“It’s a mad, wild romp,” says Renee Lutz, about putting together Barrington Stage Company’s 13th annual 10x10 New Play Festival. For those who don’t know, it’s 10 ten-minute plays from 10 playwrights, and it's a highlight of Pittsfield’s 10x10 Upstreet Art Festival. The Play Festival runs February 15-March 10, and sells out quickly. Best reserve your tickets now.

Lutz is the production stage manager, which means, she says, that when anything goes wrong, “people turn and glare at me.” Having attended the 10x10 for the last decade, I’ve never seen anything go wrong (as far as I’m aware), but I’ve always wondered what kind of crazy must be going on behind the scenes when there’s a new short play after another every ten minutes. Lutz fills me in.

“We have 6 days to put together 10 shows, with 2 different directors and a cast of 6,” she begins. Ttwo rehearsal rooms are in process simultaneously, with cast members scurrying from one to another. Lutz's job is a masterful juggle of figuring out schedules, costume fittings, sound and lighting cues, and details, details, details. Does a costume need pockets? Do shoes need taps on them? It’s all on her to make them happen. During each performance, she’s in the front-of-house booth with the sound and light board operators, calling the show, making sure the cues and scene shifts happen at the appropriate time.

Peggy Pharr Wilson and Matt Neely, 10x10 cast stalwarts

“My truest title is ‘designated adult,” Lutz says. “I make sure everyone knows what they’re doing, when, and don’t hurt themselves doing it.”

Lutz is also a Barrington Stage associate artist, considered an integral member of the company who have made extraordinary contributions to the theater. She’s been with BSC since Day 1 — and the company is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Although she lives in NYC, she loves coming up to the Berkshires and looks forward to the madness of the 10x10.

“The actors and show are the tip of a very big iceberg,” she says. “Beneath the surface is all the support crew that make the magic happen.”

Speaking of actors, longtime audiences will be happy to hear that Peggy Pharr Wilson and Matt Neely, two of 10x10’s local stalwarts, will be returning: Some of the playwrights will also be familiar to 10x10 audiences. Brent Askari, who wrote “Andy Warhol in Iran” (a BSC world premiere), contributes “The Consultant,” about a couple working with the most personal of consultants. James McLindon, whose short plays were included in 10x10 in 2017 and 2018, returns with “Snow Falling Faintly,” in which a mother and son shovel their driveway, comparing techniques for snow clearance … and life. Every year, the show also introduces playwrights making their debuts at BSC.

Lutz says that while many of the plays are comedies, she thinks that this year’s crop offers a more contemplative flavor to the mix. “I’m very impressed with the writing this year,” she says. “It’s beautiful, thoughtful, emotion laden. It’s going to be a very interesting and entertaining show.”

Backstage and in rehearsal, the excitement and energy is ebullient. “It’s a fun, joyous, throw-it-together whirl of putting together a show,” says Lutz. “There’s very little glamour but a hell of a lot of reward seeing it onstage. Hearing the audience react, that’s a huge reward.”

Oh, but the reward is all ours.

Here's a lineup of the rest of the short plays:

“A Doubt My Play” by Glenn Alterman
A playwright is sitting terrified, waiting to hear the comments from the other playwrights in his playwriting group.

“Meeting Fingerman” by Mark Evan Chimsky
When novice writer Nate Crane shows his new short story, set in a small village in Eastern Europe, to his idol –- the literary lion of Yiddish fiction, Saul Fingerman —things take an unexpected turn.

“I Don’t” by Jordan Ealey
Erin is running away from her wedding. Her only option? Her ex-boyfriend, Aaron's, apartment, of course! A play that explores the old adage: old habits die hard.

“The Mount Greylock Fish Hawk Squawk” by John Mabey
Three couples are searching for the mysterious Mount Greylock Fish Hawk. But when you’re lost as well as in pursuit, sometimes being found is what really matters.

“The Welcome” by Jennifer Maisel
When Greta invites Jana into her home, a shared experience – even though it’s a past and future one — becomes the link that will connect them through the night.

“High Times” by Diana Metzger
Expectations are subverted and biases are challenged when a retiree couple visits a new store in town.

“Can I tell you a story?” by Christopher Oscar Pena
In order to keep the memory alive, every year, Cory goes on a pilgrimage to revisit all the spots where he and his recently deceased friend spent time together.

“The Open Door” by Jessica Provenz
Debbie and Dan have both been searching for love in the quagmire that is modern dating. But what happens if it's just on the other side of the door?

Barrington Stage Company 13th Annual 10x10 New Play Festival
Feb. 15-March 10
St. Germain Stage at the Sydell and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center
36 Linden Street, Pittsfield

Share this post

Written by
Editor