MCLA Announces Music, Gallery and Theater Performances for Winter, Spring Semester

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The Department of Fine and Performing Arts at MCLA announced the Winter/Spring 2024 programming including cultural events, exhibitions, performances, workshops, and musical experiences.

According to a press release:

MCLA Gallery 51

The first exhibition of 2024 will examine the entangled histories of ecology and migration. "Unfortunately It Was Paradise" features three artists, Lorena Molina, Larissa Rogers, and Jumana Manna, who address how ecology surfaces in our memory, imagination, and present that are shaped by the legacies of slavery, war, and settler colonialism. The show is on view through March 29. To close the semester, the gallery will feature work from a variety of MCLA students from April 15 to May 11 with an opening reception on April 18 from 5 to 7 p.m.

MCLA Theater MainStage Performance

This March the Fornés Festival returns with "The Summer in Gossensass" by María Irene Fornés and directed by Laura Standley, associate professor of Fine and Performing Arts at MCLA. The show will run from April 4 to 6 at Williams College's 62' Center. "The Summer in Gossensass," tells the story of two American actresses living in London during the 1890s who launch the first English language version of the play HEDDA GABLER by Henrik Ibsen.

MOSAIC Performance

On April 7, the internationally acclaimed Ezekiel's Wheels Klezmer Band will take the stage at the MCLA Church Street Center at 7 p.m. The Wheels improvise with the intimacy of chamber music and the intensity of a rowdy dance band. Their engaging contemporary interpretation of Jewish music is irresistible to audiences ranging from elementary school students to the judges at the International Jewish Music Festival, who heralded them as "a true musical democracy."

MCLA Theater Developmental Workshop Musical

To close out the theater season, a developmental workshop musical titled "Emma When You Need Her," written by Bendetti Fellow Rudy Ramirez, and directed by MCLA Fine and Performing Arts Associate Professor Jeremy Winchester. It will take place at the Church Street Center from April 26-28. The Spring Music Concert, featuring MCLA Wind Ensemble, Concert Choir, and Studio Students, will take place on April 29 at 7 p.m. at the Church Street Center.

Macksey, Shade Pledge Compassion, Accountability as City Leaders

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
01:27PM / Thursday, January 01, 2026

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey was sworn into a third term on Thursday; Councilor Ashley Shade was unanimously elected council president. 

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A new government took the reins at City Hall on New Year's Day, pledging to move North Adams forward with compassion and accountability.

 

"My focus, as your mayor, has been and will continue to be, one of restoring accountability, stability, strengthening city operations and making meaningful progress of long standing challenges," said Mayor Jennifer Macksey, entering her third term. "City government has worked to move from reaction to action, addressing deferred issues, while laying the foundation for future growth."

 

The swearing in on New Year's Day included the election of Ashley Shade as council president and Andrew Fitch as vice president. 

 

Shade, also entering her third term, reflected on leadership as it relates to small communities and North Adams in particularly.

 

"It is where I learned that community is not something you inherit. It is something you practice. You practice it when times are easy and you practice it even more when times are not," she said. "I have said before that the city needs to renew its focus on investing in our most important resource — this city, the people of North Adams. I believe that with my whole heart, because, yeah, buildings matter and roads matter and budgets matter, but people, people are where everything begins."

 

The city has not only a woman mayor and woman council president, but also a majority of women on the City Council for the first time in its history.

 

Ceremonies were held in Council Chambers on Thursday morning, with state Rep. John Barrett III and city department heads in attendance. Family and friends filled the seats to see the new council and School Committee members take their oaths.