Berkshires Arts Festival returns to Ski Butternut, features live music
Great Barrington — The 18th annual Berkshires Arts Festival will return to Ski Butternut Friday, July 5, through Sunday, July 7. In addition to the 175 professional artists and craftspeople showcasing their creations, the festival will feature to performances by chamberfolk band Harpeth Rising.

A lively cultural event, the Berkshires Arts Festival features one-of-a-kind work created by 175 professional artists and artisans, 40 of whom are new to the event this year. Festival attendees will enjoy a broad spectrum of work in media including ceramics, wearable and decorative fiber, jewelry, glass, leather, metal, mixed media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and wood, all handmade by the artists and juried into the show by a panel of experienced art professionals. The Berkshires Arts Festival continues to evolve and innovate by presenting art and design by seasoned masters and emerging artists from all regions of the country.
Puppeteer Gordon Holey and his larger-than-life Puppet Brigade will provide entertainment for children, and there will also be a children’s art activity tent. The festival’s specialty food court will include SoCo Creamery ice cream, regional beer and wine, and returning favorite Jungle Juice smoothies and lemonade.
New this year, the Berkshires Arts Festival will welcome chamberfolk band Harpeth Rising for performances at 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. Saturday, July 6. Harpeth Rising is comprised of classically trained musicians Jordana Greenberg on violin, Michelle Younger on banjo and Maria Di Meglio on cello, who play original music as intricately arranged as a string quartet, lyrically rooted in the singer/songwriter tradition, and wrapped in three-part vocal harmonies reminiscent of both Appalachia and medieval Europe. Recently returned from a tour of southeast Asia, the band has appeared at venues including the Guthrie Center, the Kerrville Folk Festival, the Cambridge Folk Festival and the London Folk Festival.
Tickets are $14 for adults, $13 for seniors, $7 for students, $16 for a weekend pass, free for children under 12, and $28 for a festival/Harpeth Rising combo ticket. The event will take place rain or shine. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or contact American Art Marketing at (845) 355-2400 or hello@americanartmarketing.com.
–E.E.
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Berkshire Jewish Film Festival to include 14 films from several countries
Piittsfield – The Berkshire Jewish Film Festival, one of the longest-running film festivals in the United States, will celebrate its 33rd season with showings consecutive Mondays July 8 through Aug. 12 in the Lenox Memorial Middle and High School Duffin Theater. BJFF will present 14 films from a variety of sources including the United States, Israel, Germany, and Latin America. Films will include “Beneath the Ink,” “I Heart NY,” “Ask Dr. Ruth,” “Joseph Pulitzer: Voice of the People” and others.
Tickets are $7 for the 4 p.m. screenings and $10 for the 8 p.m. screenings. For a more information and a full schedule of films, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call (413) 445-5872 x10.
–E.E.
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Ancram Opera House to welcome Salty Brine
Ancram, N.Y. — Alternative cabaret star Salty Brine will perform the award-winning show “Welcome to the Jungle” Saturday, July 6, at 8:30 p.m. at Ancram Opera House.
Written and performed by Salty, and directed by Max Reuben with musical arrangements by Nate Weida, “Welcome to the Jungle” opens deep in the New Hampshire woods in the summer of 1992 where, around a towering bonfire, Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” gets tangled up with letters sent home from sleep-away camp and then set to the tunes from the iconic 1971 album “Nilsson Schmilsson.” “Welcome to the Jungle” received a 2018 Bistro Award for Outstanding Creative Artistry in a Cabaret Performance.
Salty Brine has been called “the love child of Paul Lynde, Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey, in a cabaret three-way.” He is the creative force behind “The Living Record Collection,” a series of cabaret performances that weave together iconic pop albums with cultural touchstones ranging from classic literature to opera. Salty has been a resident performer at the New York supper club Pangea since 2016. “The Living Record Collection” is currently in residence at Joe’s Pub, where Salty will premiere four new shows throughout 2019.
Tickets are $30. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or contact the Ancram Opera House at (518) 329-0114 or info@ancramoperahouse.org.
–E.E.
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Temple Anshe Amunim to host play analysis series

Pittsfield — Temple Anshe Amunim will host the four-part play analysis series “In Fascism’s Grip” on the Tuesdays of July 9, 16, 23 and 30 at 10 a.m.
Barbara Waldinger will lead discussion and analysis of several plays about World War II-era Germany as well as a play about the development of the atom bomb. The series will include Bertolt Brecht’s “The Private Life of the Master Race,” several short plays depicting 1930s Germany and Michael Franyn’s “Copenhagen.”
Waldinger, a director and professor of theater, taught at Hofstra University, Marymount Manhattan College and Queens College for 25 years. She received her Ph.D. from the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City, and serves as artistic director of HRC Showcase Theatre in Hudson, New York. Waldinger directs for Plays in Progress, teaches at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College and contributes to Berkshire On Stage.
The cost for the four-session course is $40 for Temple members and $45 for nonmembers, or $15 per session. For more information or to register, contact Temple Anshe Amunim at (413) 442-5910 or templeoffice@ansheamunim.org.
–E.E.