Easthampton Theater Company Readies their Debut ‘God of Carnage’

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Easthampton City Arts/City Space is the home of the new Easthampton Theater company. Their first show is on May 11.
Easthampton City Arts/City Space is the home of the new Easthampton Theater company. Their first show is on May 11.

Easthampton is Getting its Own Theater Troupe!

Michael Budnick
Michael Budnick

Exciting things are happening in Easthampton Mass these days, especially in the area of the arts. A new theater company run by local director Michael Budnick is about to present its first production in a new 80-seat black box theater that has been built the Old Town Hall Blue Room, on Main Street across from Galaxy Restaurant.

Easthampton Theater Company‘s play will be presented in the smaller room on the ground floor, but there is much more coming soon in this beautiful building dating back to the 1880s.

Upstairs, a grand ballroom is slated for renovation and will become a much larger venue for theater, music, and other shows in the years to come. Fundraising and planning are going strong.

I sat down with Michael Budnick to talk about the new company, which he compared to Greenfield’s Silverthorne Theater Company. They hope to put on three shows per year.  “Next year we hope to use the bigger space so we can do musicals and we will continue to grow. There’s a lot of support in this community,” he said.

The Blue Room on the ground floor of the City Space, the Old Towne Hall Building Easthampton.
The Blue Room on the ground floor of the CitySpace, the Old Town Hall Building Easthampton. An 80-seat black box theater will be set up right here.
The big upstairs room is yet to be renovated at the Old Towne Hall building.
The big upstairs room is yet to be renovated at the Old Towne Hall building.

Easthampton is also excited about some proposals for an investment to be made in renovating three former elementary schools, including one from a New York City organization the NHP Foundation that calls for 69 apartments would be built in a new development called School Yard Apartments.  This means more people live in town and attend the theater!  Two other nonprofit companies are proposing plans for the three schools but this one sounds the most exciting.

What’s the Play About?

I asked Budnick what should people expect from God of Carnage?

“The premise is that two couples get together in one of their brownstones in Brooklyn. Professional couples. They get together to discuss a playground altercation between their children that happened in a park…and they want to have a civilized conversation about how to deal with uncivilized behavior…and what happens is…”

He continued, saying “watching them unravel as the rum begins to flow and they start to tear into each other. This particular playwright is really good at exposing the hypocrisy that exists below the surface.”

We won’t reveal more but it sounds like a juicy topic and it all sounds so great that we have both a new theater company AND a new theater in our Pioneer Valley. Go see it!

God of Carnage, Easthampton Theater Company, Old Town Hall Blue Room, 43 Main Street. May 11-13 at 7:30, and May 14 at 2 pm.  Tickets