Deep in the Depression, a boy and his motherly cousin have saved pennies for a year to make fruit cakes — as Berkshire Theatre Group brings an outdoor performance of Truman Capote’s ‘Holiday Memories’ to life.
Read articleThe Berkshires celebrates all the holidays of light in long nights — Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, the winter solstice and the new year …
Holidays and humor grow near home (December 3 newsletter)
The first weekend in December — winterberry are deep red along the road. The long row of them in front of Windy Hill Farm is enough to turn my head when I drive by.
Read articleHolidays 2020: Celebrating in the Berkshires
In holiday season in a pandemic, the Berkshires is alive with light shows, local makers online, outdoor performances and festivals of trees.
Read articleNaumkeag’s Winterlights opens Berkshire celebrations (November 25 newsletter)
The blue stairs are ice and fire, gleaming with snowflakes and warm with Gospel music. A woman is singing in a confident alto, full-voice and improvising, ‘Let there be peace in every nation. Let there be hope for all the world to see …’
Read articleNightWood turns the Mount into a new world
This winter, the Mount will transform Edith Wharton’s gardens and grounds with NightWood, a landscape of mystery and fantasy, doors into other worlds, journey and night.
Read articleThe Mohican nation honors their homeland with WAM Theatre
Heather Bruegl imagines Mohican people telling Mohican stories and histories, on Mohican land. She is the cultural affairs director for the Stockbridge Munsee community of the Mohican Nation, and she talks with me, and with WAM Theatre, as they prepare for this weekend’s performance of ‘The Thanksgiving Play.’
Read articleNightWood transforms the Mount (November 18 newsletter)
Torches flicker in a long curve into the darkness — a quarter-mile of oil lamps lighting the road. The Mount is a new place tonight. Firelight lines the path between the pine trees, and a bass beat begins to rise …
Read articleSatire for a post-election season: Larissa FastHorse’s ‘The Thanksgiving Play’
Larissa FastHorse, a member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation and a nationally recognized playwright, asks probing questions in satire as WAM Theatre virtually performs of the acclaimed comedy ‘The Thanksgiving Play.’
Read articleCome out and meet the elves
Around me now, in many workshops smelling of new wood, many artists are whittling and sanding and wedging clay and cleaning paint brushes.
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