Berkshire Festival of Women Writers announces seventh series of events
Great Barrington — The Berkshire Festival of Women Writers has announced its seventh annual series of events, beginning with “Dreaming Deep,” the first of five memoir-writing workshops with festival director Dr. Jennifer Browdy and based on her new writing guide, “The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir.” The workshop will be held on Saturday, Jan. 28, from 1:30 to 3:30 pm at the South Berkshire Friends Meeting.
Other festival presenters and their events include Sheela Clary, “The Art of Storytelling;” Jana Laiz, “Kickstart Your Writing Project;” Susyn Reeve, “Living Your Essence, Writing Your Obituary;” Lara Tupper, “Child’s Play: A Writing Workshop;” Sarah van Gelder, “The Revolution Where You Live;” Zara Raab and Hilde Weisert, “Walking and Writing Workshop;” Browdy, Laiz and Ellen Meeropol, “So Much Is In Bud: Cultivating Hope in an Age of Fear;” and a WAM Theatre “Fresh Takes” play reading with curator Molly Clancy.
Registration for each event may be made at the festival website; the charge for most events is $35. For more information, contact BFWW at info@berkshirewomenwriters.org.
–E.E.
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Berkshire Botanical Garden to offer January Houseplant Daze
Stockbridge — Berkshire Botanical Garden will present January Houseplant Daze, two classes about caring for houseplants, on Saturday, Jan. 28. Taught by White Flower Farm nursery manager Barbara Pierson, “Growing Fragrant Plants Indoors” will begin at 10 a.m. and will explore fragrant houseplants including jasmine, citrus, lavender, culinary herbs and forced bulbs. Participants will learn to keep the houseplants healthy during the winter months and throughout the year and have an opportunity to purchase plants from White Flower Farm’s stock. From 1 to 3 p.m., Glendale Botanicals owner Rob Gennari will present “Growing Succulents: Agave and Aeoniums,” which will cover wintering the plants successfully indoors and choosing design elements to make a statement with them on a patio or terrace during the warmer months. After a transplanting demonstration, participants will leave with plants to add to their own collections.
The cost of the workshops is $30 each and $25 for BBG members. For students taking both programs, the total cost is $50 and $40 for members. For more information, call (413) 298-3926,
–E.E.
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The Mount to host performance of ‘Leisure & Lust’
Lenox — The Mount will host a limited run of Sara Farrington’s “Leisure & Lust,” directed by Marina McClure, on Friday, Jan. 27, and Saturday, Jan. 28. “Leisure & Lust” is an immersive theater experience inspired by Edith Wharton’s life, love affair, marriage and writing style.
“Leisure & Lust” is a theatrical and psychological journey through the ravages of poverty and the oppressions of affluence in New York City in 1907, the story of Grace Hunter and her husband, Harry. The play is inspired by elements of Wharton’s as well as by an affair she had as a middle-aged woman with younger man Morton Fullerton. The play exists over the course of three days in 1907, jumping around in time from 1907 to 1887 to 1897 and back again, and is broken into two acts: Leisure, which exists in Grace Hunter’s boudoir, and will be performed in Wharton’s real-life boudoir; and Lust, which exists in Harry Hunter’s bedroom and will be performed in Wharton’s bedroom.
Tickets range from $20–$75. The Jan. 27 opening performance at 7 p.m. will be followed by a talkback and reception with Farrington, McClure and the cast. Additional performances on Jan. 28 will take place at 11 a.m., 2 p.m., and 5 p.m. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Mount at (413) 551-5100.
–E.E.
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Berkshire Theatre Group to hold community theatre auditions
Pittsfield — Berkshire Theatre Group seeks child and adult actors, musicians, backstage crew, technical support, ushers and parent volunteers to participate in its upcoming 12th annual community theatre production, set to run Thursday, July 6, through Sunday, Aug. 6, at the Colonial Theatre and be directed by Travis G. Daly.
Auditions will be held Sunday, Feb. 5 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Monday, Feb. 6 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Colonial Theatre. Student auditions will be held during the first two hours of each session and the last hour will be for adults. Adults should be prepared to sing only 16 bars of a song and bring accompanying sheet music in the key in which they prefer to sing. Callbacks will take place as needed. Appointments are necessary to audition. For more information or to schedule an audition, call (413) 448-8084 x23.
–E.E.
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Mumbet’s walk to freedom with Ann-Elizabeth Barnes
Pittsfield — On Thursday, Jan. 26, at 10:45 a.m., the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires will welcome historical interpreter Ann-Elizabeth Barnes, who will tell the story of Elizabeth Freeman (“Mumbet”), the African slave woman who lived in Massachusetts and sued for her freedom, in a free program at Congregation Knesset Israel.
Barnes lives in South Egremont and, in 2000, she became an historic site interpreter for the Trustees of Reservations, primarily at the Ashley House in Sheffield and the Mission House in Stockbridge. While there, she discovered the story of “Mumbet,” the enslaved African woman who successfully sued for her freedom in 1781, basing her case on the newly ratified Massachusetts Constitution the stated “all men are created free and equal.” Based on her case and one other two years later, Massachusetts banned slavery, 80 years before the Civil War. Barnes will tell the story of Mumbet and describe the process she went through in writing the book “A Free Woman on God’s Earth: the True Story of Elizabeth ‘Mumbet’ Freeman, the Slave Who Won Her Freedom.”
For more information, contact the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires at (413) 442-4360 or jfb.officemanager@verizon.net.
–E.E.
