SHAKESPEARE & COMPANY
BY CLARENCE FANTO
LENOX — An ambitious plan by the Berkshire Film and Media Collaborative to create a film production and education center to be leased on the Shakespeare & Company campus appears to be moving forward.
The proposed BFMC+Kemble Street Studios venture now has a signed memorandum of understanding with the theater company, said Diane Pearlman, the collaborative’s executive director.
“At this point, we’re just taking it one step at a time,” said Allyn Burrows, the theater company’s artistic director. “They have a very interesting plan and we’re going to look carefully at how it dovetails with our operations. We’re having a conversation and that’s as far as it’s gone. We received their proposal and we’re looking it over.”
The facility would be located in a portion of the building that contains the 195-seat Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, which will remain intact. The building was known as the hockey rink when the property at 70 Kemble St. housed the Lenox School for Boys (1926-1973).
Burrows explained that the memorandum of understanding is similar to an option — it gives the collaborative “a hold on the building’s storage space while they do their due diligence.” A proposed long-term lease has been sent to Shakespeare & Company, he added.
Meanwhile, “the theater company is in active conversations right now on how to address expenses that the property brings to bear on our operations,” Burrows pointed out. “Those aren’t buttoned up either and are ongoing. I’m really hopeful and I find those conversations very promising. Given all the rising costs of being on the property these days, it’s a way for us to offset them so we can continue to carry on our operations in a way that we find fruitful.”
Engineering studies and a first round of architectural renderings for the proposed studio have been completed by Clark+Green and Bek of Great Barrington, according to Pearlman. After a pandemic-related delay, she went public with the plan in July 2022.
So far, the collaborative has raised $340,000 of the $450,000 needed for phase two of the project, which includes hiring the architectural film, the engineering studies, legal expenses and fees to Shakespeare & Company.
The total estimated cost for the entire facility, including a housing solution, an endowment, and two years of operating expenses ranges from $15 million to $18 million, according to a feasibility study completed in spring 2022 as phase one of the project.
It would be funded by a major capital campaign to be launched by the collaborative in several months.
“The community is very excited about this project going forward, as we’ve already garnered substantial grants from local banks, foundations, family trusts and individuals,” Pearlman told The Eagle on Tuesday.
The proposed 12,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art production facility would be designed as an international film and media education center as well as for job creation and workforce development.
The potential facility would include a full stage with virtual reality and augmented reality technologies, post-production and podcasting suites and access to the theater company’s costume and prop shops, Pearlman noted.
According to the collaborative’s website, the studio’s goals include:
• Develop the next generation of creative problem solvers and storytellers.
• Provide filmmakers an inspirational, cutting-edge production facility.
• Attract national and international film and media production to the Berkshires.
• Cultivate conversation around responsible media messaging and exceptional cinema.
• Stream and broadcast original media content from the Berkshires.
• Empower the Berkshires region by developing solutions that address job training, exciting new careers, population retention, and creative economic growth.
The nonprofit film and media collaborative promotes and facilitates film and media production in the Berkshires, creating educational, workforce and production opportunities as an economic initiative for the region.
Clarence Fanto can be reached at cfanto@yahoo.com.
The proposed 12,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art production facility would be designed as an international film and media education center as well as for job creation and workforce development.