<div dir="ltr"><img src="cid:ii_ljsshp0u3" alt="GBPT logo black.png" width="156" height="180" style="margin-right: 0px;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">For Immediate Release</span></b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Contact: Mike Clary</span></b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">518-267-0683</span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">July 7, 2023</span></b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><i><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Off Peak</span></i></b><b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> arrives at Great Barrington Public Theater. Brenda
Withers’ buoyant comedy, directed by James Warwick, stars Peggy Pharr Wilson
and Kevin O’Rourke as long-lost lovers, bumping into each other on a stalled Metro
North train.</span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;break-after:avoid;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"></span></b></p>
<img src="cid:ii_ljssf46w0" alt="image.png" width="451" height="351"><br><p class="gmail-MsoCaption" align="center" style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 10pt;font-size:9pt;font-family:Cambria,serif;color:rgb(31,73,125);font-style:italic"><b><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:windowtext;font-style:normal">Seventeen
years after breaking up, Peggy Pharr Wilson as Sarita and Kevin O'Rourke as
Martin find themselves stuck on the tracks together. Photo credit GBPT/Kat
Humes</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><i><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Off Peak</span></i></b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> playing
July 6-23rd, in the McConnell Theater, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, is a tried-and-true
comedy reminiscent of Noel Coward or Nora Ephron, with the spark of Dorothy
Parker, by award-winning playwright Brenda Withers. It premiered in 2022 at the
venerable Hudson Stage Company, Armonk NY to unanimous delight before moving on
to a short run at 59E59 St. Theaters, NYC where it gained more positive notice.
<a name="_Hlk128901474"><i>The New Yorker </i>called it “sly, smart, often very
funny… Withers’ script provides an abundance of emotional and intellectual
twists and turns.”, and <i>The New York Times</i> said it’s “so close to life
that you expect a conductor to come in at any second.” </a></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">GB Public gives audiences another
chance to take in this charming, disarming new <span style="color:black">comedy
that plays especially funny for anyone who travels on Hudson Valley trains. </span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><span style="font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;color:black"></span></b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"></span></p>
<img src="cid:ii_ljssfx5o1" alt="image.png" width="451" height="301"><br><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center;text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><span style="font-size:9pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">The
moment you bump into the one that got away. Photo GBPT/Kat Humes</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Sarita and Martin split seventeen
years ago. Everything has changed, except their irresistible attraction to each
other, and the big question, ‘what if?’. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">When they find themselves caught together
out-of-the-blue on the same train just as it grinds to a dreaded, stuck-on-the-tracks
delay, so begins a serendipitous reconnection and reconciliation of a lifetime,
the one so many former lovers wish for, so they could end it right, once and
for all, without falling for the other’s tricks again. Their delay on the rails
becomes a poignant, rich comedy that must arrive at lovers’ resolution before
the train rolls on again.</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Brenda Withers</span></b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> is a
gifted writer for screen and stage. The GB Public’s production of <b><i>Off
Peak </i></b>pairs <b>Peggy Pharr Wilson </b>and <b>Kevin O’Rourke</b>, two of
the Berkshires’ finest comic actors with well-known stage and screen actor <b>James
Warwick</b> directing, who says, “</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Their lives have altered course, as has their
relationship. They find themselves revealing their conflicted feelings about
their past, about their present and with great humor and compassion, discover
reconciliation and forgiveness. It’s a heartwarming story told with personal
insight about two richly created, recognizable people.”</span><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Brenda Withers, James Warwick, Peggy Pharr Wilson and Kevin O’Rourke
are available to interview.</span></p>
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<img src="cid:ii_ljssgn1t2" alt="image.png" width="301" height="451"><br><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent:0.3in;margin:0in;font-size:11pt;font-family:Cambria,serif"><b><i><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Off Peak </span></i></b><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">runs
July 6-July 23, Thurs.- Sat., 7:30pm, Sat. and Sun., 3pm, in the McConnell
Mainstage Theater, Daniel Arts Center, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, 84 Alford
Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230. More information can be found on the </span><a href="https://www.greatbarringtonpublictheater.org/" style="color:blue"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">GBPT
website</span></a><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black"> and on </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/GreatBarringtonPublicTheater/" style="color:blue"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">Facebook</span></a><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">.
Tickets to performances are affordable to all, between $25 and $50, and are
available on the website and by phone 413-372-1980, or </span><a href="mailto:GBPTboxoffice@gmail.com" style="color:blue"><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif">GBPTboxoffice@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-size:11.5pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">.</span></p>
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