Considered to be the inspiration for Game of Thrones, Henry VI, Part II is commonly regarded as the strongest of the Henry VI trilogy, telling the story of the contention and power struggles between the two ancient families of Lancaster and York who wrestled for the fate of England.
Now, four centuries on and in tandem with the current King Charles III’s coronation, Shakespeare & Company presents The Contention – an exploration of themes that remain timeless: strategic marriages, political treachery, religious unrest, and a measure of comic sport.
The show runs June 17 to July 15, directed by Tina Packer with associate Directors Kate Kohler Amory & Sheila Bandyopadhyay and creative team David Bertoldi, Allyn Burrows, Jonathan Epstein, Nigel Gore, Tamara Hickey, L. James, Bella Merlin, Jacob Ming-Trent, Kenneth Ransom, & Austyn Williamson.
(Associate Director / Movement)
Sheila Bandyopadhyay is a multi-hyphenate theater artist who, after 18 years in Brooklyn, NY, is delighted to be marking her first year as Shakespeare & Company’s Director of the Center of Actor Training. Movement Direction: Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare & Company); Macbeth (The Humanist Project) …
David Bertoldi (he / him) — (Henry / Bolingbrook)
S&Co: Albany/ Oswald (King Lear), Don Bowman (The Waverly Gallery), Mr. Knightley (Emma; staged reading), Mr. Wickham (Pride & Prejudice; staged reading), Berowne (Love’s Labor’s Lost), Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Romeo (Romeo & Juliet; NE Regional Tour); Brown/ Trinity Rep MFA: Cloten/ Cymbeline (Imogen Project) …
Allyn Burrows (he / him) — (Suffolk / Cade)
S&Co: Director: The Tempest (2017), As You Like It (2018), Twelfth Night (2019). Shakespeare & Company performances: A Walk in the Woods, King Lear, God of Carnage, Or, King John, Much Ado About Nothing, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Henry IV Part 1, among others.
Brendan F Doyle (he / him) — (Sound Designer)
Brendan F Doyle is a sound designer, engineer, and artisan working primarily in live performance applications: theatrical sound design, live music, and bespoke audio objects. He holds a MSc in Sound Design from the University of Edinburgh, and a BFA in Theatre Design and Technology from Emerson College.
Jonathan Epstein (he / they) — (Gloucester / Clifford)
S&Co: Jonny has directed or acted in more than 60 S&Co productions since 1987, including last year’s A Walk in the Woods and previously Creditors, Henry V, Merchant of Venice, Tempest, Cymbeline, Midsummer, Merry Wives, Private Eyes, Brief Lives, Heroes, An Iliad …
Nigel Gore — (York / /Dick)
S&Co, recent: Leonato, Much Ado About Nothing; Gloucester, King Lear; Prospero, The Tempest; Belarius/Doctor, Cymbeline; Falstaff Merry Wives; George, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Elliot Norton Award, Outstanding Actor) at the Public Theatre Boston. Off-Broadway: Voltaire Emilie with Duende; Dr. Rank, A Doll’s House; Ostermark, The Father …
Tamara Hickey (she / her) — (Margaret)
S&Co: Much Ado About Nothing, Time Stands Still, Heisenberg, Cymbeline, The Tempest, Merchant of Venice, Two Gentlemen of Verona; Regional: Appropriate, SpeakEasy Stage; God’s Ear (Elliot Norton Award Best Actress & Best Production), Henry VIII, Pericles, Living In Exile, all for Actors’ Shakespeare Project; Rancho Mirage, New Repertory …
L. James (he / him) — (Warwick / Holland)
S&Co Art. TV/Film Credits include: Law & Order, Zombie Wedding, FBI. Theater Credits: Backwards Forwards KCAB, The Agitators, Sender, Intimate Apparel, Hamlet, Sweat, The MotherF@cker with the Hat, ThreePenny Opera, and Angels in America.
Bella Merlin (she / her) — (Duchess of Gloucester)
S&Co: Ursula/George Seacoal (Much Ado About Nothing), Tilly (Tilly No-Body: Catastrophes of Love), Maria (Twelfth Night), Sir Hugh Evans (Merry Wives of Windsor), Queen/Arviragus (Cymbeline), Trinculo (The Tempest), Nerissa (The Merchant of Venice), Margaret (Worse Than Wolves), Outlaw (Two Gentlemen of Verona). Regional: Colorado Shakespeare Festival: Margaret
Jacob Ming-Trent (Cardinal / Horner) — TV: White Famous, Showtime (series regular), Watchmen, HBO (series regular), Ray Donovan, Showtime (Recurring), Feed the Beast, AMC (recurring). Also seen on, Only Murders in the Building, WU-TANG: An American Saga, New Amsterdam, God Friended Me, High Maintenance, and several more. Film: Superfly, Forty-year-old Version, Snakes …
Kenneth Ransom (he / him) — (Somerset / Hume)
Kenneth Ransom is an international actor and teacher with over 30 years of experience in theatre, film, television and streaming platforms. He is delighted to return to Shakespeare & Company, where he trained with eminent teachers, including co-founders Kristin Linklater and Tina Packer, and where he performed
Austyn Williamson — (Jourdain / Vaux)
Austyn Williamson is thrilled to be making his Shakespeare & Company debut. Previous regional credits include The Inheritance Parts I & II (Trinity Repertory Company), The Tempest (Oak Park Festival Theatre), How To Defend Yourself (Victory Gardens Theatre), Henry V (First Folio Theatre), and several more.
Kate Kohler Amory (she / her) — (Associate Director)
Kate Kohler Amory is an award-winning, multi-hyphenate theater maker and professor. Some of her favorite directing/devising credits include: This Is It Shakespeare & Company: Plays in Process; Midsummer Nights: Dream Love Escape, The Birds, Romeo and Juliet: A Space Oddity (The Ridiculous Project); Dog Act, Mr. Burns: A
Martin Jason Asprey — (Violence Designer)
Martin J. Asprey just graduated with an MFA in directing from Texas State University. He has been an acting coach and text teacher for the past 20 years, a Shakespeare scholar, and has acted in over 20 Shakespeare professional productions. He is a stage fight teacher and choreographer.
Sarah Edkins (she / her) — (Set Designer)
Sarah Edkins is a set designer based in Brooklyn, NY. Originally from London, England she started her theater career there as a puppeteer. Sarah has designed sets internationally, including three versions of The Return Of The Exile, in New York, London and Athens. Sarah worked five seasons as
Hope Rose Kelly — (Stage Manager)
S&Co: An Iliad, Measure for Measure, The Chairs, King Lear, Topdog/Underdog, Macbeth, Heisenberg, Cymbeline, God of Carnage, Or, Two Gentleman of Verona, Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged), It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, Comedy of Errors, Richard II, Rough Crossing, Blue/Orange, The Ladies Man, Othello, Twelfth Night …
James McNamara (he / him) — (Light Designer)
James McNamara is the Professor of Light/Sound Design and the Chair of the Theatre Arts Department at Westfield State University. He is also an Associate Artist/Designer at The Chester Theatre Company, where he has designed for the last 17 seasons. Professional Design: Ancram Opera House, LaMaMa ETC, CompanyOne,
Tina Packer — (Director)
Born in England, Tina was trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, performed in regional theater, was an Associate Artist at the Royal Shakespeare Company, played in television series for the BBC and ITV, and arrived in the U.S. in 1974. She had a Ford Foundation Travel …
Gwendolyn Schwinke (she / her) (Voice / Text Coach)
Vocal Coaching/S&Co: Measure for Measure, Much Ado, Merry Wives of Windsor, Taming of the Shrew, Love’s Labor’s Lost, Cymbeline, Intimate Apparel, The Merchant of Venice, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Or, Ugly Lies the Bone, Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, others. International: Prague Shakespeare Company: Winter’s Tale, Twelfth Night …
William Shakespeare — (Playwright)
He was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world’s pre-eminent dramatist. His works, including some collaborations, consist of about 37 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems.
Kiki Smith [she / her] — (Costume Designer)
Kiki has designed over 24 productions here since the very first production at the Mount of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and is grateful for another chance to work with Tina and such wonderful actors. She’s also worked for years with the Talking Band in New York …
Kathleen H. Soltan (she / her) — (Assistant Stage Manager)
Kathleen H. Soltan is a Philadelphia based Stage Manager and Creator. Selected Theatre Credits: King Lear, The Waverly Gallery, Macbeth with Shakespeare & Company, I Do! I Do! with Purple Crayon Productions, Cadillac Crew, Kamloopa with WAM Theater Company, Noises Off!, Othello, The Birds, The Handmaid’s Tale …
By the Way Berkshires is a digital magazine exploring creative life and community — art and performance, food and the outdoors — and I’m writing it for you, with local voices, because I’ve gotten to know this rich part of the world as a writer and journalist, and I want to share it with you.
If you’d like to see the website grow, you can join me for a few dollars a month, enough for a cup of coffee and a cider doughnut. Members get access to extra stories and multimedia, itineraries a bookmark tool. Let me know what you're looking for, and we’ll explore together.
Stella Levi tells Michael Frank stories of the Juderia, the neighborhood on the Greek island of Rhodes where she’d grown up in a Jewish community that had thrived there for half a millennium.
Stella Levi tells Michael Frank stories of the Juderia, the neighborhood on the Greek island of Rhodes where she’d grown up in a Jewish community that had thrived there for half a millennium.
Bud Wobus, professor emeritus of Geology at Williams College, leads a geology presentation and walk looking at thje history of the granite slabs of the Manton Research Center and Tadao Ando-designed Clark Center.
Adapted from Kent Haruf’s novel, 'Our Souls at Night,' this World Premiere musical tells the joyful story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together in a search for happiness and family.
Along with the Clark’s major summer exhibition, Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth, Manton Curator Anne Leonard presents the Clark’s full set of Munch's works on paper.
Adapted from Kent Haruf’s novel, 'Our Souls at Night,' this World Premiere musical tells the joyful story of a man and a woman who, in advanced age, come together in a search for happiness and family.
The Clark offers free watercolor painting — walk through Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth and pick up a miniature watercolor kit and try plein air painting outdoors.
The West Stockbridge Farmers Market offers fresh produce — fruits and vegetables in season, eggs, meats and cheeses, breads and baked goods, fudge and jams and more.
The museum serves local brews in artist Dean Baldwin’s-sculpture-turned-river-side-beer-garden, one night each week, with live local music outdoors under the stars.
Mass MoCA Senior Curator Susan Cross holds a conversation with American photographer Holly Lynton on Lynton’s first book, Bare Handed, a portrait of rural life throughout 21st-century America.
Murder and madness will haunt the Tina Packer Playhouse as Shakespeare & Company presents a three-performance reading of William Shakespeare’s tragedy.
The Sheffield Farmers Market returns outdoors with some 20 vendors — from pickles, seasonings and garlic, to Naji’s Mediterranean Cuisine, baked fresh wheat-free breads, local meats, honey and maple syrup and more.
Naumkeag will lead a Mindfulness in Nature series each Friday in summer, July 7 through September 8, with Sandrine Harris, meeting in the Afternoon Garden.
The Knights return to the Clark to celebrate the Edvard Munch with a selection of music from fellow Norwegian Edvard Grieg, Antonín Dvořák, Frederick Delius (a friend of Munch's) and more.
Anima, an immersive multidisciplinary installation by French visual artist/photographer Noémie Goudal, theater director Maëlle Poésy, circus artist Chloé Moglia, and composer Chloé Thévenin, reflects on the history of the earth’s climate.
Interweaving the classic songs and jams of The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band and The Band, Dead Man’s Waltz celebrates the crossover between The Dead, The Allmans and The Band.
Murder and madness will haunt the Tina Packer Playhouse as Shakespeare & Company presents a three-performance reading of William Shakespeare’s tragedy.
Explore author Edith Wharton's estate, including the woods, wetlands, and meadows that may have inspired her writing, and learn to know birds by sight and sound.
The West Stockbridge Farmers Market offers fresh produce — fruits and vegetables in season, eggs, meats and cheeses, breads and baked goods, fudge and jams and more.
The Sheffield Farmers Market returns outdoors with some 20 vendors — from pickles, seasonings and garlic, to Naji’s Mediterranean Cuisine, baked fresh wheat-free breads, local meats, honey and maple syrup and more.
Naumkeag will lead a Mindfulness in Nature series each Friday in summer, July 7 through September 8, with Sandrine Harris, meeting in the Afternoon Garden.
Chocolate peanut butter cookies, fresh flowers, jams and pickles and cheeses ... the North Adams Farmers Market returns weekly with more than a dozen farmers and makers.
Housatonic Heritage explores the past, present and future in the Berkshires, in open spaces and downtowns, historic sites and trails. Walks set out from many places between Pittsfield and Northwest Connecticut, and all of them are free.
Housatonic Heritage explores the past, present and future in the Berkshires, in open spaces and downtowns, historic sites and trails. Walks set out from many places between Pittsfield and Northwest Connecticut, and all of them are free.
Hershey Felder’s Beethoven takes audiences on a journey through Beethoven's life and work as a composer in 19th century Vienna, from his boyhood to his last years.
Naumkeag's horticulturist will lead a after-hours tour of the gardens while sipping on a glass of wine. Each month will offer a different topic for the garden.
The West Stockbridge Farmers Market offers fresh produce — fruits and vegetables in season, eggs, meats and cheeses, breads and baked goods, fudge and jams and more.
Alyssa Sakina Mumtaz speaks on Verse of Light: Resonances Between Islamic Art and the Shakers, along with the Stillness and Light Photography Exhibition.
Mass MoCA's artists-in-residence show their work at The Studios — where you may wander into surreal worlds, find kindship in nature and multimeda performance, follow an artist's journey from Delhi to Lahore ...
The Sheffield Farmers Market returns outdoors with some 20 vendors — from pickles, seasonings and garlic, to Naji’s Mediterranean Cuisine, baked fresh wheat-free breads, local meats, honey and maple syrup and more.
On a summer night, in the middle of a field on their midwest farm, a long-married couple sits on folding chairs to observe the seven stages of a lunar eclipse.
Funk, rock and reggae group the Feathers are back after seven years with Berkshire musicians Jordan Weller, Rob Sanzone, Joe Rose, Miles Lally and Tom Parker.
Chocolate peanut butter cookies, fresh flowers, jams and pickles and cheeses ... the North Adams Farmers Market returns weekly with more than a dozen farmers and makers.
On a summer night, in the middle of a field on their midwest farm, a long-married couple sits on folding chairs to observe the seven stages of a lunar eclipse.
Dewey Hall and Michael Lesko are partnering to revive a monthly open-mic-meets-variety show with an open creative soirée and a talented headlining act.
The West Stockbridge Farmers Market offers fresh produce — fruits and vegetables in season, eggs, meats and cheeses, breads and baked goods, fudge and jams and more.
Justin Adkins and Arianna Alexsandra Collins of HooRWA will lead a walk along the Hoosic River, identifying wild edible and medicinal plants and fungi.
Botanist Ted Elliman will lead a workshop and field trip to look closely at kinds of goldenrods and asters, striking and vivid blooms in late summer and fall landscapes.
Dream Away invites you to start your weekend jumping early with dance grooves all night long. Come to the deep woods disco and let it all hang out with DJ BFG.
FreshGrass returns with a lineup of classic bluegrass, folk, world and international musicians — Grammy-winning vocalist and banjoist Rhiannon Giddens, the Dropkick Murphys and many more.
The Sheffield Farmers Market returns outdoors with some 20 vendors — from pickles, seasonings and garlic, to Naji’s Mediterranean Cuisine, baked fresh wheat-free breads, local meats, honey and maple syrup and more.
Sonoro performs a blend of jazz, latin, and classical music, bringing a jazz-like freedom and Latin emotion to classical works to make them new and unexpected.
On a summer night, in the middle of a field on their midwest farm, a long-married couple sits on folding chairs to observe the seven stages of a lunar eclipse.
The Black Legacy Projct band kicks off their first tour with an album release show on Fridayat the Guthrie Center - literally where the Black LP journey began.
FreshGrass returns with a lineup of classic bluegrass, folk, world and international musicians — Grammy-winning vocalist and banjoist Rhiannon Giddens, the Dropkick Murphys and many more.
Chocolate peanut butter cookies, fresh flowers, jams and pickles and cheeses ... the North Adams Farmers Market returns weekly with more than a dozen farmers and makers.
Housatonic Heritage explores the past, present and future in the Berkshires, in open spaces and downtowns, historic sites and trails. Walks set out from many places between Pittsfield and Northwest Connecticut, and all of them are free.
FreshGrass returns with a lineup of classic bluegrass, folk, world and international musicians — Grammy-winning vocalist and banjoist Rhiannon Giddens, the Dropkick Murphys and many more.
Hancock Shaker Village will celebrate the beauty of Autumn in the Berkshires at their annual Country Fair with family entertainment, live music and dance performances, workshops and more.
Berkshire potters will open their studios, welcoming all comers to meet the makers and learn about the craft in a free weekend with demonstrations and guest artists.
Housatonic Heritage explores the past, present and future in the Berkshires, in open spaces and downtowns, historic sites and trails. Walks set out from many places between Pittsfield and Northwest Connecticut, and all of them are free.
On a summer night, in the middle of a field on their midwest farm, a long-married couple sits on folding chairs to observe the seven stages of a lunar eclipse.
A collective of formerly incarcerated women and theater artists are co-creating an original theater piece, working with theater makers through the 2nd Street organization in Pittsfield.
A collective of formerly incarcerated women and theater artists are co-creating an original theater piece, working with theater makers through the 2nd Street organization in Pittsfield.
A collective of formerly incarcerated women and theater artists are co-creating an original theater piece, working with theater makers through the 2nd Street organization in Pittsfield.
In Sanaz Toossi's 2023 Pulitzer prizewinning play, four students meet regularly in a classroom in Iran, preparing to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language proficiency exam.
The West Stockbridge Farmers Market offers fresh produce — fruits and vegetables in season, eggs, meats and cheeses, breads and baked goods, fudge and jams and more.
Before her appearance at the 2023 Brooklyn Book Festival, Finnish illustrator, writer and visual artist Marika Maijala joins Mass MoCA for an artist talk on Rosie Runsand hands-on silkscreen with Gary Lichtenstein.
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, Copenhagen, explores the events surrounding a fateful meeting between two of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century: Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg.
In Sanaz Toossi's 2023 Pulitzer prizewinning play, four students meet regularly in a classroom in Iran, preparing to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language proficiency exam.
The Sheffield Farmers Market returns outdoors with some 20 vendors — from pickles, seasonings and garlic, to Naji’s Mediterranean Cuisine, baked fresh wheat-free breads, local meats, honey and maple syrup and more.
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, Copenhagen, explores the events surrounding a fateful meeting between two of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century: Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg.
On a summer night, in the middle of a field on their midwest farm, a long-married couple sits on folding chairs to observe the seven stages of a lunar eclipse.
In Sanaz Toossi's 2023 Pulitzer prizewinning play, four students meet regularly in a classroom in Iran, preparing to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language proficiency exam.
Chocolate peanut butter cookies, fresh flowers, jams and pickles and cheeses ... the North Adams Farmers Market returns weekly with more than a dozen farmers and makers.
On a summer night, in the middle of a field on their midwest farm, a long-married couple sits on folding chairs to observe the seven stages of a lunar eclipse.
In Sanaz Toossi's 2023 Pulitzer prizewinning play, four students meet regularly in a classroom in Iran, preparing to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language proficiency exam.
Winner of the Tony Award for Best Play, Copenhagen, explores the events surrounding a fateful meeting between two of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century: Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg.
On a summer night, in the middle of a field on their midwest farm, a long-married couple sits on folding chairs to observe the seven stages of a lunar eclipse.
Band leader Isaac Stanford brings fellow Philadelphia musicians, including David Streim and Freddie Berman from the Amos Lee band, to learn a selection of old steel guitar instrumentals.
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