Cultural Pittsfield This Week: May 20-26

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  May 20 - May 26, 2016
TONIGHT Third Thursday from 5-8 p.m.
 
The 10th anniversary season of Third Thursdays is kicking off with a Youth theme. Highlights include: Bowey the Clown, face painting at Sottile Park, the Berkshire Athenaeum Lego Tent, the Community Art Tent and Sidewalk Chalk Art Gallery, the Carr Hardware bounce house, Berkshire Museum's dinosaur egg hunt, the Roaming Railroad, the NAMI Berkshire County walk and more!

With performances from: the Reid Middle School and Taconic High School bands, The Youth Alive Step Team, Kids 4 Harmony, Berkshire Pulse Youth Drummers, Rock On and more! Live 95.9 will be broadcasting live from the event.

Upstreet Cultural District. 5-8 p.m. Get the full schedule.
  MUSIC & NIGHTLIFE
THU Le Vent du Nord at The Colonial
Considered a driving force in progressive folk, Quebec's Le Vent du Nord is blazing a path that connects their roots to the wider world. On stage, these four friends achieve peaks of happiness that they eagerly share with their audiences. Winning critical acclaim and audience adoration across the country, the quartet has earned several prestigious awards including two Junos and a Canadian Folk Music Award. The group has a rich and varied instrumentation, well-polished musical arrangements, and wonderful vocals. Thursday at 8 p.m. $35. Get your tickets here.
Plus...  
FRI The Concert that Once Was at The A FRI Swing Dancing with The Lucky Five at Shire City Sanctuary FRI Cards Against Humanity at Hotel on North FRI Mollie Glazer at South Church FRI Freddy Shehadi & Friends at Mission FRI Miss B. Haven at The Colonial FRI Blue Light Trio at Rainbow FRI Madison Avenue at J. Allen's SAT Latin Night with Alan Franco at The A SAT Comedian Rick D'Elia at J. Allen's SAT Dan Gingras at Rainbow SAT Cafe Anshe music fundraiser at Temple Anshe Amunim SUN The Berkshire Concert Choir at St. Mark's Church SUN-MON Donna McKechnie at Mr. Finn's Cabaret TUE Berkshire Brewing Co. Flight Night at Rainbow WED Gruppo Mondo at Rainbow 
  FAMILY FRIENDLY
FRI-SUN Our Town at Miss Hall's School
Set in the 1930s in a fictional New Hampshire hamlet, Thornton Wilder's Our Town employs a "play within a play" to explore the ups and downs of day-to-day life. While showcasing the seemingly ordinary goings-on of Grover's Corners, the drama makes the case that the world is also rife with complexities, featuring injustice and hypocrisy as well as virtue and kindliness alongside triumphs and sorrows. 
Plus...  
ONGOING Short Story Contest at Berkshire Athenaeum FRI-SAT The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Pittsfield High SAT Meet the Inventors at Berkshire Museum | TUE Storytime at Berkshire Athenaeum | WED Parent/Child STEM at Berkshire Museum
  GET CREATIVE
SUN Open House & Art Show at Berkshire Paint & Sip
View artwork created by Michelle's students and enjoy complimentary wine and snacks. Many of the exhibiting artists will be present to talk about their works and answer any questions you may have about the Berkshire Paint & Sip studio, upcoming events, and art classes. 6-8 p.m.
Plus...  
TUE Coloring with Tablets at Berkshire Athenaeum | WED Intro to Screen Printing at Shire City Sanctuary
  WELLNESS
SAT YMCA Tie Dye Dash at Burbank Park
The Tie Dye Dash is a fun run filled with vibrant colors and you as the canvas! The 5K color run begins and ends in Burbank Park, where victory is in doing your personal best. You can walk, jog, run or hop on one foot as long as you get out there and give it your all. All proceeds support the Y's Bright Futures: Summer Literacy Program. Get all of the details.
 
Plus...  
SUN Restorative Yoga with Thai Massage at Berkshire Yoga Dance & Fitness
  PERFORMANCE
FRI+ Presto Change-O at Barrington Stage Company
This exciting new musical world premiere tells the story of three generations of magicians who find themselves under one roof for the first time in years. When the grandfather causes real magic to happen, they must confront their past mistakes and re-examine what it means to be a family. Now - June 11 at the St. Germain Stage. 
Plus...  
FRI-SAT The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Pittsfield High | FRI-SUN Avenue Q at BCC | FRI-SUN Our Town at Miss Hall's School
  COMMUNITY
FRI Movers + Shakers Party at Hancock Shaker Village
Help Berkshire United Way celebrate the culmination of their Day of Caring countywide project, where they installed 50 book houses to help children gain access to reading all year long. 
 
Shake the night away with beats from DJ BFG. Enjoy complimentary hors' d'oeuvres and signature cocktails, plus homemade milkshakes from The Scoop, and pop-up dance performances. Tickets are $50/person. 7-11 p.m. Get your tickets before they sell out!
Plus...  
SAT Downtown Pittsfield Farmer's Market  SAT Meet the Inventors at Berkshire Museum | SAT 8th Annual Plant Sale at Zion Lutheran Church | SAT Horizons Plant Sale at Miss Hall's School | SUN Armed Forces Day Tribute Ceremony at ITAM Lodge
  LEARN
WED The History of Pittsfield in Postcards at The Library
Peter Bergman of the Berkshire Historical Societypresents "A Celebration of the History of Pittsfield in Postcards." The event is free and there is no registration required. 5:30 p.m.
Plus...  
  FILM
Mustang
at the Little Cinema

This Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film follows five free-spirited teenage sisters in a village in Northern Turkey as their family overreacts to innocent fun and essentially imprisons the girls in preparation for them to become brides. As the eldest sisters are married off, the younger ones bond together to avoid the same fate. The fierce love between them empowers them to rebel and chase a future where they can determine their own lives in Deniz Gamze Ergüven's powerful film.
 
 
 
What's Showing at The Licht
Pittsfield's city-owned community arts center, the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, features nine working artist studios, a ceramics studio, a community room and an art gallery with changing exhibitions, classes, performances + more! 

28 Renne Ave. | Wed-Sat, 11-4
 
Art in Our Schools 
 
This annual exhibition features the work of middle and high school art students in Pittsfield. A special thank you to the art teachers Michael BoroneicMary Beth Eldridge, Alisa MierzejewskiLisa OstellinoBarbara Patton, Colleen QuinnLauretta Saldo and Amy Sommers. The exhibit runs through May 28.
 
 
STAY CONNECTED

 

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Dalton Man Accused of Kidnapping, Shooting Pittsfield Man

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — A Dalton man was arrested on Thursday evening after allegedly kidnapping and shooting another man.

Nicholas Lighten, 35, was arraigned in Central Berkshire District Court on Friday on multiple charges including kidnapping with a firearm and armed assault with intent to murder. He was booked in Dalton around 11:45 p.m. the previous night.

There was heavy police presence Thursday night in the area of Lighten's East Housatonic Street home before his arrest.

Shortly before 7 p.m., Dalton dispatch received a call from the Pittsfield Police Department requesting that an officer respond to Berkshire Medical Center. Adrian Mclaughlin of Pittsfield claimed that he was shot in the leg by Lighten after an altercation at the defendants home. Mclaughlin drove himself to the hospital and was treated and released with non-life-threatening injuries. 

"We were told that Lighten told Adrian to go down to his basement, where he told Adrian to get down on his knees and pulled out a chain," the police report reads.

"We were told that throughout the struggle with Lighten, Adrian recalls three gunshots."

Dalton PD was advised that Pittsfield had swabbed Mclaughlin for DNA because he reported biting Lighten. A bite mark was later found on Lighten's shoulder. 

Later that night, the victim reportedly was "certain, very certain" that Lighten was his assailant when shown a photo array at the hospital.

According to Dalton Police, an officer was stationed near Lighten's house in an unmarked vehicle and instructed to call over the radio if he left the residence. The Berkshire County Special Response Team was also contacted.

Lighten was under surveillance at his home from about 7:50 p.m. to about 8:40 p.m. when he left the property in a vehicle with Massachusetts plates. Another officer initiated a high-risk motor vehicle stop with the sergeant and response team just past Mill Street on West Housatonic Street, police said, and traffic was stopped on both sides of the road.

Lighten and a passenger were removed from the vehicle and detained. Police reported finding items including a brass knuckle knife, three shell casings wrapped in a rubber glove, and a pair of rubber gloves on him.

The response team entered Lighten's home at 43 East Housatonic before 9:30 p.m. for a protective sweep and cleared the residence before 9:50 p.m., police said. The residence was secured for crime scene investigators.

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