9/8-10/11: Scherzando: a playful manner by Peter Lobdell, costumes by Carla Froeberg, lighting by Kathy Couch, stage managed by Phillip Dupont. "The first piece in this collection used to be titled Scherzando. I haven’t done it in 16 years; but it seems appropriate to touch back to a signature work from an earlier period when you choose to create a solo piece once again. I have titled the evening Scherzando: a playful manner, because I love the sound of the word. Scherzando opens the evening. The text is playful -- even when it’s grim. The images are playful -- however Murphy’s Law declares things will go wrong so I have to be ready to adjust. It’s that kind of performance." Free, reservations strongly recommended, (413) 542-2278; 8 p.m., Studio 3, Webster Hall, Amherst College.

9/29/11: New Play Reading Series -- Reservoir by Eric Sanders. Time and location TBA, Smith College. For more information, visit Smith College Theatre Department.

10/13-15/11: Love the Doctor by Tirso de Molina, in a new translation by Sarah Brew and Josephine Hardman. 8 p.m., with matinee 10/15 at 2 p.m., The Curtain Theater, UMass Amherst.

10/13-16/11: Breathe by Skye Landgraf. About family, struggle, fear, anger, love, jealousy, hurt, forgiveness and about growing up.
$5 general, $3 students, (413) 559-5351, Hampshire College box office blog; time TBA, Emily Dickinson Hall (EDH) Studio, Hampshire College.

10/20-22/11: Nickel and Dimed by Joan Holden. New Century Theatre and the Smith College Theatre Department are collaborating on their first-ever co-production. Sam Rush directs a cast of students and professional actors on this acclaimed stage adaptation of Barbara Ehrenreich’s best-selling book. Written from the perspective of the undercover journalist, it sets out to investigate the impact of the 1996 welfare reform on the “working poor” in the United States. Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity -- a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate strategies for survival. 8 p.m., Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, Smith College. For more information, visit Smith College Theatre Department.



10/20-23/11: Breathe by Skye Landgraf. See 10/13-16. $5 general, $3 students, (413) 559-5351, Hampshire College box office blog; time TBA, Emily Dickinson Hall (EDH) Studio, Hampshire College.

10/20-24/11: Jack, or The Submission by Eugene Ionesco, directed by Bryna Turner '12. One of Ionesco's earliest anti-plays, Jack, or The Submission is a frightfully funny look into the politics of family, conformity, romance, and hashed brown potatoes. Will Jack submit to the bourgeois ideals of his family or the animal lure of sexual impulse? Will all language be reduced to the single word "cat"? Ionesco exposes the absurdity of language and convention in this fast-paced comedy. $5 general, $3 students and senior citizens, (413) 538-2406, rookeboxoffice@gmail.com; 10/20-23 at 8 p.m. and 10/23-24 at 2 p.m., Rooke Theatre, Mount Holyoke College.

10/26-29/11: Nickel and Dimed by Joan Holden. See 10/20-22. 8 p.m., Theatre 14, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, Smith College. For more information, visit Smith College Theatre Department.

10/27-29/11: 2 Washington Square by Constance Congdon, directed By Ron Bashford; Javier Chavez Chacon’s senior project in costume design, Michelle Escobar’s senior project in acting. The Amherst Theater and Dance Department is proud to open its 2011-2012 season with a world premiere of Playwright-in-Residence Constance Congdon’s new play, a reimagination of the popular novel by Henry James, Washington Square, the story of a trusting young woman, a domineering single parent, and a mercenary suitor. Like its source, her play explores the clash of love, class and money, but moves James’s tragicomedy from the pre-Civil War period to the early 1960s, when America was once more on the verge of losing -- and trying to reclaim -- its innocence. Free, open seating, no reservations required; 8 p.m., Kirby Theater, Amherst College.

11/10-12/11: Two senior playwriting projects -- The Freedman's Son, Benjamin Colon’s senior project in playwriting, directed by Jenney Shamash; The Event, Ian Reichert’s senior project in playwriting, directed by Michael Birtwistle. The Freedman's Son is a tragedy set in Ancient Rome. Three everyday citizens struggle to escape the cruel fate dictated by their class. Gradually, each citizen comes to terms with who or what he would willingly sacrifice in order to succeed. The Event can be considered as something of a play within a play, heavy with dramatic irony, dark humor, and a touch of suspense. Kenneth, an inexperienced young actor, arrives in an unusual performance space with little time to prepare for his role. Faced with insane directors, actress rivalry, and indolent stage managers, can Kenneth manage to learn his lines in time? And what happens when things start going horribly, tragically wrong? Free, reservations recommended, (413) 542-2277; 8 p.m., Holden Theater, Amherst College.

11/10-12/11: Hell in High Water by Marcus Gardley. 8 p.m. with a matinee 11/12 at 2 p.m., The Rand Theater, UMass Amherst.

11/16-19/11: A Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Roger Babb; a musical adaptation by Constance Congdon. $5 general, $3 students and senior citizens, (413) 538-2406, rookeboxoffice@gmail.com; 8 p.m., Rooke Theatre, Mount Holyoke College.

11/16-19/11: Hell in High Water by Marcus Gardley. See 11/10-12. 8 p.m. with a matinee 11/19 at 2 p.m., The Rand Theater, UMass Amherst.

11/29/11: New Play Reading Series -- Angel by Jeff Stingerstein. Time and location TBA, Smith College. For more information, visit Smith College Theatre Department.

12/1-3/11: Solstice, a puppetry piece devised by Miguel Romero and students, with music by Eric Sawyer. 8 p.m. with a matinee 12/3 at 2 p.m., The Curtain Theater, UMass Amherst.

12/2-3/11: Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Daniel Elihu Kramer. Hedda Gabler is a masterpiece of the modern theatre. Hedda, returned from her honeymoon, finds that her new life may not offer all she had hoped. When Hedda’s former love returns to town, and threatens her husband’s future, she tries to take action and control her own future. 8 p.m., Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, Smith College.

12/6-10/11: Solstice, a puppetry piece devised by Miguel Romero and students, with music by Eric Sawyer. See 12/1-3. 8 p.m. with a matinee 12/10 at 2 p.m., The Curtain Theater, UMass Amherst.

12/8-10/11: Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen, adapted by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Daniel Elihu Kramer. See 12/2-3. 8 p.m., Hallie Flanagan Studio Theatre, Mendenhall Center for the Performing Arts, Smith College.

12/9-10/11: Performance Project. An evening of original choreography, performance and video works developed by students during the fall semester in Theater & Dance 353, Performance Studio, Amherst College taught by Wendy Woodson. Free, reservations recommended, (413) 542-2277; 8 p.m., Holden Theater, Amherst College.

12/15/11: New Play Reading Series: Play by Tanyss Martula. Time and location TBA, Smith College. For more information, visit Smith College Theatre Department.

12/20/11: A Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Roger Babb; a musical adaptation by Constance Congdon. See 11/16-19. $5 general, $3 students and senior citizens, (413) 538-2406, rookeboxoffice@gmail.com; 2 p.m., Rooke Theatre, Mount Holyoke College.

Last updated: 10/4/11