Arts

Arts

Who's on Second? Berkshire Actors Theater, with a Shanley Double-Header

There seems to be a pattern afoot in the nascent Pittsfield-based Berkshire Actors Theater. The company made its debut last summer with John Patrick Shanley’sFour Dogs and A Bone, and BAT’s sophomore season, which begins June 21, features a remount of that production, along with another Shanley favorite,

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Arts

Spring for Sound in Millerton

Pop music lovers: grab a lawn chair, put on your dancing shoes, and head to Millerton on Saturday, June 16, when 19 musical acts are set to hit the stage for Spring for Sound, a rocking fundraiser to benefit the North East Community Center (NECC). This is the second year

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Arts

Debra Jo Rupp Goes All the Way as Dr. Ruth

Preview performances of Mark St. Germain’s new play, Dr. Ruth, All the Way, get underway on June 19 at Barrington Stage Company. Debra Jo Rupp portrays the inimitable, diminutive Dr. Ruth Westheimer, who captured the attention of Reagan-era television viewers with her grandmotherly looks, chirpy Teutonic accent, and unflappable

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Arts

She Saw Hitler: Cassandra Speaks at Shakespeare & Company

Cassandra Speaks, the one woman show written in the mid 1990s for the actress Tod Randolph (above) by her friend Norman Plotkin about the journalist Dorothy Thompson,  manages to accomplish  a lot in one entertaining—indeed riveting—fell swoop, and in only about 90 minutes. Thompson, referred to in her

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Arts

Art Review: Canadian Club

David Harper's sculpture of a wild boar, "Finding Yourse," is constructed of fine porcelain and covered in soft cowhide at MASS MoCA's vast exhibition,Oh, Canada. Anyone who needs visible proof of the socio-psychological benefits of a free universal health-care system should make the

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Arts

Aston Magna At 40: Still Going for Baroque

As Aston Magna, the summer music festival he founded in Great Barrington, readies for its 40th season, Lee Elman seems as if he were born to the role of Berkshires cultural patriarch. His parents Barney and Mildred were early supporters of Tanglewood, making weekend visits from Westchester County and contributing

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Arts

BIFF Thinks Globally, Presents Locally

The Berkshire International Film Festival, running May 31 – June 3, takes the international part of its name seriously. For her seventh annual Festival, founder Kelley Vickery has slated more than 70 independent films from more than 15 countries, from Estonia to Tanzania. BIFF’s global scope also encompasses talent and

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Arts

Lungs at Barrington Stage

Brooke Bloom and Ryan King in Barrington Stage Company's production of Duncan Macmillan's Lungs, directed by Aaron Posner, the debut production at BSC's newly acquired theater space, the St. Germain Stage. We are in the midst of an extended period in theater, film, and

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Arts

Festival Explores Interplay of Jewish and African-American Music

As every great American composer, from Gershwin to Duke Ellington to Leonard Bernstein, would have explained without missing a beat, Jewish and African-American music not only have a lot in common — they helped create the distinctly American art forms of jazz, blues, and popular music of yesterday and today. On

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Arts

David Dorfman: Dance to the Music

Dance review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Photos: above, Kate Enman; below, Cherylynn TsushimaProphets of Funk, an evening-length work performed by David Dorfman Dance this week at Jacob’s Pillow, begins with the choreographer strutting his stuff diagonally across the stage on a path of light. He’s no longer

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Arts

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet: Articulate Company

Dance review by Bess J.M. Hochstein Photos: Rosalie O'Connor A well-composed program of work by three European choreographers, in performance by Aspen Santa Fe Ballet this week at Jacob’s Pillow, shows off the many skills of this company’s ten talented dancers: speed, strength, grace, presence,

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Arts

The Wharton Salon: Bringing Edith Wharton's Works to Life at The Mount

Preview by Bess J.M. Hochstein Longtime Berkshire theater goers fondly reminisce about the days in the late 1970s when Tina Packer and her merry band of thespians took up residence at The Mount, where, in addition to Shakespeare, they performed theatrical adaptations of the work of the estate’s

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