Lenox, MA  Self-described kooky Creator-in-Chief Don Jordan of the Nutshell Playhouse will bring his troupe to appear in an original production, Spyjinks, premiering for the first time at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum on Sunday, June 12 at 1 pm. The program is appropriate for children of all ages accompanied by their grown-ups, according to Jordan.  Kids ages 3 – 10 will particularly enjoy the show. 

Four intrepid spies and a parrot named Taco are on their very first spy mission. They must rescue the beautiful Jolandalinda, who has been kidnapped and hidden on Malumboo, the Island of Very Bad Luck. How will they rescue her?

Follow their adventures as they battle the ferocious Malumboosquito, sink up to their bellybuttons in quicksand, get unexpected help from a local llama, defy gravity, learn to speak backwards, and a lot more silliness. Oh, and did I mention the toucan? Will they succeed? There is only one way to find out…

Jordan, Artistic Director/Accompanist, founded the Nutshell Playhouse in 2003.  Before then, he taught and performed with Teatro Studio and I Gesti di Roma in Italy before being invited to perform with Mummenschanz on Broadway. He directed the Pan Twilight Circus’s 1995 production of Creatures of the Lawn, and served as Artistic Director of the Pickle Family Circus.

Jordan has taught as an adjunct faculty member at Smith College, Berkshire Community College, Shakespeare and Co., Barnard College and the Julliard School.  He has also taught at schools in France and Spain.  He is a graduate of the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris.

Nutshell Playhouse productions have been performed throughout the Berkshires, including the Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire Athenaeum, Main Street Stage, The Gutherie Center, Clark Art Institute and Whitney Center for the Arts.

Reservations for attending the performances are required by calling Ventfort Hall at 413-637-3206.  Please note that all tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable. Proof of vaccination including ages 5 and over, ID for ages 18 and over. The mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox. 

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and designated by the Massachusetts Cultural Council as an important partner of the Lenox Cultural District, one of the five such Berkshire County districts, Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum was built in 1893 for George and Sarah Morgan, the sister of legendary financier J. Pierpont Morgan.

Self-guided tours of the historic mansion are offered daily, as well as talks, such exhibitions as the Bellefontaine Collection, concerts, theater and other programs. This elegant Jacobean-Revival Berkshire “cottage” is open to the public year-round and is available for private rental.  Ventfort Hall, also an Official Project of Save America’s Treasures program sponsored by The White House, has undergone substantial restoration, which continues.

Admission tickets are $15 for adults, $7.00 for ages 4 – 17 and ages 3 and under are free. The performance will be held outside on the mansion grounds, weather permitting. Please bring chairs or blankets.