REVIEW: Barrington Stage “Estate Sale”

Barrington Stage Company, Pittsfield, MA 
www.barringtonstageco.org
through July 25, 2026 
by Jarice Hanson 

  
As the audience files into the theatre through a back door, onto a stage that looks like a thrift store, there’s a feeling that this show is going to be unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. This may be very true. What the audience is about to see is familiar, revelatory, and profound. It’s also emotionally laden, heart-wrenching, and wonderful. 

  

The world premiere of Keelay Gipson’s “Estate Sale” at Barrington’s intimate St. Germain Stage has something for everyone. The playbill warns that it is a play about grief—which is true—but it is also so much more. The play deals with memory, family, love, loss, and the gifts that growing up in a loving household bestows on the home’s occupants. 

  
Jayson Lee, described in the script as “Executor” is a marvel as the storyteller of the play. He uses a microphone which at first, seems like something an auctioneer would use, but the device also suggests he may tell the story the way a stand-up comic might. He even starts with three jokes that tell the audience he is now an orphan, and his feelings of aloneness are

clear, though implied rather than articulated. This is a clever device to key the audience into the back-and-forth time references that unfold as the characters enter the stage. First, a long-lost friend from the neighborhood called “Youth”. Then Father, “Truth” and Mother, “Beauty” appear. The last two happen to be ghosts.  

Photo: Roman Iwasiska

  
This is primarily the Executor’s story, and Lee is a wonderful actor who does a superb job suggesting different ages as he introduces memories, enacted by the other characters.

 

“Youth” is played by Christopher B. Portley; Father, by Blake Morris; and Mother, by Gillian Glasco. The team of talented actors show the audience the range of emotions of family and friends throughout different time periods and give the impression that they (the actors) have known each other for decades.    

  
They are surrounded by the detritus of life that the Executor now has to deal with; and the items, complete with price tags, are beautifully staged by scenic designer, You-Shin Chen. Director Steph Paul guides her actors around the stage integrating memory and objects and ruminating on the joys and sorrows of family life. What emerges is a story of love, remembered differently through the objects that we imbue with meaning, all the while reminiscing of the small acts of love that ultimately make us who we are.  

  

“Estate Sale” transcends time. The Executor says, “There’s good shit. And there’s bad shit.” The simplicity of those lines hides the multi-layers that emerge as this play evolves. From the audience's reaction, nearly everyone can relate to the emotions that arise as worlds shift with the passing of time, people, and the things that give meaning to an individual's position in the world.  
       

Since this is production is the world premiere, it's a good guess that "Estate Sale" will take to many stages in the near future; perhaps enough to become a modern-day classic. It's that good.

REVIEW: Mt. Holyoke College Summer Theatre, "Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express"

Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA

MHCSummerTheatre@MtHolyoke.edu

through July 11, 2026
by Nechama Katan

All aboard! After a 25 year wait, Mt. Holyoke College Summer Theatre has finally pulled its inaugural season into the station, and the ride is well worth the ticket.

For those who don't know the story: when a passenger turns up murdered in his locked compartment on the snowbound Orient Express, the world's most famous detective, Hercule Poirot, must sift through a train car full of secrets, lies, and suspects before the killer strikes again. Ken Ludwig's stage adaptation of the Agatha Christie classic keeps the whodunit twisty right up to the final reveal.

Sam Samuels anchors the show as Poirot, bringing the detective's fussy precision and quiet command to every scene without ever tipping into caricature. Wally Marsano-Lesnevich is a delight as Monsieur Bouc, the railway director whose composure crumbles convincingly as the suspect count grows. Emma Yee, a student performer, makes the mousy missionary Greta Ohlsson genuinely memorable, no small feat in a play stuffed with big personalities. 
 
This company is built on an unusual mix: students and professional actors. There are too many to mention each one's performance. The professionals take on the larger roles, and the pairing works. It's difficult to discern which actors belong in which category. That's the whole point, and it works.
 
Artistic Director Noah Ilya-Alexis Tuleja, who said of the production, "After 25 years this train is finally leaving the station and you won't want to miss this ride!", threads in touches of humor that keep what could be a very heavy play light on its feet.
 
Alina Tschumakow's set is more functional than fancy, a handful of pieces that the cast itself wheels and carries into place to turn a hotel in Istanbul into first class train compartments and then a dining car. It sounds like it shouldn't work, but it does. The curtain gets a real workout too, doing double duty as scenery and as its own bit of stagecraft. Managing Director and costume designer Jensen Glick, along with Sam Skynner's lighting and Gillian Tomlinson's sound design, round out a team clearly working with a modest budget and a lot of imagination. There are more names on the crew list, and every one of them earns a bow.
 
The venue is a dance theatre pressed into service as a playhouse, general admission. There truly isn't a bad seat in the house, and air-conditioning held up well during this heatwave. The seats are surprisingly comfortable for a studio space. The audience's attention leans in at exactly the right moments for a mystery plot. Enjoyable, as with most who-dun-it plays are the murmuring theories at intermission.

 For those not particularly familiar with Christie's stories, watching how the characters build out and are played will be enjoyable. Those in the audience who do not know the story will enjoy a genuinely fun puzzle. Mt. Holyoke is an easy trip from the Springfield area, and the acting is stronger than the price has any right to promise. When this train pulls out of the station, make sure you are on it, and pencil in "39 Steps" for later in the season. 

Review: Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer

Chester Theatre Company, Chester, MA

www.chestertheatre.org
July 12, 2026
By Suzanne Wells

It is hard to sit through “Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer” without feeling that the past is pressing urgently into the present. Written by Cheryl L. West and directed by Gilbert McCauley, the production gives Fannie Lou Hamer’s story the force of testimony, music, and memory.

Set during the 1960's Civil Rights Movement, “Fannie” carries the audience through the remarkable life of Fannie Lou Hamer—from her childhood picking cotton to her courageous fight for the right to vote, her tireless work encouraging others to register, and her own historic run for office. What primarily moves those at Chester who learn Fannie's story most is not only the scope of what Hamer endured, but the strength she kept returning to: faith, hope, humor, and determination. 

Her story brings the injustices of the era into sharp focus while celebrating a woman whose courage, voice, and unshakable spirit still feel necessary.

As Fannie, Shannon Lamb does more than command the stage—she makes history feel immediate. Whether she is offering warm Southern hospitality, delivering a stirring speech, or reliving the frightening and brutal moments Hamer witnessed and endured, Lamb fully opens a first-hand view into the world of the Civil Rights Movement.
 

With remarkable energy, powerful storytelling, and a beautiful voice that carries the songs of the era, she turns the theatre into a pulpit of witness and song, complete with heartfelt Amens and Hallelujahs.

Kevin Sharpe’s musical accompaniment deserves special recognition. His playing helps shape the emotional rhythm of the production, moving from moments that make audience members want to stand up and rejoice to quieter passages that ask listeners to be steady and listen.

Jeremy Winchester’s scenic and projection design also leaves an impression, supporting the story with images that sharpen its emotional impact without overwhelming the audience.

Hamer’s fight still echoes in the civic life of today. This is the kind of story that belongs not only on a stage, but in classrooms, and election-year conversations. Searching for some inspiration and a little hope, “Fannie: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer” continues through July 12, 2026.

REVIEW: Mac-Haydn Theatre “9 to 5 the Musical”

Mac-Haydn Theatre, Chatham, NY 

www.machaydntheatre.org
June 25 – July 5, 2026
Review by Simon Brighenti

“9 to 5” is, of course, a reference to time, specifically and stereotypically the time spent at work in the days before the internet and cell phones allowed, for good or ill, to work whenever and wherever we wanted to or needed to. The current production at the Mac-Haydn of the musical based on the popular movie with a book by Patricia Resnick and music and lyrics by (of course) Dolly Parton is also a reference to time; or more specifically, to a time.

The production takes place in 1979 in a non-descript office engaged in some kind of big business. It is at the outset definitely a “man’s world” in that the women – patronizingly called girls - are relegated to secretarial and filing duties while the upper and middle management slots are completely filled by men. Worse, the women are ogled and propositioned by most of the men who have no compunction or expectation of retaliation because that has been the perceived right of the businessman for years.

 

As portrayed by a bombastic Michael Daly, bossman Franklin Hart, Jr. is, the language of the musical, a “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot.” As anyone who is familiar with the play or the movie knows, it is no spoiler that Hart eventually gets his comeuppance. The fun is all in how it happens

The three female leads, strong, independent Violet (Bridget Carrow); youthfully naïve Judy Bernly (Tzinti Certa); and “Backwoods Barbie” Doralee Rhodes (Caitlin Wilayto) bring a specific type of determination and heart to the situation and are eventually empowered by each other to update the office culture.

The story itself, frankly, plays a little dated and tells a bit-too-tidily compact tale of the real and ongoing struggle by women for equality in the workplace and in society in general. The treatment of Hart is cartoonish but fits and is in keeping with the buffoonery his character presents throughout. However, once the premise is accepted, it unfolds in an entertaining and touching exposition. There is also a sweet dash of relative reality added as one of the women is pursued by a smitten colleague in a respectful, polite, and wistful manner.

The trio of leading ladies are fine actresses and handle their fantasy sequences and spotlighted tunes to perfection. In perhaps the most challenging role, mainly because she will inevitably be compared to Dolly, Caitlin Wilayto stands out as she brings a sweetness and strength to a character who is much more than she appears to be at the surface.

In addition to the iconic theme tune, the songs throughout definitely contain that pop-country-tinged Parton panache. The deft direction by Eoghan Hartley brings the audience seamlessly through the evolution of the empowerment of these women and some of the supporting characters as well. As is expected at the Mac-Hayden, the choreography and orchestration are top notch.

So, pour a cup of ambition and travel to Mac-Haydn, just over the Berkshires' border, to see this show - a fun time capsule presented by a hugely talented group of performers and crew.

Review: "Fireflies" Shakespeare & Company

Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA

http://www.shakespeare.org 

through July 19, 2026

by Shera Cohen

Once the audience moves beyond adjectives like mundane, sweet, and humble to describe "Fireflies," written by Matthew Barber, there is more to examine. However, if those three words are what fully define this play, that is enough.

To newcomers to Shakespeare & Company, don't be caught up in the venue's title. Yes, there are plays by the Bard in the little town of Lenox, probably one of the best performing arts venues concentrating on 1500's theatre in New England. There are also the comedies, dramas, youth shows, and dramedies; "Fireflies" is a fine ideal example of the latter.

Four characters tell their stories over the course of a couple of weeks in another little town, Groverdell, TX. The year is 1995, although the decor implies decades earlier. Marcelo Martinez Garcia's scenic design speaks to the steadfast, humdrum life of the players. Petty much everything stays the same.

Isabel Keating portrays retired teacher Eleanor Bannister whose somewhat strict education style remains at her core; i.e. correcting others' grammar. She can't help it. Eleanor could easily become a cliche; a 60-something woman with an unbending personality. Yet, Keating instills both gumption and wanderlust in Eleanor's dialogue and simply when just standing still...thinking.

Eleanor needs a foil to converse with, so the playwright creates Grace played by Shakes & Co. stalwart Annette Miller. Usually Miller portrays upstanding, both figuratively and literally, characters. It is pleasant to observe her skills at comedy plus bits of dim whit tossed in. Miller's skills stretch beyond her norm. Grace is the epitome of chatterbox, funny at first, but her dialogue, especially at the play's start, could easily be cut. None of it helps the plot.

While actor Gregory Boover is the youngest cast member and has the least number of lines, he plays naivety and sweetness as the town policeman just as anyone would depict the clean-cut boy next-door whose former teacher had been Eleanor. They show mutual respect.

Drifter Abel Brown, played by Jeb Brown, could be friend or foe; probably the latter because why would anyone purposely come to Groverdell? He is the subject of scuttlebutt, so the audience is eager to meet him. Both Browns are charming, sweet talkers, and burly enough to put a roof on a schoolteacher's old house. Eleanor and Abel's relationship of "will they or won't they is" not obvious. 

In a sense, "Fireflies" is a chick play. It's a guess that Director Daniela Varon chooses that definition to be simple and a maybe demeaning. More so, the play can best be appreciated by those who are older and maybe wider.

REVIEW: Berkshire Theatre “The American Five”

REVIEW: “The American Five”

Berkshire Theatre Group, Stockbridge, MA

www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org

June 18 – July 11, 2026

by Simon Brighenti

“For nothing was simply one thing.” So wrote Virginia Woolf in “To the Lighthouse.”  That statement, which gets more profound as one contemplates it, applies to the brilliant regional premiere of “The American Five,” running at the Unicorn Theatre, one of the venues of Stockbridge Theatre. The production, which won the Helen Hayes Award for Best New Play, chronicles the lead up to the iconic speech given by Reverand Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, 1963.

The story by writer and environmental social scientist Chess Jakobs, in his playwriting debut, starts out in a nondescript DC hotel room just hours before Dr. King’s monumental oration. Four of the titular American Five are introduced as they trade ideas and theories on what Dr. King should say and how he should say it. The audience meets Dr. King (Rashun Carter), his wife and chief sounding board, Coretta Scott King (Sydney Elisabeth), a force of her own with which to be reckoned; Dr. King’s eminence grise Bayard Rustin (Destan Owens); and erstwhile LA lawyer-to the stars Clarence Jones (Brett Diggs). The key fifth main character – wealthy Jewish (yes, the fact he is Jewish is important to both his character and his relationship with the others) lawyer Stanley Levison (Harry Smith) is introduced shortly and soon joins the others in their march toward destiny.

This initial exposition foreshadows the theme within the production that nothing is indeed simply one thing. The audience finds that the four words most remembered – “I have a dream” – are the distillation of years of struggle and thought and, once the idea of a march on Washington is nurtured and developed, a scant few weeks of writing, rewriting, and deliberation.

The story, as skillfully directed Gerry McIntyre, weaves back and forth among key points in the life of Dr. King, exploring an early meeting between the idealistic not-yet-Dr. King and Coretta Scott who is initially hesitant to let herself fall under the rhetorical spell of her suitor, depicting his incarceration in the Birmingham Jail, and capturing the intense dynamic among the five characters as they work with and against each other toward a common goal. 

Each of the obviously talented actors is given an opportunity to explain and explore why they believe what their characters and Dr. King are doing is a worthy cause and calling and how they can relate to him and to the African American experience in part, as well.

The set, few era-appropriate props and overall mise-en-scene, including actual newsreel ambient footage, combine to emphasize well the key points of each year, location, and scene depicted. Scenic designer Baron E. Pugh leads a team of artists that allows the audience to immerse fully in the lives and times portrayed.

Virtually every worthy artistic piece or production has a resonance and relevance to the times in which it is produced, even if – and especially if in this case – the segment of history portrayed occurred decades prior. "The American Five" vibrantly and brilliantly portrays a moment in time that still resonates today.

REVIEW: Chester Theatre Company, "R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe"

Chester Town Hall Theatre, Chester, MA 
https://chestertheatre.org/  
June 19-28, 2026   
by Nechama Katan

 

Chester Theatre Company opens its season with a fun and exhilarating journey through the mind of one of the 20th century's great visionaries. "R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe," written by D.W. Jacobs from the life, work, and writings of R. Buckminster Fuller and directed by Barbara Karger, follows the futurist, environmentalist, architect, inventor, and geodesic dome designer from his childhood in MA, to a meeting with Albert Einstein, through the extraordinary inventions that shaped his belief that doing more with less can save both humanity and the planet. 

Photo Credit: Andrew Grecco

 

More than a biography, the evening is an invitation to step out of our crazy lives for a couple of hours and see the world in a genuinely different way. The one-man-show format proves enormously enjoyable, though "one man" undersells it. Michael Preston shares the stage with a remarkable set, lighting, music, and video that he engages as though they were fellow actors, trading energy with each cue and image. 

 

Preston is amazing throughout, inhabiting the material and the character so fully that Fuller comes alive in movement, dance, and a sheer love of life that radiates from the stage. He draws the audience in at the play's start with Fuller's own story of being unable to see until he got glasses at the age of four, of learning who people were by smelling them, and of the wonder that washed over him when he finally put on those glasses and could see the world for the first time. It is a human moment that sets the tone for everything that follows.The lines themselves are a delight, from sharp jabs at Boston life to Preston's lucid account of Ephemeralization, the accelerating ability of technological advancement to do "more and more with less and less until eventually you can do everything with nothing," an idea that clearly touches our lives today. 

 

For those who think the pace of change feels crazy now, the production offers a steadying reminder of the people who lived through the beginning of the last century, the staggering changes they witnessed, and how much there still is to learn. One example is Fuller's tireless drive to be creative, to ask questions, and to think.

 

Audience members are sure to walk into this play with a settled view of how the world works and the pace at which it changes; yet walk out as many scratch their heads, happily rethinking much of what was known isn't necessarily the case. 

Scenic design by Tim Latta and Barbara Karger's direction make the show come alive, and sound design by Raphael Hendrick-Baker adds an additional dimension that deepens the whole experience.

Chester Theatre Company's season is just kicking off, with two shows running now and many more planned. The venue sits at the end of a beautiful drive through western MA, and the drive itself is worth the trip.