Cultural Pittsfield This Week: Aug. 18-Sept. 3

03:56PM / Thursday, August 27, 2020Print Story | Email Story

This Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 29-30 is Tax-free Weekend in Massachusetts. Retail items of up to $2,500 - purchased in the state for personal use - will be exempt from sales tax on these two days. Special deals in downtown Pittsfield include a double tax-free discount at Carr Hardware, an end-of-summer sale at Dory & Ginger, and more!

Tune in to WAMC Northeast Public Radio this Saturday, Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. to hear Songs of Comfort, a live concert held at Hancock Shaker Village starring Anjimile, Emanuel Ax, Billy Keane, Yo-Yo Ma, and Chantell McFarland, with remarks by Deval Patrick. The audience will consist of local essential workers including teachers, nurses, firefighters, farmers, police officers, grocery store workers, food bank volunteers and more.

FUN & LEARNING

Tanglewood in the City will light up The Common Park on Friday, Aug. 28 for four screenings, limited to 50 people each: 11 a.m., 2 p.m., 5 p.m & 8 p.m. These FREE screenings will be an archival performance of Beethoven's ninth symphony performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Pre-registration is required: email events@milltowncapital.com (please indicate your first two preferred screening times and number of people in your party). Picnics are encouraged; social distancing is required!

Berkshire Opera Festival presents its first ever virtual concert! Comprised of musical selections from across the operatic spectrum and beyond, "From Stage To Screen: The Show Must Go On(line)" will feature performances from the internationally renowned cast of BOF's (now canceled) 2020 production of Don Giovanni. The concert will premiere on Vimeo on Friday, Aug. 28 at 7:30 p.m., and will be available for on-demand viewing through Friday, Sept. 4.

The 53rd annual Hilda Vallin Feigenbaum Memorial Lecture will be given by National Public Radio (NPR) political reporter Mara Liasson. The topic is Election 2020: America at the Crossroads and will be held virtually on Sunday, Aug. 30 at 7:30 p.m.

Plus...

Radiance Yoga Classes | Berkshire Yoga Dance & Fitness Classes | Antil Fitness Classes | Classes w/Berkshire Music School | Berkshire Fitness & Wellness Classes | Classes w/IS183 Art School | Painting Tutorials w/Berkshire Paint & Sip | Drumming Classes with aimee@gaiaroots.com | View All 1Berkshire Town Halls | ONGOING Godspell at The Colonial | ONGOING BLM Call for Art | THU-MON Tours at Arrowhead | FRI DLE Virtual Breakfast Club | FRI PillowTalk: Black Creatives w/Theresa Ruth Howard | NOW-SAT The Hills Are Alive with Rodgers & Hammerstein at Barrington Stage | SUN Barnyard Yoga at Hancock Shaker Village SUN Leslie Kritzer: Is It Over Yet? at Barrington Stage | MON 1Berkshire Virtual Entrepreneurial Meetup | MON Word X Word: Grouped MON-TUE Ann Hampton Callaway: Diva Power at Barrington Stage | TUE Art, Women, Nature & Hope | WED The Death of Expertise w/Tom Nichols | THU Live Storytelling w/BCC Alums THU Creative Photographic Composition w/IS183 at Hancock Shaker Village

FAMILY FRIENDLY

Join Berkshire Music School at its Fall Open House on Saturday, Aug. 29 from 10 a.m. - noon, on the lawn at 30 Wendell Ave. This
free, socially distanced event will feature mini-classes and demos for all ages. Faculty and staff will be available to answer questions
and register students for private lessons and small group classes. Registration fees will be waived for students registering for fall classes at the event.

Berkshire Museum is celebrating the limited-time return of The Art of Warner Bros. Cartoons with a round of trivia questions pulled from the world of animation, followed by a round designed to test your knowledge of life under the sea. Tuesday, Sept. 1 at 6:30 p.m.!

The annual Backpack Challenge will be held at all four Pittsfield Haddad Dealerships on Wednesday, Sept. 2 from 1-4 p.m. FREE backpacks filled with school supplies will be handed out to local students via this drive-through event. Please remember to wear a mask upon arrival. Backpacks will be handed out on a first come, first served basis. This event is brought to you by The Berkshire Eagle and Haddad Dealerships.

Plus...

SHOP LOCAL / EAT LOCAL

Roots Rising's Virtual Farmers Market is open for viewing all week long! Online shopping is available from Monday at 12 p.m.- Tuesday at 7:30 a.m., or until the maximum order limit is reached. If you would like to volunteer to help Roots Rising with Saturday packing and delivery, click here.

RESOURCES

It's not too late to take The 2020 Census! You can respond online, by phone, or by mail. Your response matters! Census results help determine how billions of dollars in federal funding are allocated to states and communities each year, and determine how many seats in Congress each state gets.

Plus...

iBerkshires.com Text Ads

Now's the time...

to harvest value from your home. Click for more details about a HELOC. Insured by NCUA.

www.greylock.org

rk MILES Blding Materials

Are You Ready to Update Your Home? Start With rk MILES. 4 Locations (800)670-7433

www.rkmiles.com

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

John Rubinstein on 'Eisenhower,' Trump, Fosse, Sondheim & Williamstown Theatre Festival

By Alan PetrucelliSpecial to iBerkshires
12:10PM / Thursday, September 17, 2026

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It's a rainy Saturday afternoon in Columbus, Ohio, and John Rubinstein is driving to the Berkshires. He left his Los Angeles home a few days ago, and his next stop is Cleveland. Once he gets to Pittsfield, he readies for his return appearance as Dwight D. Eisenhower in "Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground," a one-man show Rubinstein first did at the Barrington Stage Company last summer.

The show has been brought back by rave reviews and popular demand; it opens Sept. 16 and runs through Sept. 26.

Rubinstein, who turns 80 in December, has been crisscrossing the country, doing the show for the past four years: "I can't wait to do it again and again and again," he said. "It's one of the great crowning pieces of luck of my career."

And what a career: "Crazy Like a Fox," "Family," numerous Broadway plays and musicals and TV movies and feature films and two Tony awards for "Pippin" (1972) and "Children of a Lesser God" (1980). A surprise many fans don't know: Rubinstein has scored the music to several films and TV shows, including "Jeremiah Johnson," "The Candidate," "The Dollmaker" and "China Beach."

During an exclusive interview over a 75-minute phone call, Rubinstein talks about liking Ike and loving "Eisenhower," as well as Donald Trump, Stephen Sondheim, Bob Fosse and the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

How did you hook up with 'Eisenhower?'

Director Peter Ellenstein sent me an email that said, "I have a play about Eisenhower, and I'd like to send it to you to consider." I read it. It was 40 pages long and single-spaced, one guy talking. I thought. "Jesus Christ, I don't know if anybody's gonna want to hear that, a two-hour monologue." But I liked it. I respected it. I found it fascinating but (a) I wasn't sure it would work as a play, (b) if I could memorize it and (c) if I could memorize it and it was a good play would anyone want to go see it? So I didn't commit myself at first. But Peter said, "Why don't you come and meet with me and the playwright, Richard Hellesson, and read the play out loud?"

View Full Story