Turnpike public meeting
Lenox – Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Highway Administrator Tom Tinlin will host a public information meeting on Thursday, January 28, from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at the MassDOT District Headquarters, 270 Main St. The purpose of the meeting is to present and discuss the Triennial Review (Western Turnpike State of Good Repair) and its impact on the status of tolls after January 2017. The meeting will give residents the opportunity to voice their concerns on all issues related to the turnpike.
–E.E.
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Nutshell Playhouse’s ‘Pirates!’ at Berkshire Pulse
Housatonic — On Sunday, January 31, at 3 p.m., Nutshell Playhouse will present the free, swashbuckling live theater event “Pirates!” at Berkshire Pulse. “Pirates!” is written and directed by Don Jordan and features mime, music, masks, and puppets. An event geared toward the whole family, the show will star Berkshire County actors Alexia Trainor, Mark Holstein, and Chris Brophy in an exciting and theatrically innovative adventure featuring bold buccaneers, a mysterious map with a riddle, cursed treasure, a visit to an island that you can’t see, a pirate ghost, and a magical journey to the bottom of the sea.
Contact Berkshire Pulse for more information at (413) 274-6624.
–E.E.
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Berkshire Human Rights Speaker Series to present Rev. Sheila Sholes-Ross
Great Barrington – On Sunday, January 31, at 2 p.m., the Berkshire Human Rights Speaker Series will present a talk by Rev. Sheila Sholes-Ross entitled “The Big Talk: Perception, Reality, and Consequences” at Hevreh of Southern Berkshire. Rev. Sholes-Ross will lead a discussion about racism and about the many perceptions white people have of people of color. Honest conversation can reveal the realities of racism and the consequences when ongoing, transparent discussions are avoided. Rev. Sholes-Ross believes that the challenging “big talk” will encourage an atmosphere for healing and promote strategies to prevent future problems relating to race.
Sheila Sholes-Ross is the first African-American woman to lead the First Baptist Church of Pittsfield. A passionate new member of the Berkshire community, she is on a mission to advocate for all women serving in the ministry while addressing issues of social justice.
This event is free and open to the public. For more information call (413) 229-7993 or email rickypenrose@gmail.com.
–E.E.
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Young Performers Showcase at Helsinki Hudson
Hudson, N.Y. — The Community Music Space‘s annual Young Performers Showcase will take place at Club Helsinki Hudson on Sunday, January 31, at 6 p.m.
The Community Music Space is an artistic educational center that provides a voice for music and acting in the Hudson Valley. The school offers private lessons, group classes, and workshops for adults and kids with an experienced, professional, and energized faculty. Groups from the school perform extensively in the community, from festivals to public venues to street fairs, as well as in this annual showcase at Helsinki Hudson.
For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Club at (518) 828-4800.
–E.E.
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Anne Chamberlain to perform piano concert at Simon’s Rock
Great Barrington — Bard College at Simon’s Rock’s Faculty Recital Series will feature longtime piano faculty member Anne Chamberlain on Sunday, January 31, at 3:30 p.m. in the Kellogg Music Center. The program of solo piano music from the 20th century will include works by Debussy, Scriabin, and Berg, along with classics-in-the-making from contemporary figures Stefan Wolpe, Martin Brody, and Ursula Mamlok. The concert is free and open to the public.
Throughout the United States and Europe, Anne Chamberlain has concertized extensively as a soloist and chamber musician. She has premiered works by her contemporaries at numerous performances including concerts at Alice Tully Hall and Town Hall in New York City. The Portland Concert Association (Maine) awarded Chamberlain the John Knowles Paine Award in recognition of her late 20th century American music performances.
Born in New York City, Chamberlain graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and later studied at Juilliard. In recent years she performed in Hanoi, Vietnam, both coaching and accompanying singers from the Vietnam National Opera Company and performing chamber music concerts with leading instrumentalists in the Hanoi community. A piano instructor at Bard College at Simon’s Rock for over 25 years, Ms. Chamberlain is the Music Director at United Church of Christ in Cornwall, Conn.
–E.E.
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Williams College president emeritus receives Haskins Medal
Williamstown — Williams College President Emeritus Francis Oakley, the Edward Dorr Griffin Professor of the History of Ideas, Emeritus has been awarded the Medieval Academy of America’s Haskins Medal for his trilogy “The Emergence of Western Political Thought in the Latin Middle Ages.”
The Haskins Medal is awarded annually by the academy for a distinguished book in the field of medieval studies. Oakley’s three-volume work, published by Yale University Press between 2010 and 2015, is a reinterpretation of the history of political thought from late antiquity to the mid-17th century.
Oakley joined the Williams faculty in 1961, became the dean of faculty in 1977, and moved on to serve as president from 1985 to 1993, after which he resumed teaching. Oakley is the author of 15 books, co-editor of three others, and a frequent contributor to various journals on topics in medieval history and on American higher education. Currently, Oakley serves as the interim director of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. He is a fellow of the Medieval Academy of America and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an honorary fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.
Born in Liverpool, England, Oakley was educated at Oxford University (B.A./M.A – First Class Honors); the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, Toronto; and Yale University (M.A., Ph.D.). He holds honorary degrees from Notre Dame, Northwestern, Southern Methodist, and Wesleyan universities and from North Adams State College, and Amherst, Bowdoin, and Williams colleges.
–E.E.
