The Merry, Merry Month of May
By Bess Hochstein
May 2009
It seems as if everyone in the Berkshires has decided May is the time to come out and play! The Berkshire Botanical Garden opened for the season with a celebration of new kinetic sculpture by artist Tom Prentice; the Norman Rockwell Museum held a 
Community Day to celebrate its 40th anniversary and the opening of the famed artist’s studio, installed as it was when he worked there; and Shakespeare & Company hosted its annual gala fundraiser and performance to benefit Community Access for the Arts (CATA), a local organization providing opportunities for disabled individuals to express their creativity. In Pittsfield, the annual “Art in Our Schools” exhibition opens at the Lichtenstein Center on May 20 and the popular 3rd Thursday after-hours street fairs resume on May 21. And the Berkshire Museum is offering free admission for the entire month, culminating in its Seventh Biennial Wine Auction and dinner on May 30. Plus the Museum’s Little Cinema opens for its 59th season on May 22 with the Oscar-nominated feature “Frozen River,” by a local filmmaker.
The Berkshires will be awash in filmmakers this month, as the Berkshire International Film Festival runs from May 14-17. There’s a strong current of social activism coursing through the more than 70 festival selections, beginning with the opening-night documentary, “William Kuntsler: Disturbing the Universe,” a profile of the radical civil rights lawyer by his daughters, who will be in attendance at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center for the screening. On May 15 & 16, Festival honoree Richard Brown, famous for his “Movies 101” classes at NYU, will screen footage from his interviews with many of Hollywood’s brightest stars and share stories of his personal interactions with everyone from Orson Welles to both Katherine and Audrey Hepburn, to Meryl Streep and Martin Scorsese. Documentaries, feature films, and shorts from 13 countrie
s will be screened during the festival, including work by seven Berkshire filmmakers and the winners of the Third Annual Berkshire Student Film Festival. New this year is BIFF Kids!, free screenings of family-friendly films at Great Barrington’s Mason Library. I don’t know how we’ll squeeze in the time to see the workshop of a new play, “I Got Sick Then I Got Better” at Barrington Stage Company by writer Jenny Allen. Directed by James Lapine, it’s at the Pittsfield theatre May 15-17 before its run at New York Theatre workshop this fall. And this evening (May 14) there will be a reception at Jae’s Spice for a new cultural organization: Berkshires Jazz, an offshoot of the Pittsfield CityJazz Festival.
Memorial Day weekend is just as eventful as Berkshire Theatre Festival kicks off its 81st season with Brian Freil’s “Faith Healer” on May 21, the same evening that Shakespeare & Co. opens with “Romeo & Juliet.” MASS MoCA holds its 10th anniversary gala on May 23, including an opening reception for three new exhibitions; a festive dinner for hundreds; and a dance party featuring Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. This retro-soul band is hot; the Hunter Center will be rocking! We’ve booked a room in North Adams so we can bring the corgis and not have to worry about the drive home. But we will have to head south the next day, to catch “Poolside at the Hotel Bel Air,” a new musical by cabarettist extraordinaire Nikos Tsakalakos at Barrington Stage Company, running May 23 & 24. The cultural choices are tough! We’re going to miss one of our favorite dance companies, Paul Taylor, at the Mahaiwe 
on May 23. But we won’t miss the Mahaiwe’s 2nd Season Opening Night Benefit Performance for Berkshire Playwright’s Lab on May 29, featuring staged reading of short plays by the likes of Eric Bogosian, David Mamet, and Larry Gelbart, with actors such as Dan Lauria, Wendie Malick, Peter Riegert, and local gal Karen Allen. Another must-see is Tina Packer’s reprise of her popular star turn in “Shirley Valentine” May 28-31 at Shakespeare & Co. And in the midst of this May mayhem, the Bacon Brothers are playing at Barrington Stage on May 30, the same night as the Berkshire Museum Wine Auction and Close Encounters with Music’s gala evening, “Celebrating Mendelssohn - and Discovering Eduard Franck,” at the Mahaiwe.
It doesn’t let up when the new month begins; the next weekend the Mahaiwe hosts Abba tribute band “Bjorn Again” on June 5 and “Forbidden Broadway” on June 6. That same night, The Clark holds its annual gala under the full moon of June, and MASS MoCA kicks off a new season of programming with a work-in-progress dance by acclaimed choreographer Wally Cardona called “Really Real.” At least we’ve got four chances to catch “The Producers” during its run at The Colonial June 4-6! Add a fine line-up of music nearly every night at Mission Bar + Tapas and you can see why we’re already on the run before summer has even begun.
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 business and feature writer living in Tyringham with K and her rescued corgis, Duffy and Hobbes. She writes for several publications, including Berkshire Living, The Boston Globe, and New England Wine Gazette. Find out more at BessHochstein.com.