Shakespeare & Company, in association with Great Barrington Public Theater, presents Jim Frangione’s Flight of the Monarch, directed by Judy Braha Saturday, August 3 through Sunday, August 25 at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre.
This darkly comic play tells the story of two siblings, Sheila (Corinna May) and Thomas (Allyn Burrows), both born and raised in a small New England fishing village where they still live. It delves into what we owe to the people who know and love us best, and how family members’ needs and desires may push the boundaries of what we can be expected to do for others.
Braha added the work explores how each sibling approaches adversity, but also how their lives are intertwined.
“The siblings ride an emotional roller coaster as they attempt to decode the past and find their way into a future of their own making,” she said. “There are moments of deep reflection, antipathy, and humor as the siblings navigate the challenges, both physical and cognitive, of growing older.”
This production is sponsored by Shari and Steve Ashman and The Jacob Burns Foundation. Tickets range from $22 to $72; preview performance tickets on Saturday, August 3 are 10% off.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit shakespeare.org, or call the Box Office at (413) 637-3353.
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.
Jim Frangione
(Playwright)
Jim Frangione’s play Breakwater, set on Cape Cod, premiered at Great Barrington Public Theater in 2019 (Berkshire Theater Critics Association nomination for Best New Play). Flight of the Monarch premiered at Gloucester Stage Company. Jim directed Romance at WHAT; Seriously Funny: An Evening of Short Plays by Mamet, Silverstein and Pinter at Harvard/ART; and Private Life at HERE. For GB Public Theater: Public Speaking 101 and Dad, by Mark St. Germain; the east coast premiere of David Mamet’s The Christopher Boy’s Communion and Will LeBow’s The Bard The Beat The Blues. Jim’s acted with NYC’s Atlantic Theater, in National Tours, on Broadway; at the Alley Theatre, the Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf Theatre, the Humana Festival, in American Buffalo at Berkshire Theatre Festival and in Vanya and Sonia and Masha, and Spike at Shakespeare & Company. Jim is Artistic Director of Great Barrington Public Theater and would like to thank his friend Allyn Burrows and everyone at Shakespeare & Company for bringing Flight of the Monarch to life.
Judy Braha
(Director)
Judy Braha has been a director, actor, teacher and arts activist for over four decades. Long-time head of the M.F.A. Directing Program at Boston University’s School of Theater, credits include theaters and universities throughout New England. Recent work: Things I Know To Be True (Great Barrington Public Theater), Shakespeare in Love, The Exonerated (BU), Mr. Fullerton, Between the Sheets (GBPT + Gloucester Stage), Representation and How to Get It, a new solo work about Julia Ward Howe, touring to a historic venue near you. Upcoming: The world premiere of Dog People (GBPT) and Flight of the Monarch (Shakespeare & Company). Judy proudly collaborates with Andre de Quadros in BU’s Race, Prison, Justice, Arts, teaching inside and outside Mass. prisons and jails. Judy is the Associate Artistic Director of Great Barrington Public Theater in the beautiful Berkshires.
Allyn Burrows
(Thomas Callaghan)
Pronouns: he / him
S&Co: Director: The Tempest (2017), As You Like It (2018), Twelfth Night (2019) A Midsummer Night’s Dream(2023). Shakespeare & Company performances: A Walk in the Woods, King Lear, God of Carnage, Or, King John, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry IV Part 1, among others. As Artistic Director of Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Allyn directed and acted in numerous productions. Other Boston area performances include Can You Forgive Her (Huntington Theatre), Breaking the Code (Underground Railway Theatre), Shipwrecked (The Lyric Stage), The Seafarer and The Homecoming (Merrimack Repertory Theater), Five by Tenn (Speakeasy Stage). Elliot Norton Award for The Homecoming, King Lear, Five by Tenn; IRNE Award for Breaking the Code. Off-Broadway: Bug, Killer Joe, Louis Slotin Sonata, Closetland. Regionally: Actors’ Theatre of Louisville, American Conservatory Theatre, Long Wharf, Denver Center, Walnut St. Television: “The Broad Squad,” “Law and Order,” “Law and Order: Criminal Intent,” “Against the Law.” Films include The Company Men, Julie & Julia, Manchester by the Sea, and Don’t Look Up.
Corinna May
(Sheila Callaghan)
S&CO. 30+ productions including Morning After Grace, The Memory of Water, A Winter’s Tale, Enchanted April, Jack and Jill, Betrayal, Fortune and Misfortune, House of Mirth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet. BTF/BTG: Copenhagen, Seascape, Shirley Valentine (“Berkie” Award), The Importance of Being Earnest Benefactors, Same Time Next Year, Homestead Crossing, Two-headed. Great Barrington Public Theatre: Things I Know To Be True (“Berkie” award) Wharton Salon: The Long Run, Autre Temps. National Tour: The Graduate with Linda Gray/Lorraine Bracco/Morgan Fairchild. Regional (selected): Portland Stage Co., Merrimack Rep., Syracuse Stage, Rep. Theater of St. Louis, Capitol Rep. Film: Split Ends (starring); Speck’s Last. TV: “House of Cards”, “Unforgettable”, “Law & Order”, “PBS: Evening at the Pops”. Playwright: Dancing with the Czar. Designated Linklater Voice teacher. Feldenkrais practitioner. Proud to be a union member: SAG-AFTRA, AEA, Dramatists Guild.
