Although the Berkshires' four leading theater companies—Barrington Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Shakespeare & Company, and Williamstown Theatre Festival—all produce new plays along with classics and crowd-pleasers, only the Berkshire Playwrights Lab is devoted exclusively to new work by both established and emerging playwrights. To kick off its second season at The Mahaiwe, BPL held a benefit featuring eight new one-act plays on May 30; the funds raised will support a season of seven free Wednesday night readings in Great Barrington (beginning June 10 and continuing until September 16.) The benefit performance last Friday began with a snappy welcoming sketch (with many insider references) performed by BPL's founders and artistic directors—Joe Cacaci, Jim Frangione, Bob Jaffe, & Matthew Penn—which was followed by eight short plays by writers including Eric Bogosian, Larry Gelbart and Joan Ackermann. The high points of the evening were David Mamet's Family (with David Rasche and Tom Bloom directed by Joe Cacaci), which suggested that no one alive writes ping-pong dialogue like Mamet, and Shauna Earp's Down Where the Roses Cling, a film noir-inspired drama directed by Peter DeAnello with razor-sharp performances by LeighAnn Gould and James Barry (who gave a great peformance last season at BTF in The Caretaker and will be in The Einstein Project this summer at BTF.) Afterwards, the audience joined the cast and crew on the Mahaiwe stage for wine and dessert organized by the benefit committe's chairs, Laurily Epstein and Helice Picheny. BPL's free Wednesday night readings at the Mahaiwe will take place June 10, July 1, July 15, July 29, August 12, August 26, and September 16.
At the post performance reception: Maisie Deely & James Barry; Vashti Poor and James Bill; benefit committee members Stephanie Hedges & Laurily Epstein
