Take a load off, Annie. Take a load for free … Mavis Staples sets the room singing on a February night. The outside temperature is in the single digits, and 500 people are joining in the chorus.
She is a gospel singer with a deep and powerful range, a Blues and a Rock and Roll Hall of Famerand Grammy Award-winner — she has marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and performed at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration.
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center brings music to the Berkshires year-round, and dance, film, comedy and theater as well, in a restored 1905 concert hall and cinema.
Mahaiwe is a Mohican name, the place downstream — in this case, from the Housatonic River. The theater re-opened in 2002 as part of Great Barrington’s Downtown Historic District, and they continue to offer programming with the mischief of Pilobolus (contemporary dance company) coming out for a curtain call in a fall of water and sliding across the stage.
Jimi Hendrix shapes a chord at Woodstock in 1969.
Antony and Cleopatra perform live in high definition on the big screen at the Mahaiwe.
The acrobatic modern dance company Momix will return to the Mahaiwe in July 2019.
Acclaimed singer songwriter Natalie Merchant will perform at the Mahaiwe in August 2019.
Buddy Guy — Grammy winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, influence on Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan, will perform at the Mahaiwe in July 2019.
