(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – A stage adaptation of “The Birds,” the 1952 Daphne du Maurier suspense story immortalized in Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 film version starring Tippi Hedren, runs at Barrington Stage Company from Thursday, June 15, through Saturday, July 8. The play is written by acclaimed Irish playwright Conor McPherson and directed by Barrington Stage artistic director Julianne Boyd.

The play runs on the St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center (36 Linden St.).

“The Birds” will star Kathleen McNenny (Broadway’s The Father) as Diane, Sasha Diamond (BSC’s peerless/Broadway’s Significant Other) as Julia, Stevie Ray Dallimore (Broadway’s Impressionism) as Nat, and Obie Award-winner Rocco Sisto (BSC’s His Girl Friday) as Tierney.

In “The Birds,” mysterious masses of birds have begun to attack at high tide, driving strangers Nat and Diane to take refuge in an isolated, abandoned cabin and to form a bond to survive their haunting new circumstance. Yet if two is company, three’s a crowd, as the sudden arrival of a young woman with a mysterious background ruffles feathers and quickly threatens to destroy their so-called sanctuary.

The production is designed by David Barber (sets), Brian Tovar (lighting), Elivia Bovenzi (costumes), and David Thomas (sound). Michael Andrew Rodgers is production stage manager.

Conor McPherson (Playwright) was born in Dublin in 1971. He attended the University College in Dublin, where he began to write and direct. His plays include Rum & Vodka, The Good Thief, This Lime Tree Bower, St. Nicholas, The Weir (Olivier Award, Best Play), Dublin Carol, The Night Alive, The Veil, Port Authority, Shining City (Tony Award nomination, Best Play), and The Seafarer. Film work includes “I Went Down,” “Saltwater,” Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame,” and “The Actors.” Other awards include the George Devine Award; Critics’ Circle Award; Evening Standard Award; Meyer Whitworth Award; Stewart Parker Award; two Irish Film & Television Academy Best Screenplay Awards; CICAE Best Film Award, Berlin Film Festival (“Saltwater”); Best Film and Best Screenplay Awards, San Sebastian Film Festival (“I Went Down”).

Performances: Tuesday through Saturday at 7:30pm, and Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 3pm. Opening night Sunday, June 18, at 3pm. St. Germain Stage at the Sydelle and Lee Blatt  Performing Arts Center (36 Linden Street). Tickets: $15-$48. Barrington Stage Box Office: (413) 236-8888 or online at Barrington Stage Company.

 

ABOUT BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY

Barrington Stage Company is a professional award-winning Equity regional theatre located in the heart of the Berkshires, in Pittsfield, MA.  It was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julianne Boyd and has a three-fold mission: to present top-notch, compelling work; to develop new plays and musicals; and to find fresh, bold ways of bringing new audiences into the theatre—especially young people. Barrington Stage garnered national attention in 2004 when it premiered William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin’s musical hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee which later transferred to Broadway where it won two Tony Awards. In 2009, Mark St. Germain’s Freud’s Last Session ran more than ten weeks on Stage 2 and later moved Off Broadway and played for two years. St. Germain’s Becoming Dr. Ruth (which premiered at BSC as Dr. Ruth, All the Way in 2012) played Off Broadway at the Westside Theatre in fall 2013. BSC’s all-time record-breaking musical, On the Town, was originally produced at BSC in 2013.  In 2014, it opened on Broadway with BSC as a co-producer, where it was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical Revival.  In 2016, Barrington Stage swept the? first Annual Berkshire Theatre Awards by winning 20 out of the 25 awards.  In 2016, BSC produced three World Premieres; Presto Change-O, Broadway Bounty Hunter, and American Son, which won the Laurents/Hatcher Award for Best New Play.