Theatre

Shakespeare & Company presents the World Premiere of Carey Crim's The Islanders, directed by Regge Life, July 25 through August 25 in the Tina Packer Playhouse. Anna lives an insular life on an underpopulated island in the Great Lakes. She has few friends and likes it that way. Her quiet, controlled world is turned upside down by the arrival of a charming but secretive new neighbor Dutch. For different reasons, Dutch and Anna have each retreated from mainstream society. Can their connection survive the revelations that must inevitably come with true intimacy?

Shakespeare & Company, in association with Great Barrington Public Theater, presents Flight of the Monarch by Jim Frangione, directed by Judy Braha, August 3 – 25 in the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. Two siblings, Sheila and Thomas, were both born and raised in a small, New England fishing village where they still live. This darkly comic play explores how siblings’ lives are intertwined, what we owe to the people who know and love us best, and how family members’ needs and desires may push the boundaries of what we can be expected to do for others.

Shakespeare & Company presents Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale: An Enhanced Staged Reading, directed by Tina Packer, August 21 – 25 outdoors at the Arthur S. Waldstein Amphitheatre. The Winter’s Tale is an odyssey through a world where kingdoms collide, betrayal weaves its web, and love battles against all odds. Magic, mystery, and a man-eating bear feature as the story unfolds, examining the consequences of jealousy and the power of forgiveness.

Shakespeare & Company presents the World Premiere of Awni Abdi-Bahri's Three Tall Persian Women, directed by Dalia Ashurina, August 30 through October 13 in the Elayne P. Berstein Theatre. Golnar, a punkish Iranian-American millennial, returns home to her mother Nasrin for the anniversary of her father’s passing, and walks into hoards of family memorabilia that her grandmother Mamani has moved in with her. This comedic and touching play is about generational differences, grief, control, and learning to let go; but more than anything, it’s a love story to immigrant mothers.