(PITTSFIELD, Mass., January 26, 2012) – Veteran actress Debra Jo Rupp, star of TV’s That ‘70s Show and a part-time Berkshirite, will star as Dr. Ruth Westheimer in a new one-woman play about the famed sexologist by Mark St. Germain at Barrington Stage Company (BSC) this summer. Dr. Ruth, All the Way will premiere on BSC’s Stage 2 from June 19 through July 15.

At a press conference held at Barrington Stage Company’s Stage 2 today, artistic director Julianne Boyd announced the complete season of performances that will take place on BSC’s Mainstage, Stage 2 and Youth Theatre venues in 2012. In addition to the previously announced Fiddler on the Roof (June 13-July 14), which has yet to be cast, BSC’s Mainstage season will feature Arthur Miller’s The Price, winner of the Tony Award for Best Play in 1968, directed by Julianne Boyd and starring BSC returning artist Jeff McCarthy (Mack and Mabel, Follies, Sweeney Todd), and the 1945 British comedy See How They Run by Philip King (August 9-26), a quintessentially English farce about a young vicar’s wife who tries to fit into a small tightly knit town, to be directed by John Rando, who directed last season’s musical hit Guys and Dolls.

In addition to Dr. Ruth, BSC’s Stage 2 will feature the New England premiere of Lungs by Duncan Macmillan (May 23 – June 10), directed by Aaron Posner, the adapter/director of last season’s production of My Name is Asher Lev, and the East Coast premiere of Pulitzer Prize-nominated playwright Rajiv Joseph’s The North Pool (July 26 – August 11), a psychological cat-and-mouse thriller about a Middle Eastern student and his assistant high school principal.

BSC’s Musical Theatre Lab, under the leadership of William Finn and Julianne Boyd, kicks off its seventh season with the garage rock band musical The Black Suits (August 16 – September 2), with music and lyrics by Iconis and a book co-written with Robert Maddock, in a workshop production under the direction of John Simpkins (NYU’s Parade/Artistic Director of the Tri-Arts Playhouse).

BSC’s compelling Youth Theatre will move the Berkshire Museum this summer, where a newly built thrust stage will play host to the Berkshire premiere of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast (July 25 – August 12), directed and choreographed by Christine O’Grady.

BSC’s Mainstage season will continue into the fall with the New England premiere of the theatrical adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (October 3 – 21), adapted for the stage by Nigel Williams.

In Arthur Miller’s The Price, estranged brothers converge at their father’s home to sort through a lifetime’s worth of belongings. A Russian Jewish antique dealer comes to give them the best deal possible, adding humor and wisdom to the task at hand. This funny and deeply moving Arthur Miller classic explores family tensions and the price we pay for the decisions we make in life.

In Lungs, a couple negotiates sex, parenthood, and responsibilities large and small in Duncan Macmillan’s intimate drama about chance, change and consequence.

Mark St. Germain’s new play Dr. Ruth, All the Way is specially commissioned by Barrington Stage Company. The playwright interviewed Dr. Ruth Westheimer in preparing the script, which will focus on her early life as Karola Ruth Siegel. Author of BSC’s longest-running hit play, Freud’s Last Session, St. Germain says, “Everyone knows the pioneering radio and television sex therapist Dr. Ruth but few know the incredible journey that preceded it. From fleeing the Nazis in the Kindertransport and joining the Haganah in Jerusalem as a scout and sniper, to her struggles to succeed as a single mother coming to America.”

Dr. Ruth, All the Way marks the first production of BSC’s New Works Initiative, in which playwrights and musical theatre writing teams will be commissioned to write work that BSC will eventually produce.  Mark St. Germain’s commission for Dr. Ruth, All the Way is underwritten by Sydelle and Lee Blatt and Beth Sapery and Rosita Sarnoff.

In The Black Suits, a high school garage band on suburban Long Island tries to win The St. Anne’s Battle of the Bands. Two teens struggle to learn how to be real friends as the inevitability of adulthood threatens to pull them apart.

 

Affordable Theatre For All Continues In 2012

• BSC is bringing back the popular “15@15” – fifteen tickets to every Mainstage performance available on a first-come, first-served basis for $15 each.
• Low-priced previews continue at $15 and $20 for the first two performances on the Mainstage and $15 on Stage 2. Additional discounted tickets will be available for $35 and $40 at Fiddler on the Roof during the first week of performances.
• $15 tickets for youth 18 and younger will be offered again for all performances except Saturday evenings.
• BSC’s new membership program, #bsc35, continues in 2012 with $15 tickets available to select dates of Mainstage and Stage 2 performances for patrons ages 18-35.
• Senior discounted tickets to all Mainstage matinee performances are $38 and $25 for all Stage 2 matinees.

 

Single tickets will go on sale February 15, 2012. Subscriptions for the Mainstage and Stage 2 seasons are now available. Mainstage FlexPasses start $108 and Stage 2 Passes start at $81. Groups of 15 or more should contact Group Sales at 413.236.8888 for additional discounts. For information on shows, subscriptions and tickets call 413.236.8888 or visit Barrington Stage Company (BSC).