Arts

Arts

Dani Shapiro's 'Hourglass' Explores A Marriage Over Time

In her new memoir, Hourglass (Knopf), Dani Shapiro of Litchfield County excavates and celebrates her marriage of nearly 20 years to screenwriter/director Michael Maren. In her previous critically acclaimed memoirs—Slow Motion and Devotion —Shapiro has put her personal history under the microscope to come to terms with her

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Arts

'Love Where You Eat' Brings Joan Osofsky To The Table

By Dan Shaw “Here in the country, when you invite people to dinner, they always ask, “What can I bring?” writes Joan Osofsky in her new book, Entertaining in the Country: Love Where You Eat (Rizzoli.)  Osofsky, who owns the Hammertown stores in Great Barrington, Pine Plains and Rhinebeck, understands

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Arts

Season Preview 2017: As Always, Our Cup Runneth Over

When it comes time to compile this annual season preview, there’s a lot of counting involved. We aim for ten selections from the categories of theater, music and dance, but there’s always some juggling as the list gets longer and one category perhaps loses an item so another

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Arts

Audition Day At Sharon Playhouse: The Callbacks

By CB Wismar “Find your own boogie!” Choreographer Chris DeVita’s words bounce around the Bok Gallery at Sharon Playhouse and are met with a chorus of nervous laughter. These are the “callback” auditions — the second opportunity for regional actors to secure a place in this season’s production of

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Arts

Scott Frankel of Columbia County Storms Broadway with “War Paint”

Scott Frankel with Christine Ebersole. By Dan Shaw On a recent Sunday afternoon at his stately, red-brick Greek Revival house in Columbia County, composer Scott Frankel was decompressing after the third week of previews for his new Broadway musical, War Paint, which opens on April 6 at the Nederlander Theatre.

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Arts

Joan Juliet Buck Leaves Paris And New York For…Rhinebeck

By Dan Shaw Like many other “expats” in our region who’ve traded urban glamour and turmoil for rural simplicity and quietude, Joan Juliet Buck once had power, influence and an expense account. She was formidable, as they say in France, where she was editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris from 1994

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Arts

Norman Rockwell Reinterpreted Through Music And Animation

By Lisa Green Every facet of “Paintings in Song — Visions of Norman Rockwell” involves a “multi” reference. Commissioned by Crescendo, it is a multimedia piece, combining music, voice and art. It is a union of arts organizations, artists and a composer. And it is a multi-generational endeavor, from the family

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Arts

Bright Young Things: '30under30' At Six Depot

By Amy Krzanik Much is made of the population decline that Berkshire County has suffered since the 1970s, especially the mass exodus of young people from the area beginning when they turn 18 and not reversing course until around age 37. But there are young adults who make their homes

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Arts

The RuraList: Bestselling Winter Reads Of The RI Region

We thought it would be interesting to canvas some of our region’s booksellers to see what books are among the most popular buys right now. Would a theme emerge? Sort of. Not surprisingly, books that are overtly political are selling well, as are nonfiction titles that help us live

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Arts

Sharon Playhouse Plans A Director-Driven Season

By CB Wismar The barn red buildings of Sharon Playhouse in winter are a stark reminder that cold weather and snow have replaced the drama that inhabits the campus from June to September. Opening night at the Sharon, Conn. Equity theater seems many months away. But recently, in the warm

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Arts

"Leisure & Lust" Delves Into Edith Wharton's Personal Life

By Amy Krzanik Although Edith Wharton is most well known for her fiction writing (The Age of Innocence; Ethan Frome, The House of Mirth), and interior and landscape designers revere her for her nonfiction books on gardens and decorating, some diehard Wharton fans and scholars are equally fascinated by her

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Arts

You Can't Look Away From Tony Stone's "Peter and the Farm"

By Jamie Larson With elegant sweeping landscapes, scenes of animal processing and a lonely man battling his isolation and madness, Hudson-based filmmaker Tony Stone’s latest movie, “Peter and the Farm" is the naked examination of solitary, 70-year-old, organic farmer Peter Dunning. Though shot in Vermont, Stone (the co-founder

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