Arts & Entertainment notes

Print Story | Email Story
‘Fuente’ performances SHEFFIELD — Barrington Stage Company will present the workshop production of “Fuente” by Cusi Cram at the company’s StudioSpace theater on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 5 and 6, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 7, at 3 p.m. Sturgis Warner will direct the play, which was named the 2004 Herrick Theatre Foundation New Play Contest grand prizewinner. The play is a lyrical drama about struggle and joy. Set in the mythical southwestern town of Fuente, which translates to “fountain” in Spanish, the story follows a handful of characters yearning to break free from a world that has conspired to entrap them. The cast includes Vanessa Aspillaga, Lucia Brawley, Michael Ray Escamilla, Mahira Kakkar, Piter Marek Fattouche and James Martinez. Aspillaga appeared on Broadway as Marela in Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prize winning play, “Ann in the Tropics.” Brawley recently appeared in “The Notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci” at Second Stage and Berkeley Rep., and in the PBS’ special “Brush Up Your Shakespeare,” directed by Shakespeare & Company’s Artistic Director Tina Packer. Escamilla won a Helen Hayes Award for his role in Craig Wright's “Recent Tragic Events” at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C. A recent Juilliard graduate, Kakkar’s credits include regional productions of “Lady Windermere's Fan,” “Midsummer Night's Dream” and “In Arabia We'd All be Kings.” Fattouche has appeared Off-Broadway in “Chocolate in Heat: Growing Up Arab in America,” “Mother Lolita” and “Savage Acts.” Martinez originated the role of Henry Lee in the Off Broadway production of “Valhalla.” Cram’s work has been performed and developed at the 2001 & 2003 O’Neill Playwrights Conference and elsewhere. She has received commissions from several theater companies and a fellowship and residency from the Lila Acheson American Playwrights Program at Juilliard, as well as a fellowship from the Camargo Foundation in Cassis, France, and two Le Comte du Nuoy Awards. Her plays are published in “Latino Plays from South Coast Rep” (Broadway Publishing), “The Best Short Plays of 2001” (Applause Books), and “Women Playwrights: The Best Plays of 2000” (Smith & Kraus) among other anthologies. Cram has been nominated for a Humanitas Award and two Emmy awards for her work on the children’s animated program, “Arthur.” Her musical adaptation of the children’s book, “Corduroy,” is touring nationally. Director Warner has directed many regional productions. He is an artistic associate at The Lark Play Development Center and a member of New York Theatre Workshop's Usual Suspects, working with many playwrights to develop new scripts and performance projects. Seating is general admission, with a $15 suggested donation. The play contains some adult language. Information and reservations: 528-8888. ART AUCTION WILLIAMSTOWN — The Williamstown Rural Lands Foundation will hold its third annual fund-raising event, “En Plein Air Art Auction,” on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m. at the Orchards Hotel. Co-sponsored with The Harrison Gallery, the event will include a champagne and dessert reception, a live auction of art and additional items and a silent auction. The Orchards will offer a prix-fix dinner menu prior to the auction. Area artists have donated a wide variety of paintings and photographs of preserved lands, farms and spectacular vistas, many of which the foundation has worked to preserve. Artists include Tracy Baker-White, Randall Bentley, Edward Cating, Hank Flynt, Brigita Fuhrmann, Gail Giles, Ina Rose Hunt, Chip Joffe-Halpern, Carol Lennon, Lodiza Lepore, Mark Mulherin, Greg Scheckler, Ed Scofield, John Sprague, Carole Stegeman, Ron Turbin, Nick Whitman and Bob Wiley. Other live auction items will include a bronze cast sculpture by Susan Read Cronin, a gold and amethyst necklace and earrings by Sally Craig, a case of select Californian wines and a wine and food pairing evening for eight people. A silent auction will offer a facial from In Touch Day Spa, a Sheep Hill Sunrise Kit from The Mountain Goat, a Geology Hike and Picnic for eight, two nights at the Boston Marriott Custom House, a full size bed quilt, a Murano glass candelabra, a cord of wood, an antique appraisal and more. The public may view auction items at the gallery, on Spring Street, on Friday, Nov. 5, from 5 to 7 p.m., or at www.wrlf.org. The cost is $40 per person, and reservations are required for the auction and reception. Information: foundation, 458-2494 or www.wrlf.org. Diverse films GREAT BARRINGTON — The film “And The Earth Did Not Swallow Him” will be screened as part of the Diversity Film Series at the Lecture Center, Simon’s Rock College of Bard, on Tuesday, Nov. 9, at 7 p.m. Directed by Severo Perez, the film is a critically acclaimed adaptation of Tomas Rivera's semi-autobiographical 1971 novella and describes the life of migrant Mexican-American farm workers through the perspective of a 12-year-old boy. Information: www.simons-rock.edu. Museum forum BENNINGTON, Vt. — The Bennington Museum will host a community forum to discuss how the museum can better meet the needs of the community in the museum's Paresky Court and Education Center on Thursday, Nov. 11, from 4 to 6 p.m. "As a community museum, we need to know what the community thinks about us,” Executive Director Richard Borges said in a news release. “Are there exhibition ideas that would really spark your interest and enthusiasm for the museum? Are there programs, workshops or activities that you would like to see the museum develop and offer for different age groups? What can and should the museum do to become a more integral part of the community?" The forum will also be an opportunity for the museum to share with the community the planning work that has been done over the last two years. Dave Newell will facilitate the discussion, and representatives of Bread Loaf Corp. will be on hand to discuss a master plan for the museum. The collections at the Bennington Museum are held in trust for the benefit of the community at large. Ranging from paintings, furniture, pottery and glass to military artifacts, tools and early inventions, the collections are a rich expression of the history and culture of the region. Information: museum, 802-447-1571 or www.benningtonmuseum.org. Estonian music WILLIAMSTOWN — The Williams College choral ensembles will present “a Different Home,” a concert exploring the rich landscape of Estonian choral music, on Friday, Nov. 5, at 8 p.m. in the college’s Thompson Memorial Chapel. Inspired by a musical tour by the choirs to Estonia in the spring of 2003, the performance will present works that illustrate the vital role choral music plays for Estonians in identifying and maintaining their sense of culture and idea of home. Although small, the nation has one of the most vital choral music scenes in the world. The Estonian National Song Festival, for instance, brings together over 25,000 singers as one choir for an outdoor concert attended by 100,000 countrymen. The Williams choirs' concert will feature several works from that festival and will include a cappella works by many of the leading composers from the small Baltic state: Veljo Tormis, Cyrillus Kreek, Peep Sarapik and Gustav Ernesaks, among others. Brad Wells and Brittany Duncan will conduct the free performance. Information: Ernie Clark, 597-2736. Concert performance EAST ARLINGTON, Vt. — Baritone Steven Marking and pianist/organist Doug Bischoff will perform “Then Sings My Soul,” a concert of favorite hymns and spirituals, on Sunday, Nov. 7, at 4 p.m. in the East Arlington Federated Church. Selections to be performed include “In the Garden,” “The Old Rugged Cross,” “Nearer, My God to Thee,” “Rock of Ages,” “Honor, Honor,” “Oh, Glory,” “Ride on King Jesus,” “Stan' Still Jordan,” “At the Feet of Jesus,” “Amazing Grace,” “How Great Thou Art,” “The Lord's Prayer” and others. There will be a $10 suggested donation. Information: Marking, 518-424-1089, or e-mail baritonissimo@yahoo.com; Bischoff, 518-677-8296, or e-mail dbchorale@aol.com. ‘Inferno’ discussion GREAT BARRINGTON — Dante’s “Inferno” will be the subject of an interdisciplinary lecture at Simon’s Rock College of Bard on Monday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. in the McConnell Theater of the Daniel Arts Center. The free event is part of a new series affiliated with the First and Second Year Seminar, cornerstones of education at the college. In the final lecture of the series, to be held on Wednesday, Nov. 17, Deirdre D’Albertis, author of “Dissembling Fictions: Elizabeth Gaskell and the Victorian Social Text” and faculty member in English at Bard College, will speak on the works of Virginia Woolf. Baff honored BECKET — Jacob's Pillow Executive Director Ella Baff has received the Chevalier Medal of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. The Order of Arts and Letters was established in 1957 to recognize eminent artists and writers and people who have contributed significantly to furthering the arts in France and throughout the world. "I am deeply honored,” Baff said in a news release. “I believe so strongly in international awareness and cultural exchange and knowing about the world outside of our own personal experience. France — iconic in its understanding of art, synonymous with the avant-garde — has supported American dance, jazz and so many artists and art forms. May we continue to work together on behalf of Jacob's Pillow and positive international relationships through the arts." The Order of Arts and Letters consists of three ranks: Chevalier, Officier and Commandeur. Recipients receive a certificate from the French minister of culture and communication and are entitled to wear the insignia of the order, a medal suspended from a colored ribbon of white stripes against a green background. Laureates who live outside France are generally notified of the award by the French embassy in their country of residence and usually receive their insignia in a medal ceremony held at the embassy, a French consulate or the institution with which they have professional ties. The honor is bestowed twice annually to a few hundred people worldwide. American recipients of the medal of the Order of Arts and Letters include Paul Auster, Ornette Coleman, Marilyn Horne, Richard Meier, Robert Paxton, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep. Baff has been the executive director of Jacob's Pillow since 1998. She was previously the program director at Cal Performances, an international performing arts organization at the University of California at Berkeley, where she presented, produced and commissioned dance, music and theater from Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States in the folkloric, classical, popular and contemporary arts. Baff has been a consultant to public and private foundations and government agencies and serves on the boards of the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, the Berkshire Visitors Bureau and the International Society of the Performing Arts. Varosy exhibits CAMBRIDGE, N.Y. — Greenwich artist Hannie Varosy will show a group of pastel drawings in an upcoming exhibit, “A Sampling from My Wardrobe,” at Bean Heads Coffee House. The drawings will be on display throughout the month and are available for purchase. A reception with Varosy will be held on Wednesday, Nov. 10, from 6 to 8 p.m. Varosy said in a news release that the drawings were “inspired by clothes either worn by me or which I’ve admired, either for their appearance or where they might have been before I caught sight of them.” A native of The Netherlands, Varosy is an artist and art teacher with students ranging in age from 3 to 83. She instructs classes at Hubbard Hall and the Senior Center of Saratoga Springs and teaches several groups of developmentally-disabled adults. “A Sampling from My Wardrobe” is the latest in an exhibition series initiated by Bean Heads proprietor Bill Creitz to showcase the work of local and regional artists. Information: coffee house, 518-677-5618. Inkberry reading NORTH ADAMS — Inkberry will host a reading by novelists Elizabeth Graver and Tony Eprile on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 7:30 p.m. Eprile is the author of “Temporary Sojourner & Other South African Stories,” a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. His new novel, “The Persistence of Memory,” chronicles the injustices of the secret 1980s wars in Namibia and Angola through the story of a South African man with an inconvenient near-photographic memory. Eprile, a native of South Africa, has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Ingram Merrill Foundation. He lives in Bennington, Vt. Graver is the author of “Unravelling” and “The Honey Thief,” both New York Times Notable Books, and a new novel, “Awake.” Graver’s work has also been included in “Best American Short Stories” and “Best American Essays,” as well as in “Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards.” She lives in Massachusetts and teaches at Boston College. Admission is $5 (reduced or free admission for Inkberry members). Information: 664-0775 or www.inkberry.org. Ventfort poetry LENOX — The Museum of the Gilded Age at Ventfort Hall will present “Berkshire Poets” on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 6 p.m. Three Berkshire poets, Bill Moebius, Jack Silverman and Mary Howard, will read selections from their poetry, and a full-course dinner in the dining room will follow. Moebius published his first book of poetry, “Elegies and Odes,” with Swallow Press in 1968. His translations of the ancient Greek poets Philodemos, Hedylus and Killactor appear in the Penguin/Oxford University Press “Greek Anthology.” His translation of Sophocles‚ “Oedipus at Colonus” appears in the “Anthology of Greek Tragedy,” originally published by Bobbs-Merrill. Moebius is a professor and chairman of comparative literature at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and weekly plays the piano at the Green Street Café in Northampton. He lives in Conway with his wife, Pamela. Silverman worked as a creative director in advertising in New York at such agencies as Doyle Dane Bernback, and his writing on behalf of the starving children of Biafra in 1968 helped to change U.S. government policy and put an end to the blockage. As a child and an adult, he has acted in community and college theater, and he has written skits for Broadway productions. He edited books by J.P. Dunleavy, Louis Auchincloss and Walter Cronkite and has recently participated in public readings of works by Melville and Hawthorne. Howard first began writing poetry with her grandmother when she was 6 years old. For the past 25 years, she has practiced office planning and design in New York City as a partner in Howard/Charczuk Associates. She lives in West Stockbridge and is a member of the board of directors of the Ventfort Hall Association. Admission is $75 for non-members and $70 for members, reservations are required. All proceeds will benefit the restoration of Ventfort Hall. Information and reservations: 637-3206. Play extended NORTH ADAMS — The Main Street Stage will extend the run of its play “Doctor Holmes of Boston,” through Saturday, Nov. 20. Performances begin at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights. Indie rock NORTH ADAMS — The Contemporary Artists Center on Beaver Street (Route 8) will present an all-ages Indie Rock night with New York city bands Japanther and anti:clockwise on Thursday, Nov. 11, beginning at 9 p.m. Dance band Japanther features two musicians on bass and drums, incorporating sampled sound and drum-machine beats. Anti:clockwise explores music with guitar, sampled sound and synthetic outbursts. Information: 663-9555 or www.thecac.org. Pinsky reads BENNINGTON, Vt. — The Friends of Robert Frost 2004 program series “Sunday Afternoons with Robert Frost” will finish the season on Sunday, Nov. 7, with a free reading by award-winning poet Robert Pinsky at 2 p.m. in Bennington College’s Tishman Lecture Hall. Seating is limited. The author of seven volumes of poetry, Pinsky was the poet laureate of the United States from 1997 to 2000. He is a professor in the graduate writing program at Boston University and a noted commentator on PBS’s Lehrer NewsHour. Pinsky will read from a diverse selection of Frost’s poems and his own poems and will answer audience questions. It was during Pinsky’s three-year term as the ninth U.S. poet laureate that he created the nationwide Favorite Poem Project, which culminated in an archive of readings of poems for the Library of Congress. “The Project,” he has said, “is partly meant to demonstrate that there is more circulation of poetry and more life of poetry than there might seem.” Americans surveyed in 2000 voted “The Road Not Taken” as their favorite poem, while Pinsky counts Frost’s lesser known “To Earthward” as one of his 50 personal favorites. Pinsky’s latest endeavor is “An Invitation to Poetry: A New Favorite Poem Project Anthology,” which comprises 200 poems selected by readers of all ages from every corner of the country. Accompanying the anthology, published in August 2004, is a DVD featuring 27 of the Favorite Poem Project’s celebrated mini-documentaries, in which participants speak briefly about a beloved poem before recording it. Audience members will have the opportunity to have Pinsky sign copies of “An Invitation to Poetry.” As Frost did, Pinsky believes that the full impact of any poem is best imparted by “saying” it — to use the word Frost preferred to “reading.” “The medium for poetry is the breath of the reader,” said Pinsky. Also like Frost, he is convinced that Americans, no matter what their age, education or station in life, love poetry and can speak about it intelligently. Among the myriad professions of people who participated in “An Invitation to Poetry” were a “crab-girl” from Maryland, a glassblower from Washington and an acupuncturist from California, as well as construction workers, bartenders, librarians, lawyers, teachers and members of the military. For them and, Pinsky believes, virtually all Americans, poetry’s appeal is universal, all-encompassing and life-enhancing. Pinsky’s appearance has been generously underwritten by a grant from the Vermont Humanities Council, and the special program will be jointly sponsored by the Friends of Robert Frost, a nonprofit group that runs the Frost Stone House Museum in South Shaftsbury, and Bennington College. Information: Carole Thompson, president of the Frost Friends, 802-447-6200, or Ellen Schulte, director of communications at Bennington College, 802-440-4308. African celebration WILLIAMSTOWN — Williams College's Kusika and the Zambezi Marimba Band will perform songs, dances, stories, drumming, mbira and marimba music from Africa's Great Zimbabwe and Old Mali kingdoms on Friday, Nov. 5, at 8 p.m. in the college’s Lasell Dance Studio. Comprising college students and community members, Kusika and the Zambezi Marimba Band will be directed by KweYao Agyapon, Ernest Brown and Sandra L. Burton. Featured guest artist Chris Berry, an American musician, composer and arranger familiar with Zimbabwean music, will also perform. The performance is sponsored by the college’s dance program, music department and Fund for Afro-American studies. Admission is $3. Information and reservations: Ernie Clark, 597-2736. ‘Forcefield’ exhibition NORTH ADAMS — The Contemporary Artists Center will present “ForceField,” a contemporary salon of regional student artists, from Nov. 6 to Nov. 20. Eleven student curators from area colleges have collaborated to produce the exhibition showcasing student talent. An opening reception will be held Saturday, Nov. 6, from 6 to 9 p.m. The exhibition is a forum for student artists and curators to form a network of local students involved in the arts and to generate a student-community dialogue, according to a news release from the center. The student curators responsible for the exhibition are Cara Starke, Rebecca Uchill, Martine Neider and Beth Fischer from Williams College; Claudia Gunter from Amherst College; Devin Powers from Bennington College; Samantha Patterson and Guinevere Johnson from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts; Jeannette Tremblay and Chris Westhoff from Hampshire College; and Annie Powers from Skidmore College. Information: www.thecac.org. Yes Men WILLIAMSTOWN —“The Yes Men,” a new documentary film about anti-corporate activists, will open at Images Cinema on Friday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m. Special ‘Yes Men’ guests Mike Bonanno and Andy Bichlbaum, along with attorney Paul Rapp will be part of a post-film discussion. This event will be presented in cooperation with the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Nato Thompson, museum curator of Mass MoCA’s "The Interventionists," an exhibition about social art activism, will moderate the discussion with Ondine Chavoya, art professor at Williams College and contributor to the exhibit’s companion book. The Yes Men are part of "The Interventionists" exhibit. Bonanno and Bichlbaum travel the world trying to correct the identity of big-time corporate criminals who put profit ahead of everything else. The film takes a look at two anti-corporate activists who were accepted as spokesmen for the World Trade organization and invited to speak at conferences around the world. Rapp is an intellectual property and art attorney with offices in Housatonic and Albany, N.Y. He has been legal advisor and counsel to RtMark.com and The Yes Men since 1999. He is an adjunct professor of art and entertainment and copyright law at Albany Law School. Rapp also represents numerous artists, cultural organizations and businesses in the Northeast, writes art and art-law related columns for The Artful Mind, Metroland and Voices magazines, and appears regularly on WAMC’s Vox Pop program discussing copyright issues. Information: www.imagescinema.org. Gilbert performs PITTSFIELD — Vance Gilbert will perform at Common Grounds Coffee House at the First United Methodist Church on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m. Doors will open at 7. Gilbert, a Philadelphia-born singer and songwriter, has recorded five albums and was a special guest on Shawn Colvin’s “Fat City” tour. Information: www.vancegilbert.com. Tickets are $12 for adults, $6 for children, and will be available after 5 p.m. on the day of the performance or from the church office: 499-0866. The coffee house and church are at 55 Fenn St.
Share
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Lanesborough Town Meeting to Vote Budget, Bylaws & Vehicle Purchases

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — Tuesday's annual town meeting includes a $14 million operating budget, new short-term rentals, accessory dwelling units and sign bylaws, and free cash article appropriations.

Voters will gather at Lanesborough Elementary School on June 9 at 6 p.m. to decide on 20 warrant articles.

The fiscal 2027 budget is up a little over 10 percent. Some of the main increases are the Mount Greylock Regional School District and McCann Technical School: the McCann assessment is up more than 30 percent based on factors including enrollment and the school renovation project, and Mount Greylock's is up 11 percent.

Article 11 is for the town to vote to approve from free cash the sum of $16,298.48 for the McCann Technical School roof and window replacement project so as not to impact the budget. Article 3 is  appropriate $7,586,284 for Mount Greylock Regional School assessment.

Another notable increase was in life and health insurance, showing an increase of about 26 percent.

Ambulance Director Jen Weber is planning 24-hour coverage, which means more staff and a hike in her budget. One of the articles asks the town to appropriate $234,100 to operate the Ambulance Enterprise Fund for salaries and expenses.

Many town departments are looking for new vehicles. The Fire Department is looking to replace its outdated 1996 fire engine. There are two articles related to the truck at a total of $813,366. Article 12 would transfer $225,000 from free cash into the Fire Truck Stabilization Fund; Article 13 would transfer $605,000 from the fund and authorize the borrowing of $208,366.08.

The total includes a $100,000 contingency cost to cover any additional costs if a 2026 model-year chassis cannot be secured before new emissions standards go into effect in 2027.

The board at its last meeting moved the $225,000 transfer to come before the borrowing article, changing the stabilization number. If the $225,000 is not voted on, then they will amend the next article's number on the floor, subtracting the $225,000. This shows the borrowing number significantly lower.

Article 17 asks for the transfer of $80,000 from free cash to replace a police cruiser.

Police Chief Rob Derksen's aim is to replace one vehicle every other year, meaning the oldest vehicle gets replaced about every 10 years. 

He stressed that if delayed this year, the town may have to double up in a future year to get back on schedule, and that paying later usually costs more. The article will ask for $80,000 from free cash, the vehicles used to be funded by the BHRD.

Lastly, the Highway Department is looking to replace a 2014 International dump truck that will be a total of $330,000 and will take two to three years to receive.

Money will be used from last year's approval of $250,000 from free cash for the replacement of a 2012 highway front-end loader that was underspent $49,261. Town meeting is being asked to approve  a transfer of $53,274.85 from free cash and the use of $227,464 from funds from the Sale of Town Real Estate to fund the balance.

Other free cash proposals include $1,200 to purchase software to support tracking and ongoing maintenance schedules of town-owned vehicles; $42,000 for the replacement of the Highway Department's storage shed roof, $200,000 to reduce the tax levy.

View Full Story

More Stories

Sports
image description

Lenox Edges Hoosac Valley to Reach State Semi-Final

Sports
Sports
image description

Durant Leads Drury Back to Final Four

Sports
Sports
image description

Wahconah's Iovieno Earns Statewide Honor

Sports
Sports
image description

Codey Masterful in Generals' Western Mass Three-Peat

Sports
Sports
image description

Hurricane Seniors Finish Atop Western Mass

Sports
Sports
image description

Mount Greylock Boys, Girls Defend Western Mass Titles

Sports
Latest Stories
Previous Next

What's Trending?