Adams Theater: 'Baye and Asa Presents: Suck it Up, Second Seed'

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ADAMS, Mass. —The Adams Theater presents movement art and dance company Baye and Asa on Saturday, Sept. 7, at 7:30 p.m. 
 
The company, directed by Amadi 'Baye' Washington and Sam 'Asa' Pratt, will perform two of its most thought-provoking and impactful pieces, "Suck it Up" and "Second Seed." 
 
"Suck it Up" is a duet confronting the violent fallout of male insecurity and entitlement; "Second Seed" responds to D.W. Griffith's 1915 silent film The Birth of a Nation, based on Thomas Dixon's novel The Clansman. It confronts the myth of Griffith's "helpless white minority," and the cult of white-victimhood's enduring impact on American polity. 
 
Tickets can be found here or can be purchased at the box office the day of the show (availability is limited). 
 
Amadi and Sam are in Adams as part of a residency at the theater's Incubator, which invites artists from the Berkshires and beyond to use our physical space to develop bold, original works that foster cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary collaborations. 
 
Amadi and Sam will spend a week in residency at the Adams Theater working on a new commission before presenting work on September 7. The presentations will be followed by Q&A.
 
"We met when we were 6 years old. The physical aggression in our choreography is a symptom of our political rage, and a yearning to personally implicate ourselves," they said. "We use our choreography to create political metaphors, interrogate systemic inequities, and contemporize ancient allegories; we build theatrical contexts that celebrate, implicate, and condemn the characters onstage."
 
Reserve tickets at www.adamstheater.org/present. Adams Incubator residency programs are funded via Berkshire Taconic Foundation's Arts Build Community Incubation Grants.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Adams Parts Ways With Police Chief

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff
ADAMS, Mass. — The town has parted ways with its police chief. 
 
K. Scott Kelley "is no longer employed by the Town of Adams," according to interim Town Administrator Holli Jayko. 
 
The Board of Selectmen voted on Sept. 8 to put the police chief on a paid leave of absence but town officials have declined to answer repeated questions about the nature of the absence other than to clarify it was not a "suspension."
 
His departure follows an executive session held by the Selectmen last Wednesday to discuss a personnel matter other than professional competence, including health or discipline, or dismissal. 
 
A request for further information on whether Kelley's leaving was through resignation or termination was not provided, or whether his contract had been paid out. 
 
"The Town does not comment on personnel matters and will have no further comment on this matter at this time," responded Selectmen Chair John Duval via email on Friday. 
 
Kelley, who moved here to take the post of chief in 2021, has reportedly sold his home. 
 
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