SHAKE OFF THE COLD AND WARM UP TO BARRINGTON STAGE’S 14TH ANNUAL 10X10 NEW PLAY FESTIVAL
By Liam Gorman
IT’S HARD TO THINK ABOUT IT NOW, since winter hasn’t completely enveloped the region just yet. But come February, many of us will be hunkered down with a hot chocolate, counting the days to spring. That is, unless you’re a fan of Barrington Stage Company’s award-winning 10x10 New Play Festival—when the theater’s lights turn back on to warm up the cultural scene in Pittsfield.
Heading into its 14th season, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of the 10x10 New Play Festival—or have been lucky enough to catch a performance at the St. Germain Stage in the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center on Linden Street in Pittsfield. But for those unfamiliar with the 10x10 New Play Festival (which will run from February 13 to March 9, 2025), it’s one of the few options around for live theater lovers during the winter months.
Generally speaking, the theater scene in the Berkshires for the most part goes dark during winter months. But in 2012, Barrington Stage bucked that trend and began producing a less-than-traditional run of plays every February, aptly named 10x10 because these plays are 10 minutes long and audiences get 10 of them in one performance.
“It is like a gem in the middle of February to just give you warmth and something fun and lively in the Berkshires,” says Alan Paul, artistic director of Barrington Stage and co-director of the 10x10 New Play Festival along with Matthew Penn.
“It's become such a staple of Pittsfield in the winter,” says Penn. “When I first came aboard, I thought, ‘Do people buy tickets for this in February?’ And I was astonished that it sells out, that the audience comes with a degree of enthusiasm and eagerness, and they love every minute of it.”
The brainchild of Barrington Stage Founding Artistic Director Julianne Boyd, the idea for 10x10 came to her while on a long weekend on Nantucket. She and her husband just happened to be walking by an art gallery doing a 10x10 exhibition. Not knowing exactly what that meant, they went inside to find small paintings, each square in shape with varied prices, but everything was divisible by 10.
“There were little paintings that were 10 inches by 10 inches or 20 by 20, the prices went from $10 to $100, and the people there were really interested,” recalls Boyd. “It was just something that people could connect with. You didn't have to think too hard if you wanted to buy that painting.”
It got her thinking, what if they could pull off something similar for the theater crowd in the Berkshires? It would satisfy the people who asked for winter programming, give her a chance to promote their summer offerings, and potentially reach a younger audience.
“I thought that young people who aren't coming to the theater because their attention span is much less than older people, if I can get them hooked on 10-minute plays, maybe they'll want to come to 90-minute plays,” says Boyd. Even before TikTok, Boyd also saw the benefit of keeping things short and fun. Her thinking: “Hey, if you don't like one of the plays, in 10 minutes, you're going to see another play.”
That first year, Boyd and her team had to sift through almost 120 10-minute scripts to find the perfect combination.
“We wanted some plays that had a message, maybe there's a little twist at the end,” recalls Boyd. “But the main thing we wanted to do is do plays that were funny. People want to laugh in the winter. We don’t want to go in there to make them cry. They loved it. People loved it!”
While the plays are short, the process of choosing which ones to stage can take months. Starting in the fall, the team begins reading scripts. This season, they expect to read a staggering 400 to 500 submissions. Once Paul and Penn have chosen the final 10 plays, they must decide on the order.
“It’s a bit of a Tetris,” says Paul. “We get to the first time we read them, and we go, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. It's the total wrong order.’ You’re feeling out in real time just what the rhythm of the night should be.” This is often worked through in the rehearsal process, a less than two-week period where everything from wardrobe, stage direction, props, and lighting are planned and practiced.
“You have a week of rehearsal in which Alan and I stage all 10 plays,” says Penn. “The actors have to learn the lines for all 10 plays. And so that's six days. And then the second week really begins tech. And tech is Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. You're in front of an audience, so it is as rapid as one can imagine.”
It helps that they’ve worked with many of the actors for years. Generally, six actors fill the various roles in the 10x10 New Play Festival. Peggy Pharr Wilson, Matt Neely, and Robert Zukerman have been there from the start and have rarely missed a year.
“It's shorthand when you've worked with somebody before. We don't have to talk about everything so much and waste time,” says Pharr Wilson, who has played nearly 60 different roles for the 10x10.
“I run into people at the grocery store and the gym, and they love to come up to me and talk about their favorite plays. Sometime, folks say, ‘So, remember that one where you were the, you know, the ghost or whatever,’ and I'll think, uh, kind of,’” says Pharr Wilson with a laugh.
Remembering old roles is one thing, but given all the action on the night of a performance, it’s a wonder the actors don’t forget which character they’re playing or just pass out from exhaustion.
“It's not just learning the lines, and it's not just rehearsing,” says Zukerman. “It's going from show to show. So, an actor walks off stage having done 10 minutes of a play, then they have to rip off their costume, and then they’ve got to go right back on stage 10 seconds, 15 seconds later and play something completely different.”
Zukerman has been acting for 50 years, mainly as a character actor. He looks forward to the festival every year. “It’s a chance to play a bunch of different characters in a single program. It’s really challenging and at the same time rewarding.”
Over the years, the festival hasn’t evolved much other than extending the dates, using wardrobe that wasn’t brought from home by the actors, and upgrading the stage. When it first started, Barrington Stage hadn’t yet bought the location now known as “The St. Germain”—they were still renting and sharing the Linden Street building with the VFW folks.
“Our stage was just like a former ballroom space,” says Neely. “So, on Sundays, during our matinee, they would open up the V.F.W. bar downstairs and you would hear ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ while you're in the middle of a scene.”
While Neely, Zukerman, and Pharr Wilson are veterans at this point, there are still other roles to be filled and to complete the magic.
“It's hard to explain, but somehow it doesn't matter if someone's brand new,” says Neely, who has taken part in 11 of the 10x10s. ”It's like they fit in right away and just get it done because they're professional and they somehow understand the mission statement.”
Alongside all the action on stage, the city of Pittsfield and its small businesses step up to add to the festivities with their 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival—holding other activities around the city to promote art and community. Last year, Hot Plate Brewing Company released 10 small batch beers for each night of the festival, downtown restaurants took part in a 10x10 restaurant week, the Lichtenstein Art Center hosted a show for The Clock Tower Artists, and it all ended with fireworks on The Common.
“It's so exciting to see how much people appreciate what we've done in Pittsfield,” says Boyd, reflecting on the 10x10 and Barrington Stage as a whole. “It's exciting when you have artists that come up there who live in New York, who are like gypsies, they don't know Pittsfield and they fall in love with it. They fall in love with the theater. They fall in love with the community.”
The 10x10 New Play Festival will be held from February 13 to March 9.
Go to barringtonstageco.org
for the latest information on ticket sales.
Updates on the 10x10 Upstreet Arts Festival, held from February 13 to 23, can be found at cityofpittsfield.org.
Comments