Press Contacts:
Madelyn Gardner, (413) 448-8084 x15 [email protected] www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org
Rebecca Brighenti, (413) 448-8084 x11 [email protected] www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org
NYC Publicist:
Thomas Raynor, (212) 944-9444 [email protected] www.kornbergpr.com
Berkshire Theatre Group Announces Additional Casting for 2017 Summer Season:
Berkshire Theatre Group Welcomes Graham Rowat to the Cast of Arsenic and Old Lace as Mortimer Brewster Fresh From the Broadway Revival of Sunset Boulevard
Tony Award-Winning Jukebox Musical Million Dollar Quartet Adds Champion Elvis Tribute Artist, Brycen Katolinsky as Elvis Presley As Well As Bill Sheets as Johnny Cash Colin Summers as Carl Perkins
Pittsfield, MA–Berkshire Theatre Group announces additional casting for BTG’s 2017 Summer Season, including Broadway actor, Graham Rowat (most recently featured in the Broadway revival of Sunset Boulevard) as Mortimer in Arsenic and Old Lace. Rowat will add to the previously announced cast, featuring Tony and Drama Desk Award-winning actress, Harriet Harris (Thoroughly Modern Millie; TV: Frasier) as Abby Brewster and Tony and Drama Desk Award-
1 nominated Mia Dillon (Broadway: Crimes of the Heart) as Martha Brewster, alongside Harris’ real-life husband, Matt Sullivan, as Jonathan Brewster; Katie Birenboim (Off-Broadway: Fiorello!) as Elaine Harper; Stephen DeRosa (Broadway: Hairspray) as Dr. Einstein; Walter Hudson (Broadway: Welcome to the Club) as Mr. Witherspoon and Mr. Gibbs; Gerry McIntyre (Broadway: Once on This Island) as Officer O'Hara; and Walton Wilson (BTG: Benefactors) as The Rev. Dr. Harper and Lieutenant Rooney.
The Tony Award-winning jukebox musical, Million Dollar Quartet, will include Nathan Yates Douglass as Brother Jay, Brycen Katolinsky as Elvis Presley (who has won 28 Elvis Tribute Artist championship titles), David W. Lincoln as Fluke Holland, Colin Summers as Carl Perkins and Bill Sheets as Johnny Cash. They will join the already announced Christy Coco as Dyanne, Jefferson McDonald as Jerry Lee Lewis and Ben Nordstrom as Sam Phillips.
Tickets for Berkshire Theatre Group’s Summer Season are now on sale. To purchase tickets, please call 413-997-4444, online at www.berkshiretheatregroup.org, or by visiting the Colonial Ticket Office located at 111 South Street, Pittsfield. Ticket Offices are open Monday-Saturday 10am-5pm, Sunday’s 10am-2pm or on any performance day from 10am until curtain. Casting is subject to change.
CASTING:
Million Dollar Quartet Runs June 14 through July 15 book by Colin Escott and Floyd Mutrux original concept and direction by Floyd Mutrux Inspired by Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins directed and music direction by James Barry at The Unicorn Theatre The Larry Vaber Stage BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 6 East Street Sponsored by: Lead Sponsor, Bobbie Hallig and Furlano and Arace, PC
Cast Breakdown: Christy Coco as Dyanne Nathan Yates Douglass as Brother Jay Brycen Katolinsky as Elvis Presley David W. Lincoln as Fluke Holland Jefferson McDonald as Jerry Lee Lewis Ben Nordstrom as Sam Phillips Bill Sheets as Johnny Cash Colin Summers as Carl Perkins
About the Show: Tony Award-winning jukebox musical, and epic night of rock ’n’ roll, Million Dollar Quartet brings you into the recording studio with icons, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Based on a true story, set on December 4, 1956, Million Dollar Quartet follows the tale of these four legendary musicians, as they come together for one monumental night of music at Sun Records in Memphis. Directed and music direction by James Barry (Broadway: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson; BTG: A Thousand Clowns, Tommy, The Caretaker), this smash-hit
2 musical includes classic tunes such as: “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “Walk the Line,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Hound Dog,” and more.
Arsenic and Old Lace Runs July 27 through August 19 By Joseph Kesselring directed by Gregg Edelman at The Fitzpatrick Main Stage BTG’s Stockbridge Campus, 83 East Main Street Sponsored by: Country Curtains, Red Lion Inn and Blantyre
Cast Breakdown: Katie Birenboim as Elaine Harper Ryan Chittaphong as Officer Klein Stephen DeRosa as Dr. Einstein Mia Dillon as Martha Brewster Harriet Harris as Abby Brewster Walter Hudson as Mr. Witherspoon and Mr. Gibbs Gerry McIntyre as Officer O'Hara Graham Rowat as Mortimer Brewster Matt Sullivan as Jonathan Brewster Walton Wilson as The Rev. Dr. Harper and Lieutenant Rooney
About the Show: Celebrated as playwright Joseph Kesselring's most successful play, Arsenic and Old Lace is a side-splitting, farcical tale. An American classic, Arsenic and Old Lace first debuted on Broadway in 1941, in which New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson raved that the production’s “casual point of view that is so robustly entertaining.” Filled with colorful characters and witty plot twists, this quirky comedy is one for the ages. This production is directed by Tony Award- nominated Gregg Edelman (Broadway: City of Angels, 1776, Into The Woods; BTG: Constellations, Deathtrap).
ACTOR BIOS:
Katie Birenboim (Elaine Harper, Arsenic and Old Lace) is thrilled to be returning for her fourth summer season to Berkshire Theatre Group, where she previously appeared in A Little Night Music and starred in Mary Poppins and Fiorello!. Katie was last seen on a New York stage when the BTG production of Fiorello! transferred Off- Broadway in fall 2016. Other favorite roles include Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Annie Oakley in Annie Get Your Gun, Jo March in Little Women, Erma in Anything Goes, and Peggy Sawyer in 42nd Street. Katie made her NY directorial debut assisting John Rando with City Center Encores' The New Yorkers this spring, and is a founding member of the nonprofit theatre company, Grind Arts. Proud Princeton University grad. Many thanks to everyone at BTG, Alan Filderman, Gregg, Rikky at Hybrid, John, the Princeton Triangle Club, Ma, Papa, and mom and dad. www.katiebirenboim.com.
Ryan Chittaphong (Officer Klein, Arsenic and Old Lace) is delighted to be returning home to Berkshire Theatre Group, where he was previously seen in 2011’s Finian’s Rainbow and served as the Marketing and Development Associate in 2007-2008! In New York, he was recently seen on stage in HERE Arts Center's Professor Brenner and Dry Powder at the Arthur Seelen Theatre. He’s also performed with Nashville Repertory Theatre, Harold Clurman Lab, The Grand Ole Opry, among others. Ryan frequently performs in Ten Bones Theatre's smash hit improv comedy show, Entirely From
3 Memory and studies at Upright Citizens Brigade. Ryan currently serves as Director of Marketing for Stella Adler Studio of Acting, is a proud company member of Story Pirates and co-owner of Glamsmash Productions (glamsmash.com). Thank you to the BTG family for this great experience!
Christy Coco (Dyanne, Million Dollar Quartet) is thrilled to be returning to BTG! In May, she will graduate from Boston College majoring in Theatre Arts and Art History. She has appeared Off-Broadway in the 2016 revival of Fiorello! (Sophie/Ensemble), as well as on screen in the 2016 feature film, The Purge: Election Year, directed by James DeMonaco and produced by Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions. Also in 2016, Christy performed as a soloist in concert with the Boston Pops, conducted by Keith Lockhart and featuring Kristin Chenoweth. With the Pops, she sang an original arrangement created for her by Joseph Joubert, the orchestrator for the 2014 Broadway revival of Violet. Christy’s BTG credits include Beauty and The Beast (Belle) and Bells are Ringing (Ensemble, u/s Olga). She’d like to thank the entire BTG family for their endless support and for giving her this wonderful opportunity. For Mom, Dad, Alex, and Britt. www.christy-coco.com@christycoco_
Stephen DeRosa (Dr. Einstein, Arsenic and Old Lace) BTG: Little Shop of Horrors, The Guardsman, Prisoner of Second Avenue, Waiting for Godot, Love! Valor! Compassion!, Lives of the Saints. Broadway: On the Town, Betrayal, The Nance, Hairspray, On The Twentieth Century, Henry IV, Into the Woods, The Man Who Came To Dinner. Off- Broadway:These Paper Bullets (Atlantic Theater); Irma LaDouce, Wonderful Town, Do Re Mi (all for Encores!); Love's Fire (The Acting Company/Public/RSC); The Mystery of Irma Vep. Regional credits include Yale Rep, Goodspeed Musicals, Westport Country Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, ACT, George Street Playhouse, Williamstown, and many others. Selected Film/TV: Woody Allen's Cafe Society, Show Me a Hero (HBO), The Good Wife, Vinyl, Ugly Betty, Law & Order, and HBO's Boardwalk Empire (Eddie Cantor). MFA: Yale Drama.
Mia Dillon (Martha Brewster, Arsenic and Old Lace) Broadway credits include: Our Town with Paul Newman, The Miser, Hay Fever, Agnes of God, The Corn is Green with Cicely Tyson, Crimes of the Heart (Tony Award-nomination, Clarence Derwent Award, Dramalogue Award), Once a Catholic (Drama Desk Award-nomination), Da, and Equus. She has appeared in 5 seasons at BTG in A Period of Adjustment, A Song at Twilight, Ghosts, A Delicate Balance, and Palace of Amateurs. She has appeared in regional theatre's across the country, most recently in Cloud 9 at Hartford Stage. Film and TV roles include: all 3 Law & Orders, Brain Dead, The Cosby Show, Mary and Rhoda, Gods And Generals, The Money Pit, All Good Things, Ordinary World and Isn't it Delicious.
Nathan Yates Douglass (Brother Jay, Million Dollar Quartet) National Tours: The Buddy Holly Story (Norman Petty, Boebe Ent.), Stand By Your Man, The Tammy Wynette Story (George Richey/Don Chapel, Capstone Theatricals). Regional: Million Dollar Quartet (Brother Jay, Ogunquit Playhouse Theatre), Much Ado About Nothing (Don Pedro, Endstation Theatre Company), Sanders Family Christmas (Stanley, Sierra Rep Theatre), Ring of Fire (Mark, Cortland Rep Theatre). Off-Broadway: On the Bum (Harry, Chelsea Rep Theatre). More at NathanYatesDouglass.com
Harriet Harris (Abby Brewster, Arsenic and Old Lace) Broadway: It Shoulda Been You, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Present Laughter, Cry Baby: The Musical, Old Acquaintance, Thoroughly Modern Millie (2002 Tony and Drama Desk Awards for Featured Actress in a Musical), The Man Who Came to Dinner. Encores: Little Me. Off- Broadway: The Roads to Home, Standing on Ceremony, Yeast Nation, Jeffrey (Drama Desk Award- nomination), Bella, Belle of Byelorussia (Drama Desk Award-nomination). San Francisco Opera: Show Boat. Film: Love Is Strange, Memento, Nurse Betty, Addams Family Values. TV: Desperate Housewives and Frasier.
Walter Hudson (Mr. Witherspoon and Mr. Gibbs, Arsenic and Old Lace) is delighted to return to BTG having appeared in Sylvia, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Amadeus, Macbeth, The Einstein Project, Edith, My Fair Lady, HMS Pinafore, and A Man for All Seasons, among others. He has appeared on Broadway for the NY Shakespeare Festival as the
4 Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, and The Human Comedy, as well as Cy Coleman’s Welcome to the Club, and Off-Broadway as the Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors at the Orpheum Theatre. National tours include: Pirates, Blood Brothers and Noises Off. He has worked regionally at numerous theatres, including: Yale Rep, Long Wharf, Kennedy Center, NAC (Ottawa), Denver Theatre Center, Huntington Theatre, Ford’s, Alliance, Rep Theatre of St. Louis, Cleveland Playhouse, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and Syracuse Stage. More recent television includes: The Following, Nurse Jackie and The Onion News Network.
David W. Lincoln (Fluke Holland, Million Dollar Quartet) was born in Hartford, Connecticut. Through his father's guidance, he learned piano, guitar, and drums at a young age. Lincoln has been playing drums for 40 years, and has played drums in over 50 bands. Lincoln has shared the stage with artists such as: Monster Mike Welch, B.B King, Wilson Pickett, Junior Guitar Johnson, Johnny Winter, Big Brother and the Holding Company, amongst others. Lincoln's drumming is featured in movies, such as The Invisibles, The Young and the Restless, and All Screwed Up. Lincoln has recorded drums on over 30 albums, including rockabilly hall of fame member, Bill Flagg. He is currently working with Roger Salloom.
Jefferson McDonald (Jerry Lee Lewis, Million Dollar Quartet) is very excited to join the storied and prestigious BTG for the first time. Recent stage credits include: Spike in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Asolo Repertory Theatre, St. Louis Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), for which he was featured in the NY Times; Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Asolo Rep), and George Haverstick in Period of Adjustment (Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater). He is a 2016 recipient of a Broadway World Denver Award for his portrayal of Ernst Ludwig in Cabaret (Lake Dillon Theatre Company). Jefferson hails from the Fingerlakes Region of Upstate New York, where he and his eight younger siblings grew up on a 220 acre organic farm. He is the nephew to Broadway and film stars Daniel and Christopher McDonald. He attended Ithaca College and received his MFA from the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, and has also studied at the Moscow Art Theatre. He would like to thank his father and grandmother, whom he misses deeply, for cultivating his love of music.
Gerry McIntyre (Officer O'Hara, Arsenic and Old Lace) has appeared on Broadway in Uptown...It's Hot!, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Once on This Island (original company), Anything Goes, and Chicago. His Off- Broadway credits include, Enter Laughing (Drama Desk Award-nomination), The Audience (Drama Desk Award- nomination), and Forbidden Broadway (NAACP and Ovation Awards). His television credits include Boardwalk Empire, Law & Order,” “Whoopi,” “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “NYPD Blue,” “Caroline in the City,” “The Nanny,” “The Pretender,” and “Murphy Brown.” He also appeared in the films The Kiss, Broadway Damage, The Next Step, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and After the Storm. Mr. McIntyre is the winner of a TBA Award and a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for his choreography. He choreographed My Fair Lady, A Saint She Ain't, Tommy, and Oklahoma at BTG. He is also the choreographer of the Off-Broadway hit Spamilton. gerrymcintyre.net.
Ben Nordstrom (Sam Phillips, Million Dollar Quartet) is thrilled to make his debut with Berkshire Theatre Group. Regional: The Muny (Harry in Mamma Mia! and Tony in Billy Elliot), The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (Malcom in Macbeth and Bobby Strong in Urinetown), Great Lakes Theater Festival (Mozart in Amadeus), Arvada Center (Freddy in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre (Sam Phillips in Million Dollar Quartet, Baker in Into the Woods, and Mike Connors in The Philadelphia Story), Stages St. Louis (Finch in H2$ and Chuck Baxter in Promises Promises), the Alley Theatre (Alan Strang in Equus), Theatre Raleigh (Bernard in Boeing Boeing), and Cleveland Playhouse (Dylan Gall in The Infinite Regress of Human Vanity). TV: A Gifted Man, CBS. Film: Meet Bill with Aaron Eckhart. BFA, Webster Conservatory
Graham Rowat (Mortimer Brewster, Arsenic and Old Lace) is delighted to return to the Berkshire Theater Group, having
5 recently completed the Broadway revival of Sunset Boulevard, starring Glenn Close. Other Broadway credits include Mamma Mia, Guys and Dolls, LoveMusik, Dracula, and Beauty and the Beast. Off-Broadway: The Blue Flower (Second Stage), The Boys in the Band (Transport Group), and The Minister's Wife (Lincoln Center Theater). He has appeared nationally and abroad in Irving Berlin's White Christmas (San Francisco, Detroit, Toronto), and Les Misérables (US and China). Regional: Constellations, Bells Are Ringing, A Little Night Music (Berkshire Theatre Group), Arcadia (Yale Rep), The Game (Barrington Stage), Saved (Kansas City Rep), A Funny Thing…Forum (Two River Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival). TV: Elementary, The Good Wife, Law and Order, As the World Turns. Recordings: LoveMusik (Broadway Cast Recording), Life Begins at 8:40, Sweet Bye and Bye (PS Classics), multiple audiobooks. grahamrowat.com @grahamny
Bill Sheets (Johnny Cash, Million Dollar Quartet) has already performed Cash on the Norwegian Getaway with NCL. Bill is from Owasso, Oklahoma and is a graduate of Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor’s in Music Education. Trained as an operatic baritone, he has performed roles such as: Frank in Die Fledermaus, Il Sergente in L’Elisir d’Amore, and Il Conte d’Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro. Musical theatre credits include: Don Quixote in The Man of La Mancha, Jaime in The Last Five Years, and the titular role of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. He performed with the Hooty Creek Band, a classic country group in Nowata, Oklahoma, as their lead singer and rhythm guitarist. He is now a resident of Chicago, IL.
Matt Sullivan (Jonathan Brewster, Arsenic and Old Lace) The Roads to Home by Horton Foote, at The Cherry Lane Theater; Standing on Ceremony at The Minetta Lane Theater; Macbeth and Coriolanus at New York Shakespeare Festival; Hay Fever at The Guthrie Theater; Tovarich, I Capture the Castle, Noises Off, The Devil’s Disciple, Playboy of the Western World at The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. Four seasons with The Acting Company. Juilliard School.
Colin Summers (Carl Perkins, Million Dollar Quartet) is a writer, composer, and performer focused on interdisciplinary theater work. He is a writing/performing company member with The New York Neo-Futurists, and has performed in their long running show, Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind since 2014. Colin contributed music to the 2013 feature film, Swim Little Fish Swim (which debuted at SXSW Feature Film Competition), as well as to numerous productions with Brooklyn based dance collective MoveShop. Colin's solo performance STEVE: A DOCU-MUSICAL, has had performances at ARS Nova, Joe's Pub, and a 3 week run at the 4th St. Theater, and was awarded Best Production Of A Musical at the 2016 New York Innovative Theater Awards. Colin most recently, performed the role of Carl Perkins in Million Dollar Quartet onboard the Norwegian Getaway for Norwegian Cruise Lines' Creative Studios.
Walton Wilson ( The Rev. Dr. Harper and Lieutenant Rooney, Arsenic and Old Lace) is delighted to return for his third season at BTG, where he previously appeared in Benefactors and Anna Christie. He also served as dialect coach on Design for Living. New York: BAM Next Wave Festival, Culture Project, Dance Theatre Workshop, La Mama, Public Theatre/NYSF, Vineyard Theatre. Regional: Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alley Theatre, Dallas Theatre Center, Empty Space, Shakespeare & Company, Stages Repertory Theatre, Swine Palace, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Yale Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare Festivals of Dallas, Houston, Santa Fe, St. Louis. A resident of the Berkshires, he enjoys ongoing collaborations with Double Edge Theatre (Ashfield, MA) and Pro Rodopi Arts Centre (Bostina, Bulgaria). He is a member of the faculty at Yale School of Drama.
6 About Berkshire Theatre Group
The Colonial Theatre, founded in 1903, and Berkshire Theatre Festival, founded in 1928, are two of the oldest cultural organizations in the Berkshires. In 2010, under the leadership of Artistic Director and CEO Kate Maguire, the two organization merged to form Berkshire Theatre Group (BTG). Berkshire Theatre Group’s mission is to support wide ranging artistic exploration and acclaimed performances in theatre, dance, music and entertainment. Every year, BTG produces and presents performances to over 68,000 attendees and, through our Educational Program, serves over 13,000 Berkshire County schoolchildren annually. BTG’s celebrated stages reflect the history of the American theatre; they represent a priceless cultural resource for the community.
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