Howard Dean to give Feigenbaum Lecture
Pittsfield — The 49th annual Hilda Vallin Feigenbaum Memorial Foundation Lecture will be given on Sunday, Aug. 28, at 7:30 p.m. at Temple Anshe Amunim. The speaker will be Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont and former Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman. Dean’s topic will be “Election 2016: Which Path Will America Choose?” The lecture is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served following the lecture.
Former DNC chairman, presidential candidate, six-term governor and physician Howard Dean currently serves as a senior strategic advisor and independent consultant focusing on the areas of healthcare and energy issues. He is a frequent contributor to MSNBC and is the founder of Democracy for America.
Seating will be limited and early arrival is recommended. The doors may close before the lecture begins. For more information, call the Temple office at (413 442-5910).
–E.E.
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Grillsdale 2016
Hillsdale, New York – Grillsdale 2016 will take over the Hilltop Barn at Roeliff Jansen Park on Saturday, Aug. 27, from 6:30 – 10:30 p.m., rain or shine, with creativity and grilled food by some of the region’s most talented chefs.
Event attendees will experience locally sourced, bite-sized grilled specialties created on-site especially for the evening. The Grillsdale 2016 chefs include Josephine Proul of Local 111 in Philmont, N.Y.; “Chopped” champion Dafna Mizrahi of Monte’s Local Kitchen and Tap Room in Amenia, N.Y.; Jack Peele of Jacuterie and Rolo Scarpetti for the Farmer’s Wife in Ancramdale, N.Y.; Charlie Norman of 52 Main and Justin Panzer of the Oakhurst Diner in Millerton, N.Y.; Rob Scott of the Outlaw BBQ for the Mount Washington House and David Wurth of Crossroads Food Shop in Hillsdale, N.Y.
Attendees will be encouraged to cast votes for the best grilled item of the night, while a panel of judges comprised of notable local foodies and dignitaries will also weigh in on the competition. “BBQ Pitmasters” producer John Markus will head the panel. Live music will be provided by the Hayrollers, the Magic Stones, and the Rattleslacks featuring chef Job Yacubian of the Farmer’s Wife and the “Log Cabin Stomp” of Mr. Shawn C. Barber.
Tickets to Grillsdale 2016 are $65. A portion of the profits from the event will be donated to the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or contact Joanna Virello at jvprpr@gmail.com.
–E.E.
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BPL to present ‘War Stories’ by Richard Dresser
Great Barrington — Berkshire Playwrights Lab (BPL) will present the fourth and final reading in its 2016 Staged Reading Series, “War Stories” by Richard Dresser, at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on Wednesday, Aug. 24, at 7:30 p.m.
“War Stories” was inspired by Major David Tucker II, a 22-year veteran of the U.S. Army and Special Operations community. The story centers around Master Sergeant Boyd Cassidy, a Vietnam vet, who is put up in a five-star Phoenix hotel to receive long-awaited recognition. Life has started to make sense after years of turmoil, but then a knock at the door sends him into a horror more profound than anything he faced on the battlefield.
Richard Dresser’s plays have been produced in New York, by regional theater companies, and throughout Europe. A frequent collaborator with BPL, he helped develop “Closure,” which ran at New Jersey Repertory Company last summer and will be performed at the Falcon Theatre in Los Angeles next spring, and wrote three monologues that were filmed with Treat Williams under the title “Public Speaking.” He is on the board of the Writers Guild Initiative, which produces writing workshops with veterans, wounded warriors and caregivers, among other groups.
The reading is free and open to the public, but reservations are recommended. For more information or to reserve tickets, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Mahaiwe box office at (413) 528-0100.
–E.E.
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Discover Tyler Street Festival
Pittsfield — The Discover Tyler Street festival will take place Thursday, Aug. 25, from 5 – 8 p.m. at the corner of Tyler Street and Woodlawn Avenue.
“Celebrating the Future of Arts, Food and Innovation” is this year’s theme, and the festival will feature technology demonstrations for children and adults, as well as information on education and job opportunities in the Berkshires such as robotics, manufacturing technology, culinary arts, cosmetology, and health technology.
A car cruise with classic automobiles will kick off the evening. Other offerings will include Zumba with Rachael Plaine, the Berkshire Rhythm Keepers with Aimee Gelinas, “Get Cuffed” with the Berkshire Health Systems Health Van, and “Jeepers Creepers, Check Your Peepers” at the Lions Club EyeMobile. Melissa Brinton and Cameron Collins will provide live Irish music and activities for children will include face painting, balloon animals, roaming railroad rides and magician Johnny Mystic. Food and drink will be available from Tyler Street Pizza, Grampies Hot Dogs, Just Kickin’ It Bar-B-Que, and others.
Community organizations such as Morningside Initiative, Kiwanis, Head Start, Goodwill, Friends of St. Mary’s, Berkshire Immigrant Center, Samuel Harrison House, Berkshire Dream Center, Elizabeth Freeman Center and others will be represented. Festival attendees will be able to check in on business developments and plans with the Tyler Street District Transformative Development Initiative; Tyler Street Business Group; Berkshire Children and Families; William Stanley Business Park; and Waterstone Retail Development, developer of the proposed Woodlawn Crossing.
Woodlawn Avenue (including the bridge) and Kellogg Street between Forest Place and Woodlawn Avenue will be closed for the event from 4 – 8:30 p.m. Public parking will be available in the Woodlawn bridge parking lot (enter from the East Street side of the bridge). There is public street parking nearby on Kellogg Street, Tyler Street and Forest Place.
–E.E.
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Writers Read at the Lee Library
Lee – The Writers Read monthly reading series will mark its fifth year of operation on Tuesday, Aug. 23, at 5:30 p.m., when it will present Wesley Brown and Sonia Pilcer at the Lee Library.
Wesley Brown is the author of three published novels and four produced plays. He co-edited the multicultural anthologies “Imagining America,” and “Visions of America,” edited “The Teachers and Writers Guide to Frederick Douglass,” and wrote the narration for a segment of the PBS documentary “W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices.” He is professor emeritus at Rutgers University and teaches literature and creative writing at Bard College at Simon’s Rock.
Sonia Pilcer’s most recent novel, “The Last Hotel,” was recently serialized in the Berkshire Edge and is based on the residential hotel her father managed on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Pilcer’s stories have been collected in anthologies and her awards include a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts and fellowships to Yaddo and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. She has taught writing workshops at the Chautauqua Institution, the Writer’s Voice, and Berkshire Community College.
The Writers Read series began in June 2012, when founder David Giannini read from one of his published collections of prose-poems at the Good Purpose Gallery in Lee. By August 2012, Giannini had lined up the first two readers for Writers Read: Susan Dworkin and Gary Metras. Three years later, in August 2015, Giannini moved the series to the more intimate conference room of the Lee Library, which has a podium and microphone and also serves as a monthly gallery for local visual artists.
For more information on the series or the particular event, contact David Giannini at davidgpoet@gmail.com.
–E.E.
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Annette Miller on ‘Sotto Voce’
Pittsfield — On Thursday, August 25 at 10:45 a.m., the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires will present Annette Miller, who is starring in this summer’s Shakespeare & Company presentation of “Sotto Voce.” The free program will take place at Congregation Knesset Israel.
Annette Miller has performed with Shakespeare & Company for the past 19 seasons in roles that include Ruth Steiner in “Collected Stories,” Martha Mitchell in “Martha Mitchell Calling,” Maria Callas in “Master Class,” and the original award-winning performance as Golda Meir in “Golda’s Balcony” directed by Daniel Gidron. Miller will discuss her role in “Sotto Voce,” Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz’s three-person drama about aging writer Bernadette Kahn who lost the love of her life after he was denied entry to Cuba and Miami as a passenger on the MS St. Louis and returned to Europe.
For more information, call the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires at (413) 442-4360 x10.
–E.E.
