Berkshire School’s ‘In the Heights’
Sheffield — Berkshire School’s Theater Department will present its winter production, the Tony Award-winning musical “In the Heights” by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegria Hudes, on Thursday, February 18; Friday, February 19; and Saturday, February 20 at 7:30 pm at the School’s Allen Theater. More than 40 students and adults from both Berkshire School and the larger Berkshire community have been working since November to present the groundbreaking show about the dreams and struggles of residents of Manhattan’s Washington Heights, a largely Dominican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban-American neighborhood on the cusp of change during a summertime blackout.
“The play has me asking a lot of really important questions about what it means to be American,” said director Jesse Howard. “For those with Latino or other immigrant backgrounds, the play is a rare (and long overdue) opportunity to have their story told, a story that is essential to understanding America’s true identity. For the rest of us, working on the show has asked us not only to delve deeper into understanding our own privilege, but also into where we come from and who we are racially, ethnically and culturally.”
There is a $2 suggested donation at the door. The show is rated PG for language and sexual references.
–E.E.
* * *
Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. to speak at Simon’s Rock
Great Barrington — Bard College at Simon’s Rock’s 20th annual W.E.B. Du Bois Memorial Lecture will feature Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr., Distinguished-Senior-Scholar-in-Residence at Emory University. The event will be held on Thursday, February 18, at 7 p.m. in the Daniel Arts Center’s McConnell Theatre and will be free and open to the public.
Dr. Bernard Lafayette, Jr. is a civil rights movement activist, minister, educator, and lecturer, and an authority on the strategy of nonviolent social change. He cofounded the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1960. He was also the leader of the Nashville Movement (1960), the Freedom Rides (1961), and the Selma Movement (1965). In 1962 he directed the Alabama Voter Registration Project and was appointed National Program Administrator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. appointed him National Coordinator of the Poor Peoples’ Campaign. He served as Director of Peace and Justice in Latin America; Chairperson of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development; Director of the Consortium on Peace Research, Education and Development; and minister of the Westminster Presbyterian Church in Tuskegee, Ala. An ordained minister, he is the founder and national president of God-Parents Clubs Inc., a national community-based program aimed at preventing the systematic incarceration of young black youth. Dr. Lafayette earned his B.A. from the American Baptist Theological Seminary in Nashville, Tenn., and his Ed.M. and Ed.D from Harvard University. Dr. Lafayette is a former President of the American Baptist College of ABT Seminary in Nashville, Tenn.; a Scholar-in-Residence at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta, Ga.; and Pastor Emeritus of the Progressive Baptist Church in Nashville, Tenn.
Dr. Lafayette will give a historical retrospective of the U.S. civil rights movement, how it brought about significant national change, the progression of the social change movement, and the focus of the future.
–E.E.
* * *
Dorian Warren to speak on voting rights
Williamstown — Williams College’s Black Student Union will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 with a lecture by Dorian Warren. This event will take place on Thursday, February 18, at 7 p.m. in Griffin Hall, Room 3. It is free and open to the public.
In his lecture, Warren will examine the disenfranchisement of people of color in contemporary and historical context through channels such as voting restrictions, gerrymandering, and mass incarceration. He will also discuss the implications of the current election cycle.
Warren is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, Board Chair of the Center for Community Change, and the host and executive producer of “Nerding Out” on MSNBC’s digital platform. A scholar of inequality and American politics, Warren taught for more than a decade at the University of Chicago and Columbia University, where he was co-director of the Columbia University Program on Labor Law and Policy, and serves as a research associate at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies. Warren received his B.A. from the University of Illinois and his M.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Yale University. He has received research fellowships and grants from the Ford Foundation, CUNY’s Murphy Institute, the Public Welfare Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and the Russell Sage Foundation. Warren is also co-chair of the AFL-CIO’s Commission on Racial Justice Advisory Council. He is the author of the forthcoming “The Three Faces of Unions: Inclusion & Democracy in the U.S. Labor Movement (Oxford University Press)” and the co-author of “Boxing Out: Walmart & the Politics of Labor Market Regulation from Below (Russell Sage Foundation Press).”
For building locations on the Williams campus, consult the online map or call the Office of Communications (413) 597-4277.
–E.E.
* * *
Feeder “e-birding” in Lenox
Lenox – On Wednesday, February 17, from 10 a.m. – noon, Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary will present a free program on e-birding, or contributing bird sightings to an online citizens’ science database. The program is free and hot cocoa and tea will be provided. Registration is not necessary and attendees are urged to bring binoculars. Call the Wildlife Sanctuary for more information at (413) 637-0320.
–E.E.
* * *
Stitch and Sip at Olana
Hudson, N.Y. – The Stitch and Sip program at Olana State Historic Site is designed to teach needlework to adults. Participants are welcome to attend one class or sign up for all three. The first class, “Samplers 1.0,” will take place on Saturday, February 20; “Embroidery on Pre-Printed Fabrics” will be held on Saturday, March 19; and “Beading on Fabric” will happen Saturday, April 23. The series will be held in the Wagon House Education Center and will run from 4 p.m. – 6 p.m.
For more information or to pre-register, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call Olana’s Education Department at (518) 828-1872 x105. The cost of each workshop is $20 for members and $25 for non-members per class, or $50 for the entire series. All supplies, wine, and cheese are included.
–E.E.