Arts

Arts

Books: Sandisfield Then and Now

Anyone who lives in Sandisfield, the bucolic village at the southern tip of Berkshire County that lays claim to the distinction of being the county’s largest and most sparsely populated town, has likely heard from Ron Bernard. For the past two-and-a-half years, Bernard has been interviewing residents (of which

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Arts

Dance: Moving Still, An Interview With Paul Taylor

Photos of dances by Paul B. Goodeby Scott Baldinger“I like to move.” This was the only thing the now-legendary dancer and choreographer Paul Taylor could think of saying, during an audition for a place at the Juilliard School more than 60 years ago, upon having been asked why he

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Arts

Reviews: The Importance of Earnestness on Stage at WTF and Powerhouse Theater

Jennifer Westfeldt and Dominic Fumasa watching Greg Kinnear. The Power of Duff The first thing that came to mind after having read advance word about The Power of Duff, a new play by Stephen Belber (at Vassar's Powerhouse Theatre) about a local news anchor who “has a spiritual

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Arts

The Hong Kong Ballet: Strength in Numbers

Classical dance lovers had something to cheer about this week, as The Hong Kong Ballet made its Jacob’s Pillow debut. At the same time, so did fans of contemporary dance; the company’s artistic director since 2009, Madeleine Onne, formerly headed the Royal Swedish Ballet, and founded Stockholm 59°

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Arts

Performing At Cranwell Resort, The Capitol Steps Take the Money and Run Amok

It seems that every political headline (and these days, in particular, there are plenty of those) has the potential to make you laugh or cry. The Capitol Steps, now performing for the sixth-consecutive year at Cranwell Resort in Lenox, has the ability to make you do both, i.e. laugh

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Arts

Berkshires as Backdrop: Why Joshua Henkin Set "The World Without You" in Lenox

Whether or not you think of the Berkshires as New York City's sixth borough as some wags do, you have no doubt sat next to a family like the fictional Frankels on the lawn at Tanglewood or stood on line with them at Guido's. In Joshua

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Arts

Berkshire Fringe Founders Take the Plunge

If you want to produce and perform your own plays, the best advice might be: don’t start a theater festival. It may sound counterintuitive, but that’s the lesson learned by the three young founding artistic directors  of Berkshire Fringe: Peter Wise, 32; Sara Katzoff, 31; and Timothy Ryan

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Arts

The Imaginary Invalid at SummerScape: Is There a Doctor in the House?

Appropriately bilious, dyspectic, splenetic, and cast and staged with almost vertiginous comic invention, The Imaginary Invalid (Le Malade Imaginaire), adapted and directed by Erica Schmidt as part of Bard's SummerScape Festival at the Fisher Center, may not be “just what the doctor ordered.”  This production, and the play

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Arts

Tero Saarinen's Borrowed Light: A Luminous Evening of Dance at Jacob's Pillow

What better test of a dance that has blown you away than to see it again a few years later and find out if it still packs the same power? Happily, the lasting impression left by Tero Saarinen’s luminous work Borrowed Light, first performed at the Pillow in 2006,

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Arts

Thirty Year Plan: Share Your Thoughts on Saving the World and Win Orion's New Book

As a way of marking its 30th anniversary, Orion magazine asked 30 writers and environmental leaders to consider what we need to build a better future on our planet. Their answers comprise a new book, Thirty Year Plan, which Orion launched on Sunday, July 8, at Bascom Lodge, atop Mt.

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Arts

"A Chorus Line" Is Alive and Kicking at Berkshire Theatre Group's Revival

It’s always reassuring to see a completely bare backstage wall in any production of A Chorus Line. Basically, if you can’t get the nothingness right and demonstrate that you’re not hiding anything (with curtains, say, or  a completely darkened stage), or if you gussy it up with

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Arts

Vertigo Dance Company and LeeSaar The Company: Two Israeli Troupes at the Pillow

There’s drama in Vertigo Dance Company’s world premiere, Mana, which runs at Jacob’s Pillow’s Ted Shawn Theatre through Sunday, July 8, but the story remains out of reach. There are men in long, flowing, dark-colored robes, and women who begin the evening-length dance full draped in

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