WilliNet's Play Café Receives Grant

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Producer Patti Cassidy announced the television program Play Café has received a grant from the Cultural Council of Northern Berkshire to bring the theater process to the public.

The series, which presents actors reading works-in-progress with the playwright present, allows the public to see how plays get made.
 
"This program benefits everyone involved," Cassidy said. "The general public gets follow the decisions that go into developing a drama. The playwright has an opportunity to hear a script being read, which is essential in developing a work. And the actors involved get exposure, credits, and a DVD of their performance."
 
Play café is broadcasted on WilliNet, channel 17, and at other access stations in the Berkshires.
 
Cassidy is a playwright and has produced a number of series on Community Access TV stations in the past. WilliNet in provides studio support for this show and other community productions.
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Williamstown Housing Trust Commits $80K to Support Cable Mills Phase 3

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The board of the town's Affordable Housing Trust last week agreed in principle to commit $80,000 more in town funds to support the third phase of the Cable Mills housing development on Water Street.
 
Developer David Traggorth asked the trustees to make the contribution from its coffers to help unlock an additional $5.4 million in state funds for the planned 54-unit apartment building at the south end of the Cable Mills site.
 
In 2022, the annual town meeting approved a $400,000 outlay of Community Preservation Act funds to support the third and final phase of the Cable Mills development, which started with the restoration and conversion of the former mill building and continued with the construction of condominiums along the Green River.
 
The town's CPA funds are part of the funding mix because 28 of Phase 3's 54 units (52 percent) will be designated as affordable housing for residents making up to 60 percent of the area median income.
 
Traggorth said he hopes by this August to have shovels in the ground on Phase 3, which has been delayed due to spiraling construction costs that forced the developer to redo the financial plan for the apartment building.
 
He showed the trustees a spreadsheet that demonstrated how the overall cost of the project has gone up by about $6 million from the 2022 budget.
 
"Most of that is driven by construction costs," he said. "Some of it is caused by the increase in interest rates. If it costs us more to borrow, we can't borrow as much."
 
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