Edward Albee is the author of A Delicate Balance. Sara Krulwich photo.
Getting an Edward Albee play into rehearsal and on the stage is no easy task. Ask anyone in the business. So it was with a great sense of anticipation that the Berkshire Theatre Festival (BTF) cast and crew of A Delicate Balance met earlier this week to begin rehearsals. It was only a couple of seasons ago that the BTF had to cancel plans for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf because the rights were on hold for a possible Broadway revival. The process for getting an Albee work on the stage is never as simple as buying some scripts and paying the royalty. More about that later in this article. What’s also great news is the fabulous cast and director who are putting the production together.
What it is about: Agnes and Tobias, a 50-something couple, want nothing more than to be left alone. However, they are saddled with Agnes’s alcoholic sister. When their daughter returns home as a result of her fourth divorce and their best friends seek asylum from some unnamed “fear”, tensions fray and every relationship in the house threatens to fall apart. An examination of the intricate web we all create among our friends and family and how easily it can all fall apart, A Delicate Balance sings with Albee’s trademark lyricism and insight. This Pulitzer Prize-winning piece is poignant, incisive, and funny.
The powerhouse lineup for this Tony Award winning play includes Maureen Anderman, Mia Barron, Mia Dillon, Keir Dullea, Lisa Emery, and Jonathan Hogan. The production runs on the historic BTF Main Stage from August 17 – September 4. The piece is directed by David Auburn and the design team includes R. Michael Miller (scenic), Wade Laboissonniere (costumes), Daniel J. Kotlowitz (lighting), and Scott Killian (original music and sound).
Bringing it to the stage
In a recent interview with artistic director Kate Maguire (read it here) she spoke about A Delicate Balance and her experiences with the famously difficult playwright Edward Albee. He is rarity among American writers. He insists that he approve each company, each production of his work, and thinks other writers should as well. Certainly as one of America’s greatest writers, and the recipient of just about every award there is, from the Pulitzer to the Tony, he goes to great lengths to protect his name and reputation from second rate productions, poor casting and unauthorized changes. Audiences benefit from this. But another effect is that when Albee’s name is invoked, theatrical producers roll their eyes upwards, thinking about the perils to be overcome in order to get one of Albee’s plays from the page to the stage. Even the Samuel Beckett estate is said to be more forgiving than he is.
“Albee is far more involved with a production than most people realize. First he has to approve the director, then the cast, the set design, and finally every costume design,” Maguire reports. “He didn’t ask for many of these things before,” she noted.
Over the years perhaps the author has been surprised by radical alterations in these areas and is now simply protecting his “brand”. Or not writing as much, and spending his time instead on making sure people see only authentic productions of his work. Whatever the reason, there is a sort of quality control at work here that probably benefits those of us who see his works.
“The process in lengthy, and weeks can pass between submissions and approval, so Albee is not for those unable to plan far ahead,” she noted. When I was in Boston, I heard of times when, if you argued with Albee, the entire production was endangered. At a playwright’s conference in Provincetown a decade ago, Albee’s logic seemed wise, if challenging. To her credit, Maguire clearly knew how to keep the process moving forward.
The Players
So on to the marvelous cast and director. David Auburn is the director. “David combines both a writer’s sensibilities with a keen directorial eye,” said Maguire. He is most famous for writing the plays Proof (MTC/Broadway, Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award), An Upset (EST Marathon 2008), and The Journals of Mihail Sebastian (Keen Company). Films include The Girl in the Park (2007, writer/director) and The Lake House (2005). BTF directing credits include last year’s production of Sick at BTF, as well as work at The Juilliard School, Lincoln Center Director’s Lab, and the Coconut Grove Playhouse in Miami.
Maureen Anderman (Agnes) was last seen at BTF in Noël Coward in Two Keys. She has also appeared with the Huntington Theatre in Boston in Becky Shaw, Third, Rabbit Hole, and The Sisters Rosensweig. Her numerous Broadway credits include The Last of Mrs. Lincoln; Hamlet and Macbeth (both for Lincoln Center Theater); The Man Who Came to Dinner; A History of the American Film; and Edward Albee’s Seascape, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and The Lady From Dubuque for which she received a Tony Award ® nomination.
Mia Barron (Julia) has been seen on Broadway in Coast of Utopia and QED (Lincoln Center Theatre). She has also starred in many regional productions including Love’s Labor’s Lost, The Rivals, Springtime for Henry, and Heartbreak House (Huntington Theatre Co.), The School for Scandal (The Guthrie), and Macbeth (Ca. Shakespeare Fest.). She attended Tisch School of the Arts.
Mia Dillon (Edna) is a veteran stage actor whose Broadway credits include Our Town, The Miser, Hay Fever, Crimes of the Heart (Tony nomination, Clarence Derwent and Drama Logue Awards), Agnes of God, The Corn is Green, Once a Catholic (Drama Desk nomination), and Da. Her Off-Broadway credits include Mary Rose, The Exonerated, New England and The Three Sisters at Manhattan Theatre Club, and Come Back, Little Sheba for Roundabout Theatre Company. Her BTF credits include Ghosts, Noël Coward in Two Keys, Paris Bound and Palace of Amateurs (all four for BTF),
Keir Dullea (Harry) most recently starred Off-Broadway in the highly acclaimed revival of I Never Sang For My Father. His Broadway credits include Butterflies Are Free, Cat on A Hot Tin Roof, P.S. Your Cat is Dead, and Doubles. His film credits include 2001, A Space Odyssey, David & Lisa (Golden Globe), The Thin Red Line, and The Good Shepherd. Mr. Dullea is very pleased to be back at BTF where he last appeared in Still Born Lover with Richard Chamberlin.
Lisa Emery (Claire) has been seen in The Matchmaker, Dinner with Friends, What the Butler Saw, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Talley & Son, Burn This, Rumors and Present Laughter. She was nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play for her performances in Marvin’s Room and Abigail’s Party. She also had a recurring role on the television series Ed and has made guest appearances on many shows.
Jonathan Hogan (Tobias) is a Broadway veteran and has been in The Homecoming (Roundabout Theatre), Taking Steps (Circle in the Square), Burn This (Plymouth Theatre), As Is (Lyceum Theatre) for which he was nominated for a Tony Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor as well as a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play.
A Delicate Balance- by Edward Albee
Directed by David Auburn
Previews: August 17, 18, 19, 20, 21
Opening Night/Press Night: August 24
Closes: September 4
Ticket information and reservations
Contact the BTF Box Office at 413-298-5576 ext. 33 or visit www.berkshiretheatre.org for more information.
