Artists of All Types Come Together in The Redroom in North Adams, Mass.

Actors, singers, writers, comics, poets, dancers, jugglers, painters, accordionists, magicians, contortionists, and other sorts of costumed (or non-costumed) players unite again at the Redroom, a freewheeling alt-cabaret-slash-variety-show, now in its second summer season at Main Street Stage in North Adams, Massachusetts.
 

“We’ve been calling it an ‘artists' playground,’” says Kelli Newby of the Redroom’s ad-hoc interpretations of carefully curated ideas. Newby is the unofficial Redroom go-to girl/coordinator, also known as curator and artistic director. “The great thing is you get all these creative fantastic people in a room together and you come up with crazy ideas…and you do them,” she says. “It’s layers of interaction.”
 

Most of the performers tread the boards of Main Street Stage year-round; the Royal Berkshire Improv Troupe has sketched out skits alongside local vocalists of varying genres. A company member and painter originally proposed a cabaret with a few components: live costumed models, snacks, and mingling with a side of figure drawing, followed by a period of fast-paced entertainment. “We’ve got three hours to put out a show that people are coming to see tomorrow,” Newby exclaims of the affordable ($10), often risqué Saturday night soirées. “It’s the opposite of doing a production: it’s rushed and intensely creative. Even when we’re performing, it’s still in a developing process.”
 

Last season’s entertainment included a canvas drop cloth-turned-stage curtain, with a local artist completing a mural the background during showtime. In the works this summer are after-hours visits to other venues, including the Eclipse Mill Gallery for the opening of an exhibition featuring painted portraits of company members. Hodgepodge isn’t mixed according to a specific recipe, says Newby, so monologues, interpretive beat-boxing, and improv skits are all welcome. There’s been talk of plaster-casting, too.
 

“We were all exhausted from Romeo and Juliet,” Newby says, referring to last August’s Main Street Stage production. She sighs, invigorated. “Redroom is like: What if we do this? Do this? Do this?” Watch the yarn unravel, or dive into the collaboration yourself; the spectacles are planned sporadically till the leaves start turning colors.—ARB
 

[JULY 2009]

THE GOODS

The Redroom
July 11
August 27
September 24
October 15
8 p.m.
$10
Main Street Stage
57 Main St.
North Adam, Mass.
413. 664.7745
www.theredroomna.com