed by Alice Reagan and slated to appear from Friday, August 19 through Sunday, September 18.
The Company’s Modern titles, to be announced soon, will mark the reopening of the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, a versatile, 200-seat venue with four distinct seating configurations for presentations and events. The theater has been closed due to COVID-19 precautions since 2020.
Tickets to these performances range in price from $37 to $82; preview performances are $10 less. FLEXpasses are also available in three- and five-show packages. For more information, visit shakespeare.org .
COVID-19 Code of Courtesy
To ensure the safety and health of its patrons and staff, Shakespeare & Company will continue its Safety Seating policy in 2022, which provides at least one empty seat between unrelated parties. Masks are required for all patrons, regardless of vaccination status, while indoors, and all patrons planning to attend any performances, indoors or outdoors, are required to show a form of ID and a COVID vaccination card or a negative COVID test taken within 48 hours.
About Shakespeare & Company
Shakespeare & Company was founded in 1978 by Tina Packer. Located in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, the Company offers performance, education, and actor-training opportunities year-round, and attracts more than 40,000 patrons annually with a core of more than 150 artists.
Photo Caption: David Bertoldi, MaConnia Chesser, Jonathan Epstein, Jennie M. Jadow, Christopher Lloyd, Ryan Winkles, and Bryce Michael Wood during a costumed rehearsal of King Lear on The New Spruce Theatre stage, summer 2021. Photo by Katie McKellick.
