ROPE to Host Ghana Experience Event

04:02PM / Thursday, August 22, 2024Print Story | Email Story

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Rites of Passage & Empowerment (R.O.P.E.) program will host its Ghana 2024 Experience event at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 24 at the Berkshire Innovation Center (BIC), 45 Woodlawn Ave., Pittsfield.

The program, which is free and open to the public, will feature reflections from R.O.P.E. scholars and ambassadors who traveled to Accra, Ghana in July for the group's bi-annual service-learning trip. Following the program, Ghanaian-themed refreshments will be available.

"R.O.P.E.'s journey to varied regions of Ghana continues to be transformative. Having this educational experience greatly impacts our Mentees identity, self-esteem and increases their knowledge of history as well as their awareness as global citizens," said R.O.P.E. Founder Shirley Edgerton. "We invite you to hear their stories as well as some of the committed and impressive Mentors and family members that journeyed with our Mentees across the Atlantic Ocean."

Founded in 2010 by Edgerton, R.O.P.E. is a proven mentoring program for adolescent girls of color, providing them with the skills and knowledge to enrich their personal development and expand their global awareness.

During the 14-day trip, R.O.P.E. scholars and ambassadors engaged with young Ghanaians at the Oak Tree Orphanage and School and visited multiple historic sites in the country's capital city, Accra, as well as sites in Cape Coast and Kumasi.

For more information, contact Edgerton at 413-496-4602.

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Tina Packer, Founder of Shakespeare & Company, Dies at 87

Staff Reports 06:51PM / Saturday, January 10, 2026

LENOX, Mass. — The doyenne of Shakespeare's plays, Tina Packer, died Friday at the age of 87.

Shakespeare & Company, which Packer co-founded in 1978, made the announcement Saturday on its Facebook page.

"It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Tina Packer, Shakespeare & Company's founding artistic director and acclaimed director, actor, writer, and teacher," the company said on its post and in a press release.

Packer, who retired a the theater company's artistic director in 2009, had directed all of Shakespeare's plays, some several times, acted in eight of them, and taught the whole canon at more than 30 colleges, including Harvard. She continued to direct, teach, and advocate for the company until her passing.

At Columbia University, she taught in the master of business administration program for four years, resulting in the publication of "Power Plays: Shakespeare's Lessons in Leadership and Management with Deming Professor John Whitney" for Simon and Schuster. For Scholastic, she wrote "Tales from Shakespeare," a children's book and recipient of the Parent's Gold Medal Award.

Most recently her book "Women of Will" was published by Knopf and she had been performing "Women of Will" with Nigel Gore, in New York, Mexico, England, The Hague, China, and across the United States. She's the recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, including the Commonwealth Award.

"Our hearts are heavy with the passing of Tina Packer, a fiery force of nature with an indomitable spirit," said Artistic Director Allyn Burrows. "Tina affected everyone she encountered with her warmth, generosity, wit, and insatiable curiosity. She delighted in people's stories, and reached into their hearts with tender humanity. The world was her stage, and she furthered the Berkshires as a destination for the imagination.

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