What We Do

We are a non-profit theater arts company in western Massachusetts that produces original work by emerging and early career artists. Our current focus and largest endeavor is the creation and running of the Berkshire Fringe, an annual festival of performing arts. We also plan to produce other original productions over the course of the year.

Who We Are

Bazaar Productions currently consists of four co-founders and artistic directors. They are Sara Kathryn Katzoff, Timothy Ryan Olson, Casey Siegel, and Peter Wise.

Artistic Directors Biographies

Sara Kathryn Katzoff graduated cum laude from Simon's Rock College after spending her junior year at The Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theater. Having received specialized training in ensemble dynamics and generating new material, Ms. Katzoff wrote, directed and performed The Scissor Tango Variations as part of her senior thesis.  As a performer Ms. Katzoff has toured nationally with Landis & Company, regionally with A Mixed Company and along the Pacific coast with The Dell’Arte School. Recent performance credits include My Children.. My Africa! (Rattler Productions) 900 Dreams (Spencertown Academy), Othello (Infamous Genius Theater Company), Shotgun Wedding (Dell’Arte Company). Ms.Katzoff is a member of the Actor's Equity Association and has trained as a company member with Mission Improvible!, Shakespeare Sedona, The National Theater of The Deaf, and Shakespeare & Company.  She has been a guest artist at the Norman Rockwell Museum, P.S 60, The Flying Cloud Institute and a mask-making instructor at Simon’s Rock College. Ms. Katzoff lives in Brooklyn and works as a prop designer, actor and non-profit maverick!

Timothy Ryan Olson graduated summa cum laude from Simon's Rock College where he studied the theater and dance.  He spent a year in Amsterdam studying the Dutch language and researching the Holocaust. He received his MFA in playwriting from the Actor's Studio Drama School, where he was granted a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship in the Arts by the United States Board of Higher Education.  He was a guest artist at Simon's Rock College where he taught Method Acting to the advanced theater students. He spent a challenging year teaching drama to first and second graders in an after school program run by NYU's Metro Center.  Mr. Olson has sung and acted in a few off-off Broadway productions including A Christmas Carol (Personal Space Theatrics), Short Stories 4 (Native Aliens Theater Collective) and Miss Milligan's Third Grade Class Presents "Animal Farm" (Geek Ink).  His one act play, Cleaning House, was recently produced by NativeAliens as part of Short Stories 5.

Casey Siegel studied acting, directing and dramatic literature at Simon’s Rock College, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, St. Michael’s College, Richmond College and Eugene Lang College of the New School University. While attending Richmond College in London she ran the Educational Outreach program as an intern at The Gate Theater. After her return to the States, she taught improvisation and directed neglected and abused teenagers in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in an original show. She directed numerous original short works while attending Eugene Lang under the tutelage of Kevin Kuhlke. During her last semester at Eugene Lang College, she interned under Executive Director, Kristin Marting at HERE Arts Center where she was subsequently hired as the Marketing and Press Associate. Ms. Siegel’s senior thesis, A Room Without Doors (2002) was the first show to be produced by her production company, Untitled 2000 Productions. Untitled 2000 Productions co-produced MasqueRaid in 2003 at HERE Arts Center. Currently, Untitled 2000 Productions is working on the production of two short films written by Ms. Siegel to be filmed next fall. Her article on queer theater festivals was published in the 2004 Gay Pride Guide. Ms. Siegel lives in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and works as a freelance writer and producer.

Peter Wise grew up playing music in Stockbridge, MA and went to school in Rochester, NY at the Eastman School of Music, studying with John Beck. The first student to complete Eastman School’s World Music Certificate Program, Peter has particular interest in the music of the Balinese Gamelan (Indonesia), and the Mbira tradition of the Shona people in Zimbabwe. Currently living in Brooklyn, he plays music in and around the New York City area with groups such as Alarm Will Sound, the Anechoic Chamber Ensemble, the Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, and more. He has also been seen playing with the Berkshire Bach Society, on initial work at Tanglewood for Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project, and as a collaborative creator and performer of Sara Katzoff's The Scissor Tango Variations at Simon’s Rock College of Bard. Peter has participated in two years of the Bang on a Can Summer Institute of Music at MassMOCA (North Adams, MA) with guest composers Steve Reich and Louis Andriessen. When he finds a moment to stop banging on things, Peter works as Marketing and Administrative Associate at Bang on a Can.