A Conversation with: Jim Frangione and Judy Braha

OLLI at BCC Performing Arts Initiative Presents:

A Conversation with:
Jim Frangione and Judy Braha,
Great Barrington Public Theater

Wednesday, August 14, 2024 at 1 p.m.

Free & open to all

In-person at Zion Lutheran Church, 74 First Street, Pittsfield, MA.

What does it take to develop a new play and bring it to life? We’ll ask Jim Frangione about his new play Flight of the Monarch. Judy Braha will be directing that play in its regional premiere at Shakespeare & Company in August. We’ll learn about the challenges of running a new theater – Great Barrington Public Theater, now in its fifth year. We’ll also hear about Berkshire Voices, an incubator for new plays.

Jim Frangione is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Great Barrington Public Theater. He is passionate about the theater’s mission to develop and produce new plays with a focus on playwrights and theater artists living in and near the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.

Jim has a decades-long career as a director, actor, and playwright.Recent directorial credits include the premieres of plays by Mark St. Germain (Dad and Public Speaking 101), the solo play, The Bard The Beat The Blues, by Will Lebow, and the east coast premiere of David Mamet’s play, The Christopher Boy's Communion.  Jim has written and produced several full-length plays, as well as a number of short plays. He is the author of two screenplays, Summer Cop (with Jonathan Shoemaker) and Good Haven.

Judy Braha is the Associate Artistic Director of Great Barrington Public Theater. Judy Braha has been a director, actor, teacher and artist for social justice for over four decades. Long-time head of the M.F.A. Directing Program at Boston University’s School of Theater, her credits include theaters and universities throughout New England and beyond. 

Her work for GBPT includes directing 2021’s hit Mr. Fullerton and 2022’s Things I Know to Be True.  This year she has directed Dog People and has been working with Anne Undeland on her newest show, Mozart’s Wife, The Lacrymosa. Judy also is a long-time member of the Society of Directors and Choreographers and a founding board member of Stage Source, a New England theater resource committed to connecting theaters, artists and their communities.

Barbara Waldinger will introduce and interview Mr. Frangione and Ms. Braha. She is a theater teacher, director, reviewer, and co-founder of the OLLI at BCC Performing Arts Initiative.

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This event is supported through the generous philanthropy of Nancy and Michael Vale, whose bequest established the Michael and Nancy Vale Performing Arts Program at OLLI at Berkshire Community College. This endowed fund supports theater-based OLLI programming.