'62 Center presents a new solo opera by Laurie Anderson

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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. - The ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance will present the acclaimed multimedia artist Laurie Anderson in a new work. Conceived as a series of short mystery plays, Delusion combines violin, electronic puppetry, music, and images to jump-cut between the everyday and the mythic.

Anderson weaves stories in the colorful, poetic and imagistic language that has become her trademark. The performance will be February 26th & 27th at 8 PM on the ’62 Center MainStage, located at 1000 Main Street, in Williamstown, MA.

At the heart of Delusion, which was commission by and will premier at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, is the pleasure of language and a terror that the world is made entirely of words.

"Laurie Anderson is a singer-songwriter of crushing poignancy-- a minimalist painter of melancholy moods who addresses universal themes in the vernacular of the commonplace." - Rolling Stone

Continuing its mission to contextualize arts within scholarly inquiry, the Center presents an impressive body of work that sets student work side-by-side with that of professional artists. We strive to challenge traditional forms, engage with a larger political dialogue and allow our audiences to explore diverse modes of expression. Not content merely to present popular work, the Center’s professional performances, workshops and student productions are designed to invite the entire community to engage, debate, and celebrate the experience of both witnessing and creating live art.


Laurie Anderson is one of America’s most renowned - and daring- creative pioneers. She is best known for her multimedia presentations and innovative use of technology. As a writer, director, visual artist and vocalist she has created groundbreaking works that span the worlds of art, theater, and experimental music.

Her recording career, launched by “O Superman” in 1981, includes the soundtrack to her feature film “Home of the Brave” and “Life on a String” (2001). Anderson's live shows range from simple spoken word to elaborate multi-media stage performances such as “Songs and Stories for Moby Dick” (1999). Anderson has published seven books and her visual work has been presented in major museums around the world.

In 2002, Anderson was appointed the first artist-in-residence of NASA which culminated in her touring solo performance “The End of the Moon”. Recent projects include a series of audio-visual installations and a high definition film, Hidden Inside Mountains, created for World Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. In 2007 she received the prestigious Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize for her outstanding contribution to the arts. She recently completed a two-year worldwide tour of her latest performance piece, “Homeland”, which will be released on Nonesuch Records this year.

For tickets, visit the Williams ’62 Center Box Office Tues-Sat, 1-5 pm or call (413) 597-2425. For more information, please visit http://62center.williams.edu.
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Williamstown Planners Finalizing Draft of New Subdivision Bylaw

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board last week gave its final direction to the consultants hired to help the panel rewrite the town's subdivision control bylaw.
 
The town's contract with Northampton's Dodson and Flinker Landscape Architecture and Planning, which is funded by a state grant, expires on June 30, and the consultant is set to deliver a draft document in early July.
 
Last Tuesday, the board reviewed the latest progress from the consultant and considered some of the points discussed at its final, lengthy, video conference with Dodson and Flinker and its team on May 26.
 
Ultimately, plans to take the final draft and make any last decisions before presenting it to the town for a public hearing and adoption by the Planning Board later this year. Its goal has been to make the subdivision bylaw easier to navigate and more contemporary in order to encourage economic development.
 
At Tuesday's regular monthly meeting, Planning Board Chair Kenneth Kuttner told his colleagues he felt a lot of the issues were resolved at the May 26 session, including the development of a regulatory regime that ties infrastructure requirements to the size of a proposed development.
 
He also said he thought Dodson and Flinker's proposed language properly distinguishes between proposed developments in the town's core and those proposed in its rural residential districts.
 
"The thing they suggested, which I thought was interesting, was the 'payment in lieu of' for things like sidewalks in the rural area," Kuttner said in a meeting telecast on the town's community access television station, WilliNet. "So we could keep the sidewalk in the subdivision areas but require in the rural areas, payment in lieu of, which, as he said, would put the urban and rural development on an equal footing in terms of development cost.
 
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