MCLA Theatre Announces Four Productions

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' (MCLA) Theatre program announces its 2024-2025 season, featuring four productions.
 
The season opens November 8-10 with William Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure," directed by MCLA Professor of Theatre Laura Standley.
 
In this bold re-telling, MCLA Theatre explores a world where crime and punishment collide under the rule of a conservative hard-liner. As moral lines blur and the city faces a draconian crackdown, one woman's plea for mercy sets off a harrowing battle between virtue, sacrifice, and power.
 
The second show of the fall semester is "The Method Gun," running December 6-8. Created by the Rude Mechs theatre collective, it is an exploration of theatre-making, actor training, and the fine line between genius and absurdity, according to a press release.
 
Re-devised by MCLA Theatre students and directed by Professor Standley, this play-within-a-play delves into the extreme techniques of the fictional Stella Burden and her troupe, offering a darkly comic reflection on the meaning of art and truth in performance.
 
 
The spring 2025 semester begins with performances of "The Little Prince" from April 4-6.
 
Written by Rick Cummins and John Scoullar, this heartwarming adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's beloved tale invites audiences to embark on a journey through the cosmos with a stranded aviator and an enigmatic little prince. Exploring the tension between childhood innocence and adult disillusionment, the play offers a beautiful allegory about love, loss, and the power of imagination. Directed by Professor Jeremy Winchester, this production is sure to delight audiences of all ages.
 
"Love and Information," directed by Professor Standley and MCLA Theatre's directing class, wraps up the season from May 2-4. 
 
Caryl Churchill's play takes audiences on a whirlwind journey through more than 50 short scenes, each examining the nature of love, memory, and identity in the digital age.
 
Tickets for all performances will be available through MCLA's community-serving cultural events program, MOSAIC. For more information and ticket pricing, visit MOSAIC at mcla.edu/mcla-in-the-community/bcrc/music.php.

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Freight Yard Pub Serving the Community for Decades

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

One of the eatery's menu mainstays is the popular French onion soup. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Freight Yard Pub has been serving the community for decades with a welcoming atmosphere and homemade food.
 
Siblings Sean and Colleen Taylor are the owners Freight Yard Pub. They took it over with their brother Kevin and Colleen's first husband in 1992. The two came from Connecticut and Boston to establish a restaurant and said they immediately felt welcomed in their new home.
 
"The reception that the community gave us in the beginning was so warm and so welcoming that we knew we found home," Colleen Taylors said. "We've made this area our homes since then, as a matter of fact, all of our friends and relationships came out of Freight Yard Pub."
 
The pub is located in Western Gateway Heritage State Park, and its decor is appropriately train-themed, as the building it's in used to be part of the freight yard, but it also has an Irish pub feel. It is the only original tenant still operating in the largely vacant park. The Taylors purchased the business after it had several years of instability and closures; they have run it successfully for more than three decades.
 
Colleen and Sean have been working together since they were teenagers. They have operated a few restaurants, including the former Taylor's on Holden Street, and currently operate takeout restaurant Craft Food Barn, Trail House Kitchen & Bar and Berkshire Catering Co. 
 
"Sean and I've been working together. Gosh, I think since we were 16, and we have a wonderful business relationship, where I know what I cover, he knows what he covers," she said. "We chat every single day, literally every day we have a morning phone call to say, OK, checking in."
 
The two enjoy being a part of the community and making sure to lend a hand to those who made them feel so welcome in the first place.
 
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