Close Encounters With Music to present concerts by West Side 5 at The Mount
LENOX — Close Encounters With Music will present two 1-hour-long concerts by West Side 5 at The Mount, at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m., on Sunday, June 13.
West Side 5, an award-winning New York-based vocal jazz ensemble, offers innovative takes on jazz standards. The group has created its own unique sound, characterized by original arrangements, complex harmonies, and outstanding musicianship.
Concerts will take place at the main house, with the musicians performing from the Terrace. The Mount has a limited number of lawn chairs available to borrow. Please plan to bring lawn chairs or blankets, if able. Registration is required.
—A.K.
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Arrowhead to host in-person “Moby-Dick” audiobook release fundraiser
PITTSFIELD — The Berkshire County Historical Society (BCHS) will present an in-person fundraiser at Herman Melville’s Arrowhead on Monday, June 7 at 7 p.m. The event will celebrate the release of a new audiobook version of Melville’s “Moby-Dick,” narrated by Jonathan Epstein and produced in the Berkshires during the pandemic by Alison Larkin Presents.
The evening will include a live reading by Shakespeare & Company actor Epstein, a Q&A session with him and producer Alison Larkin, and wine and dessert in the 1840s barn.
Tickets, which are limited and available for purchase online at the BCHS Museum Shop, are $20 for Berkshire County Historical Society members, $25 for not-yet-members.
—A.K.
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Barrington Stage awarded $30,000 NEA grant in support of “The Supadupa Kid”
PITTSFIELD — Barrington Stage Company (BSC) has been approved for a $30,000 Grants for Arts Projects from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The funds will support BSC’s world premiere production of “The Supadupa Kid,” a new musical based on the children’s book of the same name by Pittsfield author Ty Allan Jackson.
The musical is among the more than 1,100 projects across America totaling nearly $27 million that were selected during this second round of Grants for Arts Projects fiscal year 2021 funding.
Prior to the pandemic, BSC commissioned a musical version of “The Supadupa Kid,” scheduled to be performed by the Youth Theatre in the 2020 season. The musical features writing by Melvin Tunstall III (actor in Broadway’s Beautiful: The Carole King Musical; author of Polkadots: The Cool Kids Musical), music by Joel Waggoner (BSC: Holiday Getaway, Presto Change-o), lyrics by Sukari Jones (The River Is Me, Ain’t Far from Home), and direction by Signe Harriday (How Black Mothers Say I Love You). It is based on the novel by award-winning children’s book author, literacy advocate, and motivational speaker Ty Allan Jackson. The production is now scheduled to be presented outdoors, free of charge, at The Common (100 1st Street in Pittsfield) as part of BSC’s 2022 Season.
—A.K.
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Artist Stacey Silkey to exhibit paintings at Pittsfield’s Hotel on North, District restaurants
PITTSFIELD — Berkshires-based artist Stacey Silkey announces that an exhibition of her paintings from three bodies of work — “The Stones Will Cry Out,” “Seen and Unseen,” and “Tiny Houses” — will soon be on display at Pittsfield’s Hotel on North restaurant and in select guest rooms. On July 1, the restaurant will re-open and welcome diners back after a temporary hiatus.
Silkey will also present a new series of work, “Rear View,” at Pittsfield’s District Kitchen & Bar. The show opens May 29, coinciding with the governor’s lifting of COVID-19 restrictions.
“Those dining in or even ordering takeout can view the artwork,” Silkey said, noting that several paintings are on display in the waiting areas and storefront windows, and that the open layout of the restaurants allow for people to see the large works from a distance.
According to Silkey, the exhibits were rescheduled from an earlier opening date due to public health restrictions. “With much of the population now vaccinated, this moment feels like the right time to officially open the shows,” she said.
Silkey’s paintings are based on hurried sketches of moving images or photographs that her consciousness has not fully processed. She focuses on creating opportunities for shared meaning by transforming incomplete moments into paintings. “The remaining ambiguity brings new ideas and connections to the surface,” she said.
—A.K.
