New Ideas Ahead for TriArts

Michael Berkeley ­— for many the face of TriArts, a founding member, its music director for 8 years and its artistic director for the last 13 — has stepped down, or been squeezed out, as his friend Marshall Miles claimed on WHDD Robin Hood Radio recently. Berkeley, age 54, says the board made him an offer he could not accept. His contract ran out Nov. 1. Back in October 2010, a press release issued by TriArts’ executive director Alice Bemand suggested changes ahead. John Simpkins, after directing two musicals at the playhouse that summer, would “join the creative team,” adding further down the release, “The board of directors was unanimously enthusiastic about bringing him in as an additional artistic director.” This small summer theater in Sharon, CT, producing three musicals a year on its main stage, a couple of off-season fundraisers and programs for young people, suddenly had two artistic directors. But Simpkins says two, even three, artistic directors is not unheard of, usually because they played a part in the inception or each had a particular job. The release quoted Berkeley as saying, “We’re very excited to be adding a new dynamic force to the mix.” The excitement wore off, evidently, when the board asked Berkeley at the end of this season to give up his role as AD and take on expanded off-season productions, children’s programs, community relations — and the title of founding director of TriArts players. Negotiations with Berkeley were lengthy. And fruitless. For board secretary Emily Soell they were painful. “We tried desperately to keep him where he could do his best work. He is tremendously talented. He has amazing abilities. But he is not a leader.” Berkeley did not go for it. “I’m not interested in working there without being artistic director,” he said in an interview Friday. “That’s what sets the tone of a theater. That would not be my job any more.” At issue is the direction of TriArts which started with actor/directors Ray Roderick, Sarah Combs and Berkeley putting on “Annie Get Your Gun” in a tent in Pine Plains, NY. That was the summer of 1990. The idea was to stage a musical with a handful of professionals — directors, designers, choreographers as well as actors in one or two key roles — and phalanxes of amateurs. One of Berkeley’s jobs was inspiring those amateurs, both children and adults. He has a gift for getting terrific performances from people who did not know they had it in them. The formula worked. TriArts grew, moved into a warehouse in Pine Plains and then to the Sharon Playhouse and established itself as a theater “for the community, with the community and by the community,” as Berkeley likes to say. “It’s a collaboration of people with all levels of experience.” Among those collaborators were Pamela Chassin, her husband Jared Zelman, both of them medical doctors, and their two daughters who all played parts from time to time and were coached by Berkeley. Chassin became executive director, serving for five years, and has since volunteered as Berkeley’s “right hand person” aiding a fellow not famous for organizational skills. “Does he file well? No,” she says. “But neither do I. He’s good at bringing out the gifts he thinks everyone has.” “Family friendly shows have always done the best here,” Chassin says. At the top of the list is “High School Musical,” followed by “The Sound of Music,” “Annie Get Your Gun,” “Oklahoma,” “Guys and Dolls,” familiar shows, most with big casts of locals, drawing big audiences of locals. But there have been signs of change lately. When somebody asked during an audition how many children would be cast, Berkeley replied “as many as we can fit on the stage.” Simpkins, who was running the audition, indicated otherwise. And this season past, with Simpkins directing, one of the shows, “Altar Boyz,” a flashy, bass pounding, smoke roiling production, had no children at all. No community members of any age. The cast of five very gifted dancing/singing/acting fellows came from university theater programs. Meet John Simpkins, 41, professional director and faculty member at New York University’s Steinhardt school where he teaches musical theater. And enter the term “teaching theater,” wherein musical theater students gain college credit and experience taking roles in TriArts shows. For Bemand, this program allows TriArts to produce shows like “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas,” shows requiring lots of experienced singer/dancers. Soell, who was one of the local players in that production, said the percentage of locals to college students was roughly 40 to 60. Simpkins — accomplished, ambitious, charming, nice, has set hopes high for TriArts, joking with board members about getting a Regional Theater Tony for this small rural playhouse. “If I ever said that off the cuff,” he said this weekend, “it’s not a realistic near-term goal.” Adding, though, “It’s something to shoot for.” As for the move from two artistic directors to one, Simpkins said “I don’t think anything went wrong. It’s restructuring. It’s about one leadership voice.” And “it’s about growth and new ideas,”incoming board president Mimi Estes said. Board member Bill Suter, a Broadway producer who drives a Jaguar with a TriArts license plate around town, said the board tried to make the two-AD system work, “but any strong theater man would try to be a single artistic director.” Combs, he added, may take on the role that Berkeley rejected. So no one says what precipitated the change from two to one artistic director: Not Bemand, the executive director, who says she had no part in this; not Berkeley, who is committed to playing nice. And not Simpkins. What fractured this setup is unclear, except the idea of divided roles and a loss of title had no charm for Berkeley. And the board, aiming for ambitious theater and smooth changes, could not or would not alter Berkeley’s role without changing his title. Looking ahead, “Doubt,” a small-cast, intense, nonmusical drama about faith and ambition by John Patrick Shanley will get a run at TriArts’ Bok Gallery. To date, few dramas have been presented by TriArts. The season is set to open on the main stage with “Spamalot,” and 10 college theater students — trained dancers/singers/actors — will spend the whole season in Sharon this summer filling roles local folk cannot, and expanding TriArts’ scope and reputation. And new works, a special interest of Simpkins, are in the lineup, too. Chassin, however, expresses doubt about the wisdom of notable changes at TriArts. “It’s misguided to think this is like the Berkshires,” she says. “This is a very different audience.” So, here’s the question: Will locals buy a ramped-up TriArts? And will visitors or retirees from Boston and New York, settling now in places like Great Barrington and Stockbridge, check it out? We’ll see.