Julianne Boyd to Retire After 27 Years at Barrington Stage

Julianne Boyd, who has served as artistic director of Barrington Stage Company since cofounding the Western Massachusetts nonprofit in 1995, will retire next fall.

The company started by renting space at a high school in Sheffield, Mass., and now operates five buildings in Pittsfield, Mass. It has had a number of notable successes, the best known of which is “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” a musical by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin, which Barrington first staged in that high school’s cafeteria in 2004. The next year, the musical transferred, first to Off Broadway’s Second Stage Theater, and then to Broadway, and it has repeatedly been staged around the world.

Barrington Stage, one of the many arts institutions that have made the Berkshires a destination for culture lovers, also developed a revival of “On the Town” that transferred to Broadway in 2014, and a new play, “American Son,” that opened on Broadway (starring Kerry Washington and Steven Pasquale) in 2018.

Boyd, 76, said that after one last summer season she will be ready for a new chapter. She said she plans to continue to split her time between Pittsfield and New York, to direct, and to spend time with her seven grandchildren. “Nana hasn’t been there,” she said.

The last two summers have been particularly challenging because of the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, after stages had shuttered nationwide, Boyd directed the country’s first play featuring an Equity actor during the pandemic — an outdoor production of “Harry Clarke.”

“I’ve been thinking about retiring for a few years, but I couldn’t do it during Covid,” she said. “I want some free time, and I don’t want the day-to-day responsibilities to be on me.”

The theater company has produced a lot of new work — 41 premieres — including two small plays, “Freud’s Last Session” and “Becoming Dr. Ruth,” both by Mark St. Germain, that have gone on to be staged by many other regional theaters.

And last weekend, the theater wrapped up another noteworthy endeavor: a nine-performance presentation of a musical in development, “Mr. Saturday Night,” adapted from the 1992 film and starring Billy Crystal, who is also one of the show’s three writers.

The theater, which has an annual budget of $5.2 million and a year-round staff of 22, will conduct a search for Boyd’s replacement.

Boyd’s retirement, announced Wednesday, creates the second opening at a major Berkshire theater company this week. On Monday, the Williamstown Theater Festival said that its artistic director, Mandy Greenfield, had stepped down.