Race Brook Lodge Down Country Social Club presents Simone White
Sheffield— On Thursday, December 14th from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., Race Brook Lodge Down Country Social Club presents an intimate evening with the celebrated singer songwriter Simone White.
Race Brook Lodge Down Country Social Club presents Simone White.
According to NPR, ”Simone White has a voice like ether. It’s sweetly airy and hypnotic. Hearing it can pull you under to a strangely beautiful, glittering world where nothing seems real.” She has released eight albums, several collaborations and has toured with and opened for Little Dragon, Victoria Williams, Mark Eitzel, Andrew Bird, Nouvelle Vague, Thao, Honest Jon’s Chop Up with Damon Albarn, John C Reilly and others.
The concert is on Thursday, December 14th from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Down County Social Club at Race Brook Lodge on South Undermountain Road in Sheffield. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10. Tickets and more information can be found online.
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Great Barrington Public Theater presents ‘Iodine’, a Berkshire Voices Reading
Great Barrington— On Tuesday, December 12th at 7 p.m., Great Barrington Public Theater presents “Iodine”, a staged reading of a brand new play written & directed by Michelle Joyner, adapted from the book by Haven Kimmel.
“Iodine” is a psychological puzzle exploring the life of an unconventional college senior. Tracey Sue Pennington is living a highly functional if impoverished existence after running away from her abusive home and is forced to face her painful past when she falls in love with a much-older man. A traumatic childhood involving exorcisms, alien abduction, and a fragmented reality slowly comes into focus as this young woman’s heart begins to open.
The reading is on Tuesday, December 12th at 7 p.m. at Saint James Place on Main Street in Great Barrington. Tickets are free with a $10 suggested donation. Reservations and more information can be found online.
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OLLI at BCC Performing Arts Initiative presents a talk with Tina Packer, the first Nancy Vale Memorial Talk
Pittsfield— On Friday, December 15th at 1 p.m., OLLI at BCC Performing Arts Initiative presents a talk with Tina Packer, the first Nancy Vale Memorial Talk.
Tina Packer is the founding artistic director of Shakespeare & Company. Born in England, Tina was trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, performed in regional theatre, was an Associate Artist at the Royal Shakespeare Company, played in television series for the BBC, arriving in the U.S. in 1974. She had a Ford Foundation Travel and Study to research the visceral roots of Shakespeare’s plays, traveling to India, Israel, Italy, and the U.S. She co-founded Shakespeare & Company in 1978 and has worked for the Company ever since, directing all of Shakespeare’s plays, acting in eight of them (never when directing), and taught the whole canon at over thirty colleges including Harvard, M.I.T., and NYU.
The Nancy Vale Memorial Talk is supported through the generous philanthropy of Nancy and Michael Vale, whose bequest established the Michael and Nancy Vale Performing Arts Program at OLLI at Berkshire Community College. This endowed fund supports theater-based OLLI programming.
Nancy Vale taught theatre and drama-related courses for OLLI and was a founding member of the OLLI Performing Arts Initiative. For 10 years Nancy and Naomi Spatz co-hosted the popular Berkshire Previews course where regional artistic directors presented their seasons and critics their views. Nancy received her MFA from Northwestern University, where she was awarded an acting fellowship and met her husband Michael while acting off-Broadway. Nancy continued performing and teaching when they moved to the Berkshires, while co-owning The Apple Tree Inn in Lenox and renovating and reopening the former Alice’s Restaurant in Stockbridge as an inn and restaurant. Nancy Vale’s local credits include “Women at the Wheel,” “Bliss Eternal,” “Rites of Passage,” “The Other Woman,” and “SEVEN,” the documentary play by seven playwrights about women’s rights. In 2018, at age 86, Nancy was thrilled to appear in a production of “The Vagina Monologues” in Pittsfield.
The hybrid talk is on Friday, December 15th at 1 p.m. at Berkshire Community College on West Street and on Zoom. It is free and open to all. More information can be found online.
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North Berkshire Contra Dance will hold its monthly community contra dance
Williamstown— On Saturday, December 9th from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m., North Berkshire Contra Dance will hold its monthly community contra dance with all dances taught by Andy Davis to live fiddle music by George Wilson and Selma Kaplan.
Contra dancing is a living tradition in New England. For hundreds of years, neighbors and friends have made their own social entertainment in this highly collaborative dance form.
The caller, Andy Davis, will teach all the dances in an inclusive and welcoming style, using gender-free phrasing. His goal is to put everyone at ease so they can have fun and dance. Music will be provided by George Wilson, whose dynamic fiddling, strongly influenced by Cape Breton and French Canadian styles, has been popular with contra dancers and concert-goers since the late 1970s. George will be accompanied by Selma Kaplan on keyboard. Selma is an accomplished pianist, composer, and arranger, and one of the most requested dance musicians on the East Coast.
The dance is on Saturday, December 9th from 7:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. in the Community Hall of the First Congregational Church on Main Street in Williamstown. New dancers and families with children are encouraged to arrive by 7:30 for instruction in the basics. All are welcome. Admission is pay-as-you-can with a $12 to $20 suggestion; barter is also welcome. Masks are encouraged, but not required. More information can be found online.
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Crandell Kid Flicks presents a free screening of ‘The Grinch’ as part of WinterFest
Chatham— On Saturday, December 9th at 1 p.m., Crandell Kid Flicks presents a free screening of ‘The Grinch’ as part of WinterFest.
Based on Dr. Seuss’ beloved holiday classic, “The Grinch” (Illumination Animation’s 2018 version) tells the story of a cynical grump who goes on a mission to steal Christmas, only to have his heart changed by a young girl’s generous holiday spirit. Funny, heartwarming, and visually stunning, it’s a universal story about the spirit of Christmas and the indomitable power of optimism.
The free screening is on Saturday, December 9th at 1 p.m. at Crandell Theatre on Main Street in Chatham. Wear your favorite, silliest or ugliest holiday sweater. Special guests from Mount Crumpet and the North Pole will be stopping by. “The Grinch” is rated PG. More information can be found online.
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Registration for Shakespeare & Company’s new Winter Riotous Youth and Summer Riotous Youth 2024 sessions opens on December 12th
Lenox— Registration for Shakespeare & Company’s new Winter Riotous Youth and Summer Riotous Youth 2024 sessions opens on December 12th.
Join Shakespeare & Company as they play through the stories of Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”, “Twelfth Night”, “Henry V”, “Love’s Labor’s Lost”, and “Julius Caesar”.
The new winter session is open to students ages seven through 11 and will run Tuesday, February 20 through Friday, February 23 during Massachusetts and New York Public Schools’ February break.The summer session offers one- and two-week sessions for students ages seven through 15, and a three-week session for students ages 15 to 17. Summer sessions will run from July 1st through August 16th.
More information can be found online or by emailing ckraft@shakespeare.org.
