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Check out our what to do section for a complete list of Berkshire cultural attractions.
On With the Show(s)!
By Bess Hochstein
June 2008
 I’m pleased to report that the cultural season is off to a great start. I’ve got four shows under my belt already, and all were exceptional. K & I attended Berkshire Theatre Festival’s opening night for The Caretaker at the Unicorn Theatre; we were struck by the power of this classic work written by Harold Pinter in 1960. There’s not a single wrong note in the production—a terrifically grungy set, spot-on direction, and superb acting, with local favorite Jonathan Epstein playing a convincingly haggard homeless man who happens into the lives of two peculiar brothers.  The Mainstage opens on June 17 with George Bernard Shaw’s Candida, which BTF presented in its first season, 80 years ago—a fitting production for this grand anniversary season.
Soon after that we were in Pittsfield for Barrington Stage Company’s season-opener, I Am My Own Wife.  It wasn’t just the season that was opening, but also a brand-new second stage for BSC, which took a long-term lease on the VFW Hall in late May and transformed it into a perfect performance space in less than a month! So it’s fitting that the inaugural production stars an actor who has made a name for himself in the Berkshires by making instant transformations—jumping out of one character and into another in a flash.
This quick-change artist is Vince Gatton, playing several real-life characters, including the play’s author Doug Wright and its central figure, a German transvestite who survived both the Nazis and the Stazi – the East German secret police under the post-war Communist regime—through charm, wit, and perhaps a little double-dealing.
Gatton previously won over local audiences by playing scores of characters in the BSC production of the comedy Fully Committed.  Next up on Stage II is The Mysteries of Harris Burdick, a full production of a piece that was workshopped last summer as part of BSC’s Musical Theatre lab, opening June 18.
Meanwhile, back at the MainStage, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee returns to its roots on June 11. This Tony-Award-winning musical is sure to be a hot ticket; make sure you’ve got yours in hand soon. We’re going this weekend!
 Friday we took in Shakespeare & Company’s season-opening farce, The Ladies Man, a loose adaptation of the Feydeau farce, Tailleur Pour Dames. I’m generally not a fan of this over-the-top comedy genre, but this production has me in stitches—another must-see.
The Bard doesn’t make an appearance until the company’s first main stage production of All’s Well That Ends Well, directed by founder Tina Packer, opens on June 20, followed by free, two-night Bankside performances of The Mad Pirate and the Mermaid starting June 25.
On Sunday, we made our first ascension to Jacob’s Pillow to attend a special member’s event: a screening of Water Flowing Together:  The Story of Jock Soto, who at the tender age of 16 joined New York City Ballet, where he was a star nearly 25 years.\
Soto did a Q&A with executive director Ella Baff after the screening at which he revealed some of his post-NYCB endeavors. Still teaching dance, Soto turned to his second passion—cooking—and attended the prestigious Institute of Culinary Education. He’s now a caterer, and there’s talk about him hosting a show for the Food Network.  And he let slip some breaking news – he’s working on a memoir, which should be interesting given his upbringing on the Navajo reservation as the offspring of an American Indian/Puerto Rican marriage, and his life as a celebrity dancer among Manhattan’s high society.
I was back at the Pillow today at 8 a.m. for Pilates, one of the five Community Classes offered on weekday mornings. This is all before the Pillow’s season opening gala on June 14, which features preview performances by dancers who will take the stage later in the season, including Keigwin + Company, perennial Pillow favorite Garth Fagan Dance, a rare solo appearance by Bill T. Jones, plus film clips from the Pillow Archives as well as cocktails, a sumptuous dinner, a live auction and dancing to live music  on The Great Lawn—and the folks at the Pillow say they have some surprises in store.
If you can’t make it to the Gala, you can still participate in the auction online. I looked at the list of items you can bid on—there’s a link on the Jacob’s Pillow website—and there’s some pretty cool stuff, such as a cruise on the Forbes yacht, “The Highlander;” a week in the Mexican heartland; a Marc Jacobs handbag; a blindfolded dinner for two at Camaje Bistro in Greenwich Village; a private tour for ten of Berkshire Mountain Distillers plus a missed case of the boutique distillery’s Ice Glen Vodka, Greylock Gin, and Ragged Mountain Rum; dinner at Wheatleigh with Ella Baff and up to eight guests; a garden design consultation with Pillow horticulturalist Valerie Locher; and a dozen photo-filled dance coffee table books, nine of which are signed by the authors. The online auction ends on June 11, so start bidding now!
 Norman Rockwell Museum also had an opening this weekend of Raw Nerve! The Political Art of Steve Brodner, a political illustrator, a self-proclaimed “equal opportunity offender,” whose satirical cartoons skewering politicians have appeared in publications such as “The New Yorker, Esquire The New York Times, Mother Jones, Rolling Stone, and Sports Illustrated. The show includes more than 100 original artworks, many of them quite timely given the current presidential campaign.
And right around the corner, the Berkshire Botanical Garden unveiled its new exhibition, Cultivate, featuring 11 specially commissioned works of outdoor sculpture, created in collaboration with MASS MoCA as a companion to the museum’s current exhibition,  Badlands: New horizons in the Landscape.
Williamstown Theatre Festival is kicking off its season this week with Christopher Duran’s comedy Beyond Therapy. Like many venues, WTF is starting earlier than in past years, and this first show, starring Kate Burton, runs just eleven days, so act fast if you want to see it. While in Williamstown, we may preview what’s in store for the space that was formerly Spice by dining at Jae’s. Word is that he has teamed up with the owners of the much-missed Pittsfield restaurant, which will be resurrected this summer as Jae’s Spice.
Too bad it’s not already open—K and I will be spending next Saturday in Pittsfield. First, we’re heading to the June 14 opening of Women on Display at Storefront Artist Project. (We missed their ArtCircus fundraiser last week because we just had to see Paul Taylor at the Mahaiwe; I hear it was successful event and a lot of fun.)
Then, after dinner at Brix, we’ll see The Mystical Arts of Tibet: Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing at The Colonial, for which Kripalu is the Hospitality Sponsor.  This event, co-produced by Richard Gere Productions, features monks from the Drepung Loseling Institute in traditional costume playing Tibetan instruments and performing masked dances.
Endorsed by the Dalai Lama, the tour has three basic purposes: to make a contribution to world peace and healing; to generate greater awareness of the endangered Tibetan civilization; and to raise support for the Tibetan refugee community in India. As part of their visit, the monks will participate in various community events, including in-school appearances and the creation of a mandala sand painting in The Colonial Theatre’s lobby.
 Starting this weekend, Jiminy Peak’s Mountain Adventure Park will be open seven days per week, weather permitting. Attractions such as the Alpine Slide, Mountain Coaster and Euro-Bungee Trampolines, as well as a new Kids Zone are making sure Jiminy Peak is known as more than a ski resort.
For a different kind of mountain adventure, join naturalist René Laubach of Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary for an eight-mile round-trip hike to the summit of Mt. Greylock on June 14. Since the road to the top is currently under repair, the only way to the 3,500-foot peak is by foot, but the view from the top, one of the Berkshire’s very best shows, is worth the effort.
About Bess Hochstein
Bess J.M. Hochstein came to the Berkshires as a second-homeowner before deciding to move here full time. Previously a communications executive, she's now a freelance writer living in Tyringham with her corgis Duffy and Hobbs and K. She writes for several publications, including Berkshire Living, the Boston Globe, New England Wine Gazette, and Healing Lifestyles & Spas magazine.
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