Known Unknowns: A Pub Quiz

Feburary 17th @ 7:30pm

New Stage’s in house comedy pub quiz returns this February as part of the inaugural 10×10 on North Festival.

Combining elements of a traditional pub quiz and a live sketch show, Known Uknowns is a freewheeling, interactive game show that’s as much fun those who don’t know the answers as those who do. Compete with a group in the team rounds to play for the grand prize, or test your luck up on stage in the individual round, where you may be asked to solve a math equation based on James Bond characters, or simply sing the Full House theme song from memory.

This month’s show is ’10×10′ themed, featuring categories and questions inspired by the 10×10 on North Festival, and the City of Pittsfield.

Tickets are are available at the door for a suggested donation of $10.

Cash bar. 21+ only.

February 18th @ 8pm

Join us for an evening of comedy, performance pieces, and whatever sticks to the wall as we take part in the 10×10 on North Festival with the 10×10 Variety Show.

Monologues, music, stand up, sketch, improv, film – whatever’s funny and strange will be on display as 10 acts take the stage in a night of comedy that’s not to be missed.

Tickets are $10 each and are available at the door.

Cash bar. 21+ only.

FEATURING:

Alex Reczkowski

Alex Reczkowski started his acting career at age 4, recreating the local news with his sister for the enjoyment (or was it torture?) of his grandmother. Since then, he’s acted, directed, and stage managed in theaters and festivals from Merced (California) to Farmville (Virginia) to Berlin (Germany) to Pittsfield. He’s currently stage managing Seriously Funny at BCC.

Andrew Joffe

Actor, writer, director, lecturer, award-winning opera librettist and poet – wouldn’t it be great if he were any of those things? He occasionally appears on stages in the area, when no one is looking. He loves doing comedy shows, because then he might get paid when people laugh at him.

Ben Elliott

Ben Elliott is a writer and performer who has studied and performed improv with ph Productions in Chicago and at the Peoples Improv Theatre in New York City. During his time at New Stage Performing Arts Center, he has cowritten two plays for their Castle Hill Theatre family theatre division, and writes and hosts the recurring comedic trivia competition Known Unknowns. You can follow him on twitter @abenelliott.

Darlene White

Darlene White’s stories and essays have been heard on All Things Considered, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, and the PA system at “Karen’s Tanning Salon” in Melbourne Fl, where her friend Karen a.k.a.” Karma” , runs a loose operation. Darlene produced a storytelling show in the Berkshires called “Jupiter Supersized,” and also produced and performed in a Pittsfield Storytelling Festival, which featured Mike Daisey. In NYC, she won a contest with “The Moth Storytellers” and has performed there with SpeakEasy, The Liar Show, and at other popular NYC venues.

Drew Jacobs

Drew Jacobs is an “Acoustic Humorist” who has been performing his funny songs since 2005. In 2007, he released his first CD Easy Listening For The Hard of Hearing. He has received airplay on local and national radio, including Sirius/XM Satellite Radio’s “Laugh USA.” In 2011 he released his second CD, “I’m Allergic To My Job!” The title song won 1st Prize in the USA Songwriting Competition for Comedy/Novelty division. Drew has performed throughout the Northeast as well as in showcase spots at the prestigious 2011 South By Southwest Conference in Austin Texas and the Northeast Regional Folk Alliance in New York. Drew Jacobs resides with his wife in Albany, NY.

Francine Ciccarelli

Francine is so happy to be with 10×10! She has most recently been seen m.c-ing Deb Kauffman’s open mic in Housatonic. Her favorite credits include Hairspray (Female Authority Figure), Laundry and Bourbon (Elizabeth), The Foreigner (Betty), Marcus is Walking (Queenie),and Macbeth (Lady Macbeth). She can be seen locally at open mics and singing jazz/pop folk. She studied acting at Shakespeare & Co., Berkshire Community College, and The Vassar Summer Powerhouse Theatre. She has been studying voice for 21 years. This is one of her early forays into standup! She would like to thank God, New Stage for asking her to be part of the show, and Deb Kauffman.

The Louise Log

The Louise Log is a comedy series of short videos about a New York City wife and mother with a high-maintenance husband, an addiction to caffeine and an over-active inner voice. Christine Cook stars as Louise. Jennifer Sklias-Gahan co-stars. Created, written, directed and produced by reformed Sundance filmmaker Anne Flournoy. http://TheLouiseLog.com

Rhymes With Armadillo

Rhymes With Armadillo is made up of Barby Cardillo and Seth Brown. Barby Cardillo is a founding member of the Royal Berkshire Improv Troup, performing all over the county for whoever will hire us….maybe someone like YOU. She also performs for the Majestic Theatre summer improv series (coming soon!) Recently she has acted in various roles for WAM theatre, New Stage, Main St. Stage, Berkshire Theatre Festival and the Berkshire Fringe Festival. Ms. Cardillo (you know what it rymes with) is also a teaching artist and has created and directed drama workshops for Community Access to the Arts, Barrington Stage, BTF Shakespeare & Co, and Hillcrest Educastional Center. Seth Brown is a comedy jack-of-all-trades. He has held three weekly humor columns, currently The Pun Also Rises for the North Adams Transcript. He is a stand-up comedian who has opened for acts like Eugene Mirman and Frank Santorelli. He raps under the name of Ham-STAR. He has been performing improv comedy for over a dozen years. And he is frequently upstaged by his facial hair. His website is www.RisingPun.com

Side of Toast

Side of Toast is a sketch comedy troupe based in the Pioneer Valley of Massachusetts. You can find them on-line at www.sideoftoastcomedy.com or on Facebook at Side of Toast. Their most recent video project was an online webseries called Silent H, Deadly H, which you can find at www.SilentHDeadlyH.com . Side of Toast features a revolving group of players, and the cast for tonight’s show features the husband-and-wife team of Paul Anthony Ita and Katherine Glatter. Paul blogs at Happy Valley News Hour ; Katherine blogs at TwinklySparkles.

Tom Lewis

Tom Lewis is a stand up comedian who has performed at the Comedy Cellar and Standup NY in NYC, the Improv Boston, and the Ice House in Pasadena in addition to countless other venues. You can follow him on twitter @tomdog.

AND MORE!

March 9th – 25th

Written by Yasmine Beverly Rana

Directed by Mari Andrejco

As Joley looks back on the events that have shaped her life, her past comes alive on stage. As the memories of her abusive childhood, her journey to escape it, and the charming man in the white suit who’s at the heart of it all come rushing back to her, Joley struggles to take control of her past, and to keep it from defining her future.

From acclaimed playwright Yasmine Rana, whose play The Fallen was a featured reading in the 2011 New Works at New Stage Festival, Blood Sky is a provocative and moving work that New Stage is proud to present as part of the 2012 International Women’s Month.

Performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and Sundays at 3pm. There will be a talk back featuring the director, the cast, and a representative of the Elizabeth Freeman Center following the Sunday afternoon performances. Playwright Yasmine Beverly Rana will be in attendance for the 3/11 talk back.

The opening night performance will be followed by a reception benefiting the Elizabeth Freeman Center. All tickets for the opening night performance are $45.

Tickets for all other performances are $20 general admission, $18 for students seniors.

Click here to buy tickets.

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April 2012

The New Works at New Stage Festival returns April 2012 with a brand new lineup of new works from some of the Northeasts best emerging playwrights.

Last year’s festival saw the premiere of a number of new plays that have continued to be workshopped and produced, including the Trial of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, which was workshopped beyond the festival and premiered at New Stage in the fall of 2011.

Submissions are still open for the New Works at New Stage Festival. Click here for more information.

December 2nd – 18th

Directed by Laurie Ellington

Castle Hill Theatre Company returns with it’s smash hit family holiday production, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever! The town’s Christmas pageant has always been a sleepy affair – that is until the Herdman’s catch wind of it. When the meanest, toughest, and wildest kids in town decide that they want to be part of the show, it’ll never be the same again.

Fun for the whole family, The Best Christmas Pageant ever returns to New Stage after it’s sold out 2010 run just in time for the holidays.

Due to demand, we have added an extra performance on the 18th at 5pm to accommodate for overflow. Visit Brown Paper Tickets for more details.

Tickets are $15 dollars for adults, $10 dollars for children.

Call the box office at 413 418 0999 to make a reservation, or visit Brown Paper Tickets to purchase tickets online.

Click here to buy tickets.

November 26th at 8pm

Known Unknowns is New Stage’s original spin on the pub quiz, mixing together elements of trivia competitions, sketch comedy, and talk shows into a unique live comedy experience.

Compete in a team, test your luck on stage with our very own wheel of fortune, or just sit back and watch as your co-hosts quiz you with a series of questions, sketches, improvisational dances, and terrible, terrible impersonations.

This months theme: Broadway! What is the Phantom of the Opera’s first name? How many people make up a chorus line? Why would Willy Loman call his children stupid names like Biff and Happy? Find out the answers to these and other questions at Know Unknowns!

Tickets are $5 per person, $20 for a group of five.

Cash bar. 21+ only.

Written and directed by Don Jordan

Sunday, November 20th @ 2pm

A swashbuckling adventure featuring bold buccaneers, a mysterious map with a riddle, cursed treasure, a visit to an island that you can’t see, a pirate ghost, and a magical journey to the bottom of the sea. This sea-faring tale features mime, music, masks, and delightful puppets created by Clothespin Puppets. The performances feature Berkshirearea actors Alexia Trainor, Mark “Monk” Schane-Lydon and Matt Coviello. Live musical accompaniment is provided by Catherine Schane-Lydon and Don Jordan. Together they bring you a family performance brimming with excitement and theatrical innovation.

Tickets are available at the door and are pay what you can.

World Mash Up Of Jazz Arts: “The Elements: The Earth, the Wind, Fire, and the Sea”

November 18th – 8pm

New Stage presents the premiere performance of the World MOJA Jazz Music and Dance Ensemble, a night of wholly new music and dance; and interpretive performance, not only from the viewpoint of the dancer performing to originally created music, but the musician being inspired by both dancers and the other musicians, all in a single, iterative, spontaneously created process.

World MOJA is the brainchild of area trumpeter Rob Fisch.  He began studies at the piano with the American Composer Arthur Cunningham at the age of 6. In grade school, he was inspired to take up the trumpet and hasn’t stopped since. His early jazz influences growing up were listening to his dad’s old “78′s” of Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald, and later, listening to Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie and Freddie Hubbard. During his early twenties, Rob studied jazz at City College (NY), where there was an extensive jazz program. While there he had the opportunity to study with pianist John Lewis (of the Modern Jazz Quartet). He also studied trumpet privately with the legendary Carmine Caruso. After gaining his BA in music, Rob started playing out in the local jazz scene in Northern New Jersey, Rockland and Westchester Counties. In his thirties, Rob settled in upstate NY in an area centrally located between the Berkshires, the Catskills and the Capital District (Albany). In the late 80s, Rob hosted a jazz radio show at a local station, featuring both recorded music (from his own collection…the radio station had none at all) and live artists from the area. Rob continues to live and perform jazz in upstate NY and western Massachusetts.

Rounding out the musical group will be Carlton Maaia II on piano, Dan Broad on bass and Jeff McRae on drums. The dance ensemble consists of Heather Fisch, Emily Graham and Rachael Plaine

All tickets are $10, and can be purchased at the door.

“The Truth about Gender: Youth Stories of Gender Diversity”:

Film Screening and Art Reception

Saturday Nov. 12th

Open to the public 2 – 5pm; Film Screening from 3 – 3:30pm

An original 30-minute film produced with youth from Berkshire County exploring their experience living outside of the gender binary. The film includes digital stories created by the youth, as well as interviews about the storytelling process. Visual art pieces from Live Out Loud Youth Project members will be displayed at the event.

A second screening will take place at 4pm if needed to accommodate overflow.

Suggested donation of $5, with all proceeds going to the LOLYP.