Arts

Arts

Filmmaker Joan Kron, 89, Is The Freshest Face At BIFF

By Dan Shaw It’s befitting that the octogenarian producer and director of the plastic-surgery documentary "Take My Nose . . . Please!" doesn’t look her age. “Do you think I’d have gotten funding for this film and be taken seriously on the film festival circuit if I

By Editor

Arts

The RuraList: The Big Six At Building 6

By Nichole DupontMASS MoCA, the unofficial Louvre of the Northeast, is about to unveil its newly renovated Building 6 on Sunday, May 28. The 130,000 square feet of space will be the new home of changing exhibitions, long-term installations, and so much natural light that it can alter

By Editor

Arts

Food, Farming And Sex: Alice Clayton's Hudson Valley Series

By Andrea Pyros Inspiration comes at the oddest of moments. For best-selling romance novelist Alice Clayton, the idea for her sexy, saucy, food-obsessed Hudson Valley-based trilogy — Nuts, Cream of the Crop and Buns — came to her while she was waiting in line to buy cucumbers at her

By Editor

Arts

The 12th Annual BIFF Reveals Karen Allen's Filmmaking Chops

By CB Wismar The 12th Annual Berkshire International Film Festival – affectionately known as “BIFF” opens with its much-anticipated gala on Thursday, June 1 in Great Barrington. The schedule of films, as always, is eclectic. Fresh features that capture the essence of independent film making on a global scale ("

By Editor

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

By Editor

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

By Editor

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

By Editor

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

By Editor

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

By Editor

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

By Editor

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

By Editor

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

By Editor