Monday, February 17, 2025

News and Ideas Worth Sharing

Ann St. Clair

Ann St. Clair was born in Washington D.C. and grew up in New York City where she constantly wore black and read Sartre on the subway. Her father did some sort of ill-defined government work, and from an early age, she was surrounded by people and ideas from around the world. As a teenager, she tripped into a summer job as receptionist at British Information Service in the RCA Building in New York, where she became fascinated by the public relations operation of a government in a foreign country. She enjoyed working in daytime TV where her most stirring line was: “The doctor will see you now.” Ann graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, where she ate, breathed and slept English literature and history, and took a year-long Bible course that changed her life. She has finished writing several books, including a coming of age novel called Marta Byrd, and she is working on a clutch of tales featuring eccentric characters in Israeli Secret Service. She likes living in the Berkshires, where she enjoys theatre and intrigue, and she loves to laugh.

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REFLECTIONS: Haunted by a will

Like individuals, countries want to stretch and develop, yet it's not to the advantage of autocratic governments to encourage ambition and education among their people.

New ‘Little Women’ is visually beautiful, more sociologically accurate than previous adaptations

I have never wished I were a boy, but even as a child reading “Little Women” for the first time, I recognized why Jo said she was bitter about being born a girl.

‘Stroke of Luck’ heralds future Berkshire films

It's easy to project that this serious, completely Berkshires-made comedy might be the first of many films to come.

REVIEW: At Shakespeare & Co., ‘Time Stands Still’ — or maybe not

The most powerful question the piece leaves with the audience is a basic one each person in the theater must face in a lifetime: How do we balance our need for love with our need for self-actualization?

Shakespeare & Company’s Tina Packer honored with Lifetime Achievement Award

Tina Packer is a force of nature," said Guy Roberts, Founding Artistic Director of the Prague Shakespeare Company (PSC). “She has influenced and inspired generations of theatre makers and theatre goers. I can think of a no better ambassador for Shakespeare..." -- Guy Roberts, Founding Artistic Director of the Prague Shakespeare Company.

PREVIEW: Comic uncertainty with “Heisenberg” at Shakespeare & Company

When I had read the script, I noticed that it never referenced theoretical physicist Werner Heisenberg or his uncertainty principle, yet its two characters lurch from one idea and one place to another with striking uncertainty.

NEA awards $328,000 to cultural organizations and initiatives in the Berkshires

The arts currently create upwards of 4,000 year-round jobs here, and even more seasonally, all of which support other jobs.

ON FILM: ‘Molly’s Game,’ portrait of a high stakes life

Molly's Game is the story of a charming, adaptable, ambitious woman with brilliant math and organizational skills and an omnivorous ability to learn new things.

LITERATURE: Michael Orthofer, originator of one of Time’s 50 coolest websites, to speak at Trinity Church

Michael Orthofer has been reviewing books and publicly exploring the international literary scene since 1999, with almost 4000 titles under review and a focus on international fiction and fiction in translation.

PREVIEW: ‘Cymbeline’ at Shakespeare & Company, a play for our time

Why was a play so highly prized in previous centuries so neglected recently? And why had Shakespeare & Company decided to do it now?

Signs of the times

“Our understanding of the scriptures, scriptures we consider inspired by God, tells us to welcome all people in all circumstances as fellow human beings.” -- The Rev. Michael Tuck, rector of Trinity Church in Lenox

Art in action: A conversation with Shakespeare & Company’s Kevin Coleman

Shakespeare & Company’s Education Director Kevin Coleman is a 2016 Tony Award Finalist for Excellence in Theatre Education. “Creativity is our birthright. All art gives us insights into ourselves, keys to our own creativity, and theatre adds a natural experience of cooperation,” he notes.

At Shakespeare & Company, discovering Aphra Behn: The brilliant playwright nobody knows

Considering the dismal lack of opportunity available to women in her time, Aphra Behn made a stubborn, and possibly wrong-headed decision: “I’ll be a playwright…. I’ll earn my own bread or go hungry.”

PREVIEW: ‘Ugly Lies the Bone,’ intriguing tragicomedy at Shakespeare & Company

This is a new, exciting work by a young woman who sweeps away easy answers, rejects clichés, and challenges the audience.

PREVIEW: At Shakespeare & Co. ‘The Taming’ is funny and brave

This year, in the midst of one of the most surprising and disturbing presidential election seasons ever recorded, Lauren Gunderson’s “The Taming” is a brilliant Red State/Blue State romp.

Ark Theatre premiers ‘Babylon Revisited’ at Shakespeare & Co.: Cutting-edge blend of film, live theatre

The effects are amazing, but all of them ring true. The story and the language soar and go deep. They remain F. Scott Fitzgerald’s.
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The Edge Is Free To Read.

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