Great Barrington Public Theater Hosts Sit Down With Neil Pepe

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — Great Barrington Public Theater (GBPT) invites theater lovers and artists to take part in the company's conversation with Neil Pepe on Monday, Feb. 26 at 6 pm at St Jams Place.

"It will be fun to swap ideas with Jim and the Berkshire theater community," Pepe adds. "Atlantic Theater Company has been built by artists exchanging ideas and diving into conversation about what makes a script, a scene, an actor or play stand out, what makes art, language and technique effective. Dialogue is the nuts and bolts of great theater. Anyone who loves the creativity of theater will get something from our shoptalk," Pepe said.

GBPT Artistic Director Jim Frangione's will have an off-the-cuff, sit-down with the actor, director, producer and longtime Artistic Director of New York City's Atlantic Theater Company. Their conversation will delve into the founding philosophy, creation and history of the Atlantic Theater Company and get Pepe's sense of happenings and trends in American theater today. 

This is a free live event, with a $10 suggested donation, but space is limited. Reservations can be made now by emailing Tristan.GreatBarringtonPublic@gmail.com

"Our Conversation With series invites Berkshire audiences to join in illuminating and fun discussions on how to create extraordinary theater, from the good idea to a fantastic play. A few weeks ago, we had a terrific evening with Jeff Zinn, and this chat with Neil will be chock-full of backstories, inside know-how, and you can bet on unexpected surprises," Frangione said.

South County Celebrates 250th Anniversary of the Knox Trail

By Tammy Daniels iBerkshires Staff
06:18PM / Sunday, January 11, 2026

State Sen. Paul Mark carries the ceremonial linstock, a device used to light artillery. With him are New York state Sen. Michelle Hinchey and state Sen. Nick Collins of Suffolk County.

GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. —The 250th celebration of American independence began in the tiny town of Alford on Saturday morning. 

 

Later that afternoon, a small contingent of re-enactors, community members and officials marched from the Great Barrington Historical Society to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center to recognize the Berkshire towns that were part of that significant event in the nation's history.

 

State Sen. Paul Mark, as the highest ranking Massachusetts governmental official at the Alford crossing, was presented a ceremonial linstock flying the ribbons representing every New York State county that Henry Knox and his team passed through on their 300-mile journey from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston in the winter of 1775-76. 

 

"The New York contingent came to the border. We had a speaking program, and they officially handed over the linstock, transferring control of the train to Massachusetts," said Mark, co-chair of Massachusetts' special commission for the semiquincentennial. "It was a great melding of both states, a kind of coming together."

 

State Rep. Leigh Davis called Knox "an unlikely hero, he was someone that rose up to the occasion. ... this is really honoring someone that stepped into a role because he was called to serve, and that is something that resonates."

 

Gen. George Washington charged 25-year-old bookseller Knox with bringing artillery from the recently captured fort on Lake Champlain to the beleaugured and occupied by Boston. It took 80 teams of horses and oxen to carry the nearly 60 tons of cannon through snow and over mountains. 

 

Knox wrote to Washington that "the difficulties were inconceivable yet surmountable" and left the fort in December. He crossed the Hudson River in early January near Albany, crossing into Massachusetts on what is now Route 71 on Jan. 10, 1776. By late January, he was in Framingham and in the weeks to follow the artillery was positioned on Dorchester Heights.