Barbara Sims and Hilary Somers Deely
Two years ago, Stockbridge actress Hilary Somers Deely received a fateful phone call. Kate Maguire, the CEO and artistic director of the Berkshire Theater Group, wanted Deely to pioneer a new kind of arts festival—one that would pool the Berkshires’ wealth of visual and performing artists and showcase the new relationship between Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre and the Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge. Deely, an emeritus board member of the Berkshire Theatre Festival, was intrigued. But she knew she needed a structured yin to her social-butterfly yang. “I said, ‘I’ll do it,'” Deely recalls, “'but only if I can do it with Barbara.’” She was referring to Barbara Sims, an accomplished actress who had just directed a student production of Moliere’s Tartuffe at Simon’s Rock. “I was so impressed with Barbara’s directorial and organizational skills,” Deely says. Together, Sims and Deely began planning Made in the Berkshires, an annual fall festival that unites Western Massachusetts’ cultural treasure trove of writers, painters, dancers, actors, filmmakers, musicians, and other creative professionals. With their powers combined, the festival was a smash success. “Hilary can talk to people; she’s wonderful with our sponsors,” says Sims, who moved to Lenox Dale with her husband, Walton Wilson, from New York City seven years ago. “I can stay in my bailiwick and never talk to anyone and I’m fine—I’m more on the production side.” Thanks to their carefully calibrated teamwork, Made in the Berkshires is already a fixture in the region’s cultural landscape. This year’s program, which ran October 5-7, featured 49 separate performances and showcased the original work of more than 140 local artists. “I don’t think Kate knew how grand we were going to get,” Deely says. “But she said ‘festival,’ and we took her at her word.”
The Gaea Goddesses perform on Friday 10/5
The program lineup, culled from hundreds of submissions, included three staged readings of full-length plays, a poetry slam, music by Stockbridge roots band The Beeline Ramblers and new age group the Gaea Goddesses, an art show curated by Suky Werman of Stonover Farm, jazz dance vignettes choreographed by Great Barrington native Vincent Brewer, and much more. Governor Deval Patrick presided as Honorary Chair with an opening speech on Friday. “It’s like a carnival,” says Deely, “a little bit of everything.” Two of this year’s theater productions were world premieres. The Food Issue, written by Academy Award-winning documentarian Bobby Houston, giave Sims and Deely the chance to take their collaboration onstage: Sims directed, while Deely played a leading role. “It’s a Berkshire County drawing room comedy with all sorts of fascinating characters,” says Deely. “They’re types that have elements of people that we know.” Closer to Heaven, by Kevin Bradley, followed a South Boston Irish family who gather in the wake of their father’s death. The third play, Emily DeVoti’s Milk, found dramatic fodder in the Berkshires’ burgeoning local food movement with the story of two organic farmers and the hedge fund managers who try to buy them out.
The Wyld Olde Souls perform on Saturday 10/6
Filling out the roster were performances that includef I Heart Cory Booker, a short play that pays tribute to the heart-palpitating powers of the Newark mayor; a psychedelic take on medieval and Indian music by the Wyld Olde Souls; and a “Berkshire Rave,” created by filmmaker and sculptor Joe Wheaton, that transformed the walls of the Colonial. The late Berkshires filmmaker Sanjiban Sellewwas honored with a retrospective of his work on Saturday. And Kim Taylor, Kate Maguire, and Tara Franklin paid tribute to one of the Berkshire’s most famous artists with Eric Hill’s adaptation of Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever.” Audiences aren’t the only ones who discover new talent at Made in the Berkshires. Artists themselves find inspiration—and potential collaborators—as they connect with creative types who aren’t the usual suspects. “The Berkshires are so immense, and everyone stays in their niche,” Sims says. “What’s great about Made in the Berkshires is that artists all come together and start networking.” The festival also helps local performers get fresh exposure. “If you act with Shakespeare and Company, maybe Barrington Stage won’t be so apt to take a look at you,” Sims says. “But with the festival, every theater company within a 50-mile radius who we reached out to said sure.” The spotlight also fell on the thriving local culinary scene with Taste of the Berkshires, which took place on Friday. Attendees sampled food and drink from 18 festival sponsors, including a red October lager from Wandering Star Craft Brewery, creamy chevre from Rawson Brook Farm in Monterey, and granola bars from Great Barrington’s BOLA Granola. As for the dream team behind Made in the Berkshires, experience has taught them some crucial strategies for fortifying themselves for the whirlwind weekend. “Hilary and I will be taking a lot of B-12,” says Sims. Deely nods: “And Red Bull.” - Sarah ToddMade in the BerkshiresFriday October 5 - Sunday October 7 Evening Performances at The Colonial Theatre 111 South St., Pittsfield, MA Daytime Performances at The Unicorn Theatre 6 East St., Stockbridge, MA Tickets: $15 for a performance block and $100 for a festival pass To purchase tickets call the Colonial Ticket Office at 413-997-4444 or go to www.BerkshireTheatreGroup.org.
