PITTSFIELD â The Tens are back for their 10th annual go-round â Barrington Stage Company s 10X10 New Play Festival, that is; a bit later than usual and in a somewhat different medium.
The festival of 10 new 10-minute plays typically is performed live at BSC s St. Germain Stage in the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center on Linden Street as part of Pittsfield s February 10X10 Upstreet Arts Festival. This year, in a bow to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Tens have been filmed at BSC s strictly sanitized Boyd-Quinson Mainstage, with no audience present, for streaming March 11-14 and 18-21. Tickets â $35 for one viewer; $55 for a household â are available via barringtonstageco.org/10X10.
Julianne Boyd is founding artistic director of Barrington Stage Company, which was established in 1995 at Consolati Performing Arts Center at Mount Everett Regional High School in Sheffield. The company presented its first season in Pittsfield in 2006. BSC now performs at Boyd-Quinson Mainstage on Union Street and the smaller St. Germain Stage in the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center on Linden Street.
Boyd recently took the time out of her busy schedule to answer our questions about the impact of 2020 and about her hopes for 2021.
Q:
How would you characterize 2020?
A: Difficult and unpredictable but ultimately exciting and tremendously rewarding. We were able to show, through all of the struggles of getting a season on, that art has healing power â it brings people together to transcend their individual problems and share some humanity for a few hours. It was difficult because our superb staff never worked harder or more hours to bring safe and exciting theater