Ghent Playhouse presents “Ruthless: The Musical”
Ghent, N.Y. — The Ghent Playhouse presents the musical comedy cult classic, “Ruthless! The Musical,” directed by Michael C. Mensching and Michael McDermott, with musical direction by Joanne Mensching. “Ruthless: The Musical” runs April 14 to 30, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m.
Talented 8 year-old Tina Denmark has always dreamed of being on the stage. She can do it all! But just how far will she have to go to get the lead in her school play? This uproarious musical spoofs iconic Broadway musicals from “Gypsy” to “Mame,” and films from “The Bad Seed” to “All About Eve.”
The Ghent Playhouse cast includes:
- Rosalyn Annely as Tina Denmark
- Jeannine Trimboli, as Tina’s mother, Judy
- Nathaniel Beynon, as Tina’s theater coach, Sylvia St. Croix
- Cathy Lee-Visscher as Myrna Thorn, Tina’s Third Grade teacher
- Deborah Mead as Tina’s mother and theater critic, Lita Encore
- Helen Annely as Eve, an assistant to a Broadway star
- Annaleigh Butts as Louise Lerman, a classmate of Tina’s
Tickets are available online only: $23 for members, $28 for nonmembers, and $12 for students. Tickets and memberships can be purchased at GhentPlayhouse.org with no additional processing fees. For more information about this show or any other, or to learn about upcoming auditions, visit the website ghentplayhouse.org, email info@ghentplayhouse.org or call 518.392.6264.
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Comedians Dan Altano and others come to Berkshire Palate Restaurant
Pittsfield— Berkshire Palate Restaurant will host a live comedy show on April 13 at 7:30 p.m. A limited pub menu will be available, with full course meals available only at least 1 hour before the show. The headliner is Dan Altano with special guests Eryca Nolan and Bri Morrison, hosted by Charlie Nadler.
Dan Altano (headliner) has carved a name for himself in the national comedy scene by narrating his life story with brutal honesty, wit, and heart. Dan’s material tackles the stumbles and falls of growing up, parenthood, and escaping the shadows of his much more successful and better-looking brothers. Dan is the co-host of the podcast Rank It! and is the creator and host of “Dinner’s Ready Live,” an interactive cooking/comedy show that now tours on stages across the country. He is the co-producer of “Just A Jersey Guy and Son,” a comedic storytelling show he writes and performs with his father, Brian Altano. The show runs in theaters across New Jersey.
Eryca Nolan (special guest) is a single mom and standup comedian residing in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. She has appeared on TVOne and Amazon Prime. When she isn’t sipping wine or conjuring up ways to break up with her kids, you can catch her on stage.
Bri Morrison(special guest) was born and raised in Berkshire County. She started comedy in 2018, and has participated in multiple shows through the Common Folk Artist Collective, including recently participating in their live telethon fundraiser. She recently performed at Pittsfield’s Transformerfest and is delighted to return! Quick and observational, Bri uses a narrative style to bring the audience together to laugh over the absurdities of our shared human experiences.
Charlie Nadler (host) owes his existence to a TV show; his parents met while writing together on “Laverne & Shirley.” In 10+ years of performing standup, he has released two albums and told jokes around the world in clubs, colleges, festivals, bars, country clubs, teen centers, basements, attics, and one barber shop. He lives in North Adams, MA where he also develops screenplays. He serves as co-founder of LaughDealers.com, a startup that produces in-person and virtual comedy shows with a twist!
Tickets are $15, available here.
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Watch the 1920 film “The Golem: How He Came into the World”
Williamstown— On Thursday, April 13 at 6 p.m., the Clark Art Institute screens “The Golem: How He Came into the World” in its auditorium, located in the Manton Research Center. Presented in connection with the Clark’s exhibition “Portals: The Visionary Architecture of Paul Goesch,” this is the second event in the Clark’s five-part series Visionary Architecture on Film. The film series explores themes related to Paul Goesch’s life and work in early twentieth-century Germany.
Set in medieval Prague, “The Golem: How He Came into the World” (1920; 1 hour, 26 minutes) tells the story of the titular Jewish folkloric figure made of clay who comes to life to prevent the Jews’ expulsion from the city. The astonishing, quasi-Medieval sets for that city are the work of Expressionist architect Hans Poelzig and resonate closely with Goesch’s drawings on view in the Clark’s Eugene V. Thaw Gallery for Works on Paper. Live musical accompaniment is provided by percussionist Matthew Gold and cellist Paul de Jong.
Free and open to the public; no registration is required. The Clark’s “Visionary Architecture on Film” series is organized by Ella Comberg, MA ’24 in the Williams Graduate Program in the History of Art. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events.
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Author Elizabeth Jacks Scott discusses her book “Journey to Safe Harbor”
Hudson, N.Y. — Hudson Hall will host author Elizabeth Jacks Scott in conversation with Betsy Jacks on Friday, April 14 at 6 p.m. at Performance Hall. Elizabeth Jacks Scott new book is titled “Journey to Safe Harbor: Memoir of Three Generations Self Love, Forgiveness, Reconnection.”
In this memoir, author Elizabeth Jacks Scott embarks upon a journey to unlock the truth about her forebears and the trauma they have carried for generations.
When Scott, descendant of Irish shipbuilders and granddaughter of Baptist missionaries to India, inherits the family’s abandoned 1840s home, the building triggers an intense curiosity about her ancestors who lived there. “Journey to Safe Harbor” covers three generations of a family whose sacrifices made in the name of mission, commitment and duty ended with unintended tragic consequences for their children.
Tickets are free but registration encouraged, available here. Performance Hall at Hudson Hall is located at 327 Warren Street, Hudson, N.Y.
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Discuss “What Storm, What Thunder” by Myriam J.A. Chancy
Salisbury, Conn. — The Scoville Memorial Library presents its Current Fiction Book Group, led by Claudia Cayne on Saturday, April 8 at 4 p.m. They will discuss the book “What Storm, What Thunder” by Myriam J.A. Chancy.
“What Storm, What Thunder” tells the story of how, at the end of a long, sweltering day, an earthquake of 7.0 magnitude shakes the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Award-winning author Myriam J.A. Chancy masterfully charts the inner lives of the characters affected by the disaster—Richard, an expat and wealthy water-bottling executive with a secret daughter; the daughter, Anne, an architect who drafts affordable housing structures for a global NGO; a small-time drug trafficker, Leopold, who pines for a beautiful call girl; Sonia and her business partner, Dieudonné, who are followed by a man they believe is the vodou spirit of death; Didier, an emigrant musician who drives a taxi in Boston; Sara, a mother haunted by the ghosts of her children in an IDP camp; her husband, Olivier, an accountant forced to abandon the wife he loves; their son, Jonas, who haunts them both; and Ma Lou, the old woman selling produce in the market who remembers them all.
Free, this event will take place in person in the Oak Room for those who are vaccinated and comfortable. Please register here – register once for all book groups.
