LENOX â Shakespeare & Company has a green light to add a second outdoor stage for live performances with audiences this summer and beyond.
The newly approved 300-seat stage, called the Roman Garden Theatre, measures 110 feet by 80 feet. It will replace a simple slab that hosted small-scale performances and actor training sessions.
Like the New Spruce Theatre, a 500-seat outdoor amphitheater that gained a special permit from the Zoning Board of Appeals in December, the Roman Garden will operate during daytime hours from Memorial Day weekend through the Columbus Day weekend.
At the Zoning Board of Appeals meeting April 7, attorney Lori Robbins, representing the theater company based at the 33-acre 70 Kemble St. site, noted that the troupe had to cancel its entire season last summer, and is set to stage ticketed performances outdoors only during the upcoming season.
LENOX â Making good on its plans to open a new outdoor performance site in time for shows this summer, Shakespeare & Company announced this week that the 500-seat amphitheater, The New Spruce Theatre, will host theatergoers for a production of âKing Lear.â
The company, which canceled its entire live-performance season last year because of the COVID pandemic, aims to fill the new space on its Kemble Street campus at half-capacity, in keeping with state and local regulations, as well as guidance by Actors Equity and other professional unions.
The role of King Lear will be played by Christopher Lloyd, as planned last year before the pandemic forced cancellation of the live performance season.