Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires Board Names New Director

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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. – The Board of Directors of the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires (NPC) announces the appointment of Samantha Anderson as the new executive director of the organization, following the retirement of founder Liana Toscanini at the end of April of this year.
 
Anderson, a Berkshire resident, brings 30 years of experience managing mission-driven organizations in both the nonprofit and private sectors.
 
Board Vice President Hari Kumar, who chaired the search committee, said that the NPC Board undertook a national search.
 
"With the support of our external search firm Eos Transition Partners. Our focus was on finding the right person to steward and grow NPC as an organization that centers the needs of the vital nonprofit sector in Berkshire County, which is home to over 1,200 nonprofits serving a wide range of community causes. Samantha emerged as the clear choice from an extensive pool of highly qualified candidates," he said. 
 
Anderson will enter this new role from her previous position as president of West Stockbridge-based Essential~Wholeness LLC, where she led philanthropic advising and nonprofit capacity-building work while also serving as a National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach. 
 
Her career has been both local and international in scope, and she has demonstrated a consistent ability to design programs that respond to community needs, grow and diversify revenue, and elevate organizational visibility. These skills and capacities are at the forefront of NPC's work. 
 
Additionally, Anderson brings direct experience with the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires itself, having previously served as a board member. 
 
Her existing familiarity with the organization allows her to enter her new role with a firm grasp of the organization's membership, programs, finances, and stakeholders.
 
"I'm thrilled to step into this role, and deeply grateful to Liana for founding and nurturing such a vital organization and to the Board for their confidence in me," Anderson said. "It's an honor to carry the baton forward into the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires' next chapter."
 
"Samantha is the whole package and then some," said Toscanini of her successor. "The Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires will benefit greatly from her experience and skillset as the organization enters its next phase of growth and impact."
 
NPC's Board of Directors invites the Berkshire nonprofit community to join them in both welcoming Samantha Anderson into her new role and celebrating the work of Liana Toscanini in founding and stewarding the Nonprofit Center of the Berkshires for 10 years.
 
 
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King and Confidantes Debate Hope and Change in 'American Five'

By Alan PetrucelliSpecial to iBerkshires
STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — Fiction and fact meld in the regional premiere of "The American Five," now playing at the Larry Vaber Stage of the Unicorn Theatre. 
 
The play takes a fictionalized look at the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his four closest confidants in the months leading up to the famed March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963. The quintet, through differing opinions, animated arguments, constant threats of violence and a late-night meal featuring challah bread and wine, become a family as they prepare for the history-making march that galvanized the Civil Rights movement.
 
Most of us know the King saga. It's the second act in which playwright Chess Jakobs' genius shines. Prejudice runs rampant here: Is Stanley Levison, a Jewish lawyer from New York who shows up in Montgomery to join the fight for racial equality and "to repair the world," viewed as white? Jewish? Both? And march strategist and organizer Bayard Rustin experiences his own fight for civil rights because of his homosexuality. Here, Jakob explores prejudice on different levels.
 
The cast is top-notch with many emotional highs. As King, Rashun Carter (who would look more like his character if he had a full moustache) and Sydney Elisabeth (as Coretta Scott King) are at their best during a scene that bounces between humor and poignancy. 
 
She questions her husband about his meeting with President John F. Kennedy; he is angry and refuses to discuss it. "There is no 'you' out there, without a 'me,' in here," she says, leading King to agree that because of her self-worth and unwavering devotion to him, she is "Coretta Scott Queen."
 
As Clarence Jones, King's personal counsel, Brett Diggs has assurance and dignity; Harry Smith's portrayal of lawyer Stanley Levison, is nothing short of extraordinary. Destan Owens' performance as gay Bayard Rustin is the play's most outstanding performance as he defends his relations with men: "You don't get to judge me!" he tells King. "I'm just trying to find love."
 
"The American Five" is tightly directed by Gerry McIntyre; the historic period projections and footage/designed by Alex Hill remind people that there are dreams, such as hope and change, that are still being fought.
 
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