MCLA to present Emel Mathlouthi
North Adams — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts’ (MCLA) will present Tunisian singer/songwriter Emel Mathlouthi as the final performer of its 2015-16 MCLA Presents! season on Thursday, March 31, at 7:30 p.m. in the Eleanor Furst Roberts Auditorium at MCLA’s Church Street Center.
Mathlouthi began her artistic career at the age of 8 in Ibn Sina, a suburb of Tunis. As a young adult she moved to France to pursue her career as a singer. Already banned from the airwaves in her home country, her song “Kelmti Horra (My Word is Free)” was taken up by the Arab Spring revolutionaries in 2010 and sung on the streets of Tunis. In 2014 she moved to New York City. Mathlouthi has performed concerts in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East, and also in Europe and North America.
Tickets are $12 for general admission, $8 for MCLA alumni, $5 for staff and faculty and non-MCLA students, and $2 for MCLA students. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call (413) 662-5320.
–E.E.
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BCC to host Live Out Loud conference
Pittsfield – On Saturday, April 2, Berkshire Community College (BCC) will host the third annual Live Out Loud community conference, a gathering of Berkshire County’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community and its allies. The annual conference draws upwards of 100 participants who learn about and discuss issues of vital interest to the local and national LGBTQIA+ communities.
The conference’s keynote speaker, Pastor Louis Mitchell of Springfield, is a longtime activist, advocate, counselor, and student who has been fighting for fairness, equity, respect, and self-determination for more than two decades.
Workshops and panel discussions will be held throughout the day and will include “Creating Safe Spaces for LGBTQIA+ Elders,” “Interacting With Law Enforcement as a Transgender or Gender Non-conforming Individual,” “Intimate Partner Violence in LGBTQIA+ Relationships,” “Tips and Tricks for Running LGBTQIA+ Clubs,” “Global Exploration of Gender as a Social Construct,” “Transgender 101,” “Navigating Your New Work Life: Lessons on Career Transitions in a Digital World,” and “Close Encounters with First Responders and the LGBTQIA+ Community.”
The day will also include a screening and discussion of the film “Three to Infinity” and will close with open-space discussions on topics proposed by the conference attendees.
The event is free and open to the public and will be held from 9:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. Donations are welcome. Lunch will be provided. Online registration is available. For more information contact Lois Daunis at (413) 346-4943.
–E.E.
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MMRHS to stage ‘The Drowsy Chaperone’
Great Barrington — Monument Mountain Regional High School (MMRHS) will present its spring musical, “The Drowsy Chaperone,” on Thursday, March 31; Friday, April 1; and Saturday, April 2, at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, April 3, at 2:30 p.m. in the school’s Kathleen E. McDermott auditorium.
“The Drowsy Chaperone,” a parody of 1920s-era American musicals, was written by Bob Martin and Don McKellar with music and lyrics by Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison. The show received multiple award nominations and has had major productions in Toronto, Los Angeles, New York, London, and Japan. The production’s show-within-a-show story incorporates mistaken identities, dream sequences, a deus ex machina, and comic gangsters. The cast includes members from all grades and includes Dominick Annand, Nate Annand, Lydia Barnaba, Stella Bellow, Ana Lucia Bloom, Theo Burns, Elinor Cherin, Hannah Clapp, Isabel Curry, Charley Dangerusk, Isabel Haywood, Samantha Keyes, Hannah Korte, Robin Lamb, Sunghee Lee, Julia Murphy, Cedar Potter, Alessandra Reece, Jacob Robbins, Dan Santos, Chase Strawn, Ben Zoeller, and many more behind-the-scenes students. The show is directed by Linnea Mace with music and vocal direction by Cindy Gutter.
Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance at MMRHS’s front desk or at the door prior to each performance. For more information call the school at (413) 528-3346.
–E.E.
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Social justice talk at Simon’s Rock
Great Barrington – On Thursday, March 31, Bard College at Simon’s Rock will host a social justice talk with Cathy Wilkerson and Susan Tipograph at 6 p.m. in the Kellogg Music Center. The event is free and open to the public.
Cathy Wilkerson will discuss her memoir “Flying Close to the Sun,” the story of white, middle-class girl from Connecticut who became a member of the Weather Underground Organization. Criminal defense attorney Susan Tipograph will also present at the talk. Tipograph has worked on notable cases such as those of Lynne Stewart and Richard Nixon, and with individual FBI officials for COINTELPRO activities by the government in its search for members of the Weather Underground.
–E.E.
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Carol Ascher to discuss forgiveness
Pittsfield — On Thursday, March 31, at 10:45 a.m., the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires will welcome author Carol Ascher, who will speak about forgiveness and how she explored the subject in her recent novel “A Call from Spooner Street.” The free program will take place at Congregation Knesset Israel.
Carol Ascher was in her twenties when her father, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Austria, refused to speak to her. His death six months later made his silence unending and left Ascher struggling for a resolution. Her novel imagines the father-daughter reconciliation she wished she could have had. After a brief reading from the book, Ascher will offer Jewish and other perspectives on forgiveness and will lead an open discussion about the difficulty and importance of reconciliation and forgiveness.
Ascher has published six books and has received literary awards from the New York State Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture. Trained as a cultural anthropologist, she studied problems of equality in public schools for many years.
For more information call the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires at (413) 442-4360 x10.
–E.E.
