Editor

Parties

A Pleasant (Valley) Evening of Crickets, Critters & Cocktails Fires Up Support for Mass Audubon

Cultural correspondent Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Lenox. The annual fundraiser for Mass Audubon’s Berkshire Wildlife Sanctuaries, Crickets, Critters & Cocktails, boasts a winning formula. Take one beautiful evening on a lushly verdant property – in this case, July 30 at Pleasant Valley – decorate with colorful banners and crittery

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Parties

Beauty in Decay Opens at Ferrin Gallery

Cultural correspondent Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Pittsfield. Leave it to Leslie Ferrin, gallerista extraordinaire, to draw a crowd indoors on a perfect summer afternoon. Such was the case on Saturday, July 30, for the opening of her latest exhibition, Beauty in Decay. This two-pronged show features a

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Food

AgriCulture: Blue Ribbon Okra, Plus Recipes

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week,  Peter writes: One of our best kept secrets is that our farm, Turkana Farms, won first prize, a beautiful blue ribbon with gold letters reading “First Premium,” for our okra entry at

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Arts

Big Dance Theater’s U.S. Debut of Supernatural Wife: Big Fun, Big Ideas

Dance review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Photos: Cherylynn Tsushima One thing you should know before seeing Supernatural Wife, Big Dance Theater’s take on Euripides' sort-of tragedy Alkestis  – and you should see it -- is that dance is probably the least element of this enchanting and intelligent multimedia

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Arts

LDP/Laboratory Dance Project Makes a Winning Pillow Debut

Dance review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Without a doubt, LDP/Laboratory Dance Project, an all-male, contemporary troupe based in Soeul, is the most winning company to perform at Jacob’s Pillow thus far this summer, a season that has already seen more than its share of superb performances.

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Parties

Berkshire Fringe Celebrates Season Seven

Cultural correspondent Bess J.M. Hochstein reports from Great Barrington.Over the past six years, The Berkshire Fringe has hosted more than 400 emerging artists in an annual, eclectic arts extravaganza including theater, dance, music, film, video, and everything in between. This year’s festival—which kicked off on Monday,

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Parties

Berkshire Botanical Garden's Fête des Fleurs

Gardeners are among the most creative people around, which was evident at the Fête des Fleurs fundraiser at the Berkshire Botanical Garden in Stockbridge on Saturday, July 23. The lavishly decorated tent vied for attention with the hats many women wore to compete in a chapeau contest in which prizes

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Style

LOCAL's Economy Buoyed By Chocolate Trickle Down

"We are doing very well," says Michele O'Hana, via a crackling Skype connection from her childhood home in West Cork, Ireland, where, as usual, she is spending the summer with her family. "Repeat that please?," I shout, certain I must have heard wrong.  In

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Arts

Review: "Sylvia" at Berkshire Theatre Fest

When A.R. Gurney's play Sylvia debuted in 1995  at Manhattan Theatre Club with Chalres Kimbrough, Blythe Danner and Sarah Jessica Parker, the New York Times critic wrote:  "Not since Abie's Irish Rose has there been a play as critic-proof as Sylvia, at least

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Arts

Jazz on Three Summer Days, a Chat with Vita Muir

Summer 2011 marks the 16th anniversary of the Litchfield Jazz Festival, of which jazz DJ Dave Hershorin of New Orleans WWOZ radio says, “It’s what other jazz festivals wish they could be.”   Litchfield Magazine recently named LJF founder Vita Muir one of the 50 most influential people in the

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Food

AgriCulture: The Pleasure Principle

AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY. This week,  Mark writes: On this extremely hot afternoon smack in the middle of a short (we hope) heat wave, I am very thankful not to be living in the Midwest, where the extremely

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Arts

Lar Lubovitch Lets Loose at Jacob’s Pillow

Dance review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Photo: Todd Rosenberg Lar Lubovitch is a master of shape in space. In his work, form and flow take precedence over narrative or message, and his dances are a joy to watch. In the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company's appearance at Jacob’

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