Click to Hide
Please Check Directly
With Lodging Property
If You Do Not See
Availability Displayed.
|
Check out our what to do section for a complete list of Berkshire cultural attractions.
The Solstice Shuffle
By Bess Hochstein
June 2008
 June 21 marks the official start of summer, and it’s a good thing that it’s the longest day of the year. It seems as if nearly every Berkshire organization has decided to celebrate the solstice with a big event. Berkshire Theatre Festival is holding its 80th anniversary celebration that Saturday evening, with pre-show dinners at private homes, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres under the Main Stage tent before the curtain rises on George Bernard Shaw’s Candida—the first play presented at BTF—plus post-performance birthday cake and festivities.
 That same evening is Barrington Stage Company’s gala, with an early showing of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee—which originated at BSC and went on to Broadway, racking up a few Tony Awards along the way—followed by cocktails, dinner, a dance party and an auction. Theater fans have a tough decision, though my friend D plans to attend both galas. How he’ll manage that I’m not sure. Perhaps he’s going to be cloned, or just skip the performances and shuttle between festivities….
Our day will begin with a birthday party for the two other Tyringham corgis—Archie and Buster—at which Duffy and Hobbes will tire themselves out sufficiently so that K and I can do some party hopping of our own.  That dog day afternoon, we’ll head into Great Barrington for the Berkshire Co-op Market’s Summer Solstice Celebration, going from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., featuring live music, great food and a marketplace of local vendors. After that, it’s off to Pittsfield for the opening reception for Maggie Mailer’s new show at Ferrin Gallery.
Finally, we’ll continue north for the unveiling of the Clark’s new Stone Hill Center. The new building, designed by famed architect Tadao Ando, capitalizes on the Clark’s bucolic setting.
Many people who visit the museum disregard the lovely trails winding through the 140-acre campus. Now the museum’s gorgeous environment will come to the fore;  it’s a short walk from the main buildings to Stone Hill Center, and the new structure deliberately frames the landscape. Ando himself will be on hand to will be deliver a members-only lecture on the afternoon of June 21, followed by a preview of his building and the Clark’s two summer exhibitions: Like Breath on Glass: Whistler, Inness, and the Art of Painting Softly and Homer and Sargent from the Clark.
 The opening promises a fabulous evening of art, architecture, food, wine, music, and a few surprises—probably enough to keep us overnight in North County. I hope Jae’s Inn has a room!
In case we want to take another look at the new buildings and exhibitions, we’re in luck, because Saturday June 22 is Community Day at the Clark, with free admission (and free cookies and lemonade, which will be much welcomed if it remains as hot as it is right now); a self-guided scavenger hunt on the Clark’s trails; a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Stone Hill Center; performances by Odiako New England taiko Japanese drumming group and tours of the Williamstown Art Conservation Center throughout the afternoon; and an afternoon lecture on The Hard Work of Painting Softly by exhibition curator Marc Simpson. Should we work up an appetite, we’ll head east to North Adams for the 7th annual Northern Berkshire Food Festival, featuring samplings from about 20 local restaurants, plus wine and micro-brewed beer tastings and live music.
 The Clark festivities mean we’ll have to miss many other June 21 events, such as songstress Marta Topferova opening MASS MoCA’s outdoor Alt Cabaret series; Livingston Taylor with special guest Kate Taylor at The Colonial; and the BerkShares Auction at Crissey Farm, a new function facility attached to the Barrington Brewery.
BerkShares are our local currency, conceived of as a device for regional, sustainable economic development.  But we can still participate in the auction online, bidding on items such as a signed, framed print of Norman Rockwell’s iconic “Stockbridge—Main Street at Christmas;” a gift certificate to Berkshire Bike & Board; four tickets to James Taylor’s sold-out concert at Tanglewood on July 4; two books of ten tickets each to The Triplex; dinner at Route 7 Grill; and a two-night stay at Berkshire 1802 House. Online bidding concludes at 5 p.m. on June 19, so check out the lots on the BerkShares site and get busy!
It’s hard to believe all this is happening in just one night—especially when there’s so much else going on in the Berkshires! Last week K & I went to Williamstown Theatre Festival’s opening of Beyond Therapy, a comic flashback to the ’80s featuring personal ads, dating disasters and shrinks that was so well done it had me in hysterics. In addition to the spot-on acting and set design, the background music was also a treat: Talking Heads, Blondie, The Smiths – very nostalgic, and fun!
The next night we attended the opening of Women on Display, an exhibition of representational work at Storefront Artist Project, which will run through the end of June. We left the jam-packed reception and strolled down North Street to The Colonial for an enchanting evening: The Mystical Arts of Tibet: Sacred Music Sacred Dance for World Healing, featuring traditional music and dance by Drepung Loseling monks in ornate costumes and masks. The monks had constructed a mandala sand painting in The Colonial lobby throughout the week, and deconstructed it on Sunday afternoon, leaving some of the sand behind for healing and taking the rest to scatter in the West Housatonic River.
Having remained perhaps the last person in the Berkshires to see 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,  I remedied that situation at BSC on Sunday, where a full house greeted this sparkling production, which includes audience participation. (One participant was a staffer from fellow theatrical organization BTF, and boy did he come in for some ribbing on stage!)
As icing on the cake, composer/lyricist Bill Finn joined the pitch-perfect cast on stage to hearty applause. Finally I got to see why it’s a favorite—if you’re also a Spelling Bee virgin, get your tickets ASAP, because they are selling fast! Afterward, we took a friend for a belated birthday dinner for a friend at Bombay Bar & Grill with the sun setting over Laurel Lake.
 And there’s plenty more to do before the grand convergence of solstice events, particularly on June 19 in Pittsfield, the city’s second Third Thursday of the year. This week’s theme is “Go Green,” and the scene includes Morris dancing; hula hoops; kundalini yoga; ballet performances; outdoor pottery wheel demonstrations by ceramics instructors from IS183 Art School and the Lichtenstein Center; and a bike rally. You will also find displays of energy-efficient technologies; music up and down South and North Street as well as at Pittsfield Brew Works and the Berkshire Athenaeum; a jewelry trunk sale at the Berkshire Museum—which is open until 8 a.m., with free admission for local residents; special sales at downtown stores; and a preview of Maggie Mailer’s show at Ferrin Gallery. If that is not enough, check out the special menus at downtown restaurants; and free samples of food prepared by Berkshire Community College’s culinary department, as well as poetry readings and an art exhibition, all at the school’s new downtown home at the Intermodal Center; plus much more.
 Following the festivities, I’m tempted to stay in Pittsfield for The Mysteries of Harris Burdick at BSC’s Stage 2, the full production of a workshop developed last summer as part of the Musical Theatre Lab.
The next night, Friday June 20, is a “Pay What You Can” evening for 35-and-under audience members. BSC’s new program is designed to attract younger patrons, and a friend who went to Spelling Bee on the first-ever “PWYC” night said it was extremely successful. She particularly enjoyed the after-party in the theater’s alley, with a DJ dance party.
 On the other hand, we may opt for French film at the Berkshire Museum, where the Little Cinema is screening Priceless, a comedy with Audrey Tatou. June 19 is also opening day at Jacob’s Pillow, with Garth Fagan on the Ted Shawn stage and a full roster of free performances at the Inside/Out stage throughout the week.
Things get even busier when All’s Well That Ends Well, directed by Tina Packer, hits the Shakespeare & Company stage on June 20, followed by the free, two-part Bankside production of The Mad Pirate and the Mermaid, written and directed by company member Michael Burnet, beginning June 25.
 Williamstown Theatre Festival also goes full bore next week, with The Atheist, a one-man play starring Campbell Scott, taking over the Nikos Stage on June 25 and classic musical She Loves Me opening the Main Stage on June 27. Also starting June 25, Berkshire Theatre Festival brings its kid-friendly, mid-day production of Hercules to the Berkshire Museum.
There’s still more theater at the Mahaiwe, which is hosting the kick-off of the brand new Berkshire Playwrights Lab, with an evening of staged readings on June 25. Two nights later, on June 27, singer/songwriter Martin Sexton takes the stage at the Mahaiwe, with opening act Chris Trapper, formerly of The Push Stars.
 This presents a difficult decision for us; Mark Morris will be at Tanglewood on the same evening. The next night, June 28, presents another quandary—Garrison Keillor’s annual broadcast of “A Prairie Home Companion” from Tanglewood, or a screening of Bruce Lee’s classic Enter the Dragon with live original music by Karsh Kale at MASS MoCA. Unfortunately, by that time we’ll be one week past the solstice, and the days will be getting shorter, just as there’s more and more to do.
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.
|
|