Editor

Parties

Celebration of The Written and Spoken Word at The Mount

The Mount, writer Edith Wharton's magnificent property in Lenox (executive director Susan Whistler, at right), was the scene on Wednesday August 25 of a party celebrating the release of an audio book, Edith Wharton on Audio, Vol. 1, three stories by Wharton read by Shakespeare and Company’s

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Style

Devine Garden Open to Benefit Kinderhook Village

September 4  @ 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. For the third and final time this summer, internationally recognized textile designer Michael Devine will open to visitors his jewel box of a garden behind the commercial building in Kinderhook that houses his shop.  The goal of these open garden days is

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Food

Five Top Chefs, Just Forty Guests, and One Remarkable Setting

To raise funds and heighten public awareness of their mission, the Bannerman Castle Trust is hosting a dinner on Pollepel Island in Fishkill on September 11.  Five prominent chefs—Noah Sheetz, of the Governor's Mansion in Albany; Laura Pensiero of GiGi Market and Trattoria, in Rhinebeck; Bob Turner,

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Parties

Word X Word Festival's Party on the Roof

It's just four stories up from North Street to the rooftop of the Greystone Building, but you feel like you've been transported far from gritty downtown Pittsfield. With panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and the inspiring steeple of neighboring St. Joseph's lending a

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Parties

Volunteers in Medicine Goes Wild for the West

When VIM Berkshires held its annual fundraiser on Saturday, August 21, at the Wyantenuck Country Club in Great Barrington, every doctor in the house (and they were legion) could have passed for Doc Holiday.  To do justice to the Old West saloon decor, attendees reached deep into their closets to

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Parties

Berkshire Grown's Mid-Summer Farm-to-Table Feast.

Jim Finnerty and Carole Murko (left with Maurice Peterson of Seven Salon) had an intimate fundraising dinner at Boulderwood, their historic Stockbridge home, to benefit Berkshire Grown, the organization that facilitates the farm-to-table movement in all sorts of ways. Murko, who is the creator and executive producer of

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Arts

Hot Ticket: The Metropolitan Opera on HD, Members First

Three locations in our region now screen the wildly popular Metropolitan Opera performances in High Definition. Now in its fifth year, this Peabody Award-winning series will present a record 12 live transmissions to theaters worldwide this opera season. Tickets go on sale as early as Friday, August 27th, but

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Arts

Review: "A Delicate Balance" at BTF

Through September 4 Edward Albee's 1967 Pultizer Prize winning A Delicate Balance is a tragedy that masquerades as a drawing room comedy. It is laced with laugh-out-loud moments and it builds through its three acts to reveal devastating truths about the nature of family and friendship.

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Arts

Review: "The Memory Show" at Barrington Stage Company

Through August 29 The Memory Show is not really a conventional musical, even though the 75 minute show (with book & lyrics by Sara Cooper and music by Zach Redler) is almost entirely sung. It is really a play whose rapid-fire dialogue and soul-searching monologues are set to

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Community

Who Needs Disneyworld? We Have County Fairs

It's the season for the annual county and country fairs, and they can be schizophrenic affairs—earnest agricultural competitions side by side with scary rides and schlock. The carnival side of the Dutchess County Fair is Coney Island-in-the-country, featuring the usual games of chance along

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Arts

Word X Word Festival in Pittsfield

Saturday, August 21 - Sunday, August 29Can you stand yet another festival? Perhaps a brief description of Word X Word will entice you. Envision this upstart festival—which bills itself as a celebration of words written, spoken, and sung—as a mash-up of the recent Berkshire WordFest at The Mount,

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Arts

Review: The Taster at Shakespeare & Company

Now through September 4 It has been too long a while since we've seen a play by Joan Ackermann at Shakespeare & Company, so the current staging of her literate new work, The Taster, at Founder’s Theatre, is particularly welcome. The play is a tale of two

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