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Speeding through Spring
By Bess Hochstein
 The crocuses and daffodils bursting through layers of last year’s leaves in this week’s summer-like heat inspired me to pull on my gloves and get my hands into the dirt. The warm weather has made us feel way behind in our gardening – just got the peas and greens in the veggie patch this weekend, and pots of pansies now add much-needed color around the house.
And can it be true? Is the lawn finally turning green? After a thorough spring tune-up, K. finally got his fixed-gear bike on the road for on exhilarating ride, and I’ve made the annual pilgrimage with my laptop from indoor office to the table on my deck.
 There are other harbingers of the advancing season—Guido’s shelves are stocked with asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, peas and fava beans – just in time for me to cook up a spring vegetable risotto for my friends from New York, whose arrival is another sign of the coming season. So, too, is the flurry of activity in the Berkshires, which recently noted Earth Day with a variety of events, and more are on the docket. The Four College Lecture series is bringing Amory Lovins, author of Winning the Oil Endgame and a developer of the hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered Hypercar, to speak at MASS MoCA on April 30.
 Like the plants around us, our cultural institutions are stirring. This week we celebrated a notable benchmark for the Bard at Shakespeare & Company’s “Will 444” birthday bash, featuring Elizabethan food; a performance with snippets from Shakespeare’s plays, previews of new work from the upcoming season, a performance by local band Citizen Genet, and other delights; a post-performance party with birthday cake and dancing; and a raffle of a luxurious trip for two to London, which was won by Carrie Saldo, Berkshire bureau chief of our local public radio station, WAMC.
 Shakespeare & Co. has been in the news lately due to its current fundraising campaign for the renovation of a huge production facility that will house cutting-edge costume and set shops and storage, rehearsal space and the new Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre. Construction is actually ahead of schedule for the theatre’s opening event: a one-night-only production of Shirley Valentine, with Tina Packer reprising the title role. The season officially begins in just one month, on May 23 with The Ladies Man, based on a Feydeau farce, but right now the Company is reaching the May 9 conclusion of its New England tour of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Shakespeare and Young Company brings the action home May 10 & 11, with teenagers performing selections from the Bard’s works.
If it sounds like the folks at Shakespeare & Co. are starting earlier, note that they are not the earliest at the season’s gate. Barrington Stage Company begins its second-stage production of  I Am My Own Wife on May 21, and is also staging a two-day Musical Theatre Lab production of WATT!?! on May 24-25. Berkshire Theatre Festival kicks off its 80th anniversary year on May 22 with previews of its Unicorn Stage production of Pinter’s The Caretaker. Casting for the title role of its opening Main Stage Production, George Bernard Shaw’s Candida, was recently announced; Jayne Atkinson—perhaps best known from television’s 24, will shine in BTF’s footlights starting on June 11. (Her real-life husband Michel Gill will play her stage husband.).
 Audiences are getting in on the early-bird act, too. James Taylor’s performances at Tanglewood have been sold out for weeks, and other events may follow. Our cultural organizations are reporting strong advance ticket sales – from six to 16 percent ahead of last year’s levels. My advice: buy tickets ASAP for everything you’d like to see, because they may be hard to come by later in the season. Here’s another example; I just learned that certain levels of passes to the Berkshire International Film Festival, which kicks off on May 15, are already sold out, so if you’re a film buff, get cracking!
 For those not thinking a month ahead of time, there’s plenty going on in the Berkshires right now. This week Cultural Pittsfield is celebrating National Poetry Week with eight days of events, including readings at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts, the Berkshire Athenaeum and Dottie’s Coffee Lounge; an after-school workshop for young writers on using photos to inspire poetry and prose; and a reception at the Ferrin Gallery on Saturday April 26 for Susan and Gene Flores, creator of the “Poet House” installation that graced Pittsfield this year after a summer in Stockbridge.  The reception also marks the opening of a show called FRESH featuring emerging artists new to the gallery. Also in Pittsfield, the Berkshire Museum is holding its “Film Feast Finale,” with a screening of Black Orpheus, followed by a meal at the Brazilian Grill on May 4.
I’m not sure when the Northern Lights occur, but this weekend we’ll be treated to a North County light show in North Adams. From dusk to 11 p.m. on Saturday April 26, during the Hoosic River Lights Project, art installations of light sculptures will celebrate the river and its role in history. This community event will also include food and music, and the organizers suggest there will be a big surprise at some point during the evening. If it rains, the event moves to Sunday.
 To make a family day of the trip north, head to MASS MoCA Saturday afternoon, where percussionist Kenny Wollesen is wrapping up a weeklong residency with a jamboree performance, joined by his band, the Himalayas, and local musicians. Kids will also enjoy a new installation by The Miss Rockaway Armada, “Being Here is Better than Wishing We’d Stayed.” The next weekend Saturday night, May 3, NYC-based violinist/composer Jenny Scheinman will perform in MoCA’s Alt-Cabaret series.
 South County stages are also active; Close Encounters with Music will be at The Mahaiwe with a guitar and cello recital featuring Eliot Fisk and Yehuda Hanani. Nostalgia reigns on May 6, with In the Mood: A 1940s Big Band Musical Review. Mahaiwe’s Monday Night Movies series has taken an international turn, with Ingmar Bergman’s Sawdust and Tinsel on April 28 and Children of Paradise on May 5. And The Triplex Cinema continues to present intriguing live performances in its new upstairs screening room, with poet prodigy Ekiwah Adler-Belendez reading from his work on April 26.
 On top of a busy calendar—including ODC/Dance Company on May 2, The Veleveteen Rabbit on May 3, and Evita on May 7, The Colonial has just announced its upcoming season. Building on its early success, The Colonial will focus its programming on international performing artists; nostalgic tribute shows celebrating the likes of the Rat Pack, Pink Floyd, and Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper; family-oriented presentations; contemporary singer-songwriters, including those with local roots such as Livingston and Kate Taylor and Arlo Gurthrie; and popular comedy acts.
 In addition, The Colonial is joining the Mahaiwe in recognizing the demand for opera, but while the Mahaiwe will continue its high-definition broadcasts from New York’s Metropolitan Opera, The Colonial will present digital telecasts from La Scala Opera House in Milan on Sundays throughout the summer, resuming in December. And as part of a new series, “Berkshire County Collaborators,” The Colonial will host Berkshire Opera’s production of The Marriage of Figaro this August. We’d best get the rest of our gardening done soon because it’s going to be another jam-packed summer in the Berkshires!
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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