Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy to speak on race, history and culture
PITTSFIELD — The Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at Berkshire Community College will present a Zoom talk with Harvard Law Professor Randall Kennedy on Wednesday, March 30 at 7 p.m.
In his new book, “Say It Loud! On Race, History and Culture,” Kennedy addresses a broad range of the key racial and social justice issues of our time, with essays on “The George Floyd Moment,” “Isabel Wilkerson, the Election of 2020, and Racial Caste,” “The Constitutional Roots of ‘Birtherism’,” “Why Clarence Thomas Ought to be Ostracized,” “The Politics of Black Respectability,” and many others.
Kennedy highlights three sometimes-contradictory beliefs that run throughout his essays: that race continues to be a major force in America, that there is much to be inspired by when surveying the African American journey from slavery to freedom, and that social relations are complex and messy.
Kennedy is the Michael R. Klein Professor at Harvard Law School. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall after attending Princeton University, Oxford University, and Yale Law School. He writes for scholarly and general interest publications, and speaks regularly at venues such as The New York Historical Society.
—A.K.
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Sandra Cisneros to give reading at Fisher Center April 6
ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. — The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), in partnership with Arts Midwest, awarded Bard College a $19,985 NEA Big Read grant to support the Big Read Hudson Valley: Spanning the Hudson River with Words, a community-wide program offering reading groups, performances, workshops, and events in Red Hook, Rhinebeck, and Kingston. Big Read HV, which will take place April 6–30, is a collaboration between Bard College and its Master of Arts in Teaching Program and La Voz magazine.
Events will kick off with a reading from Sandra Cisneros, author of the 2022 Big Read book selection, “The House on Mango Street,” on Wednesday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fisher Center. Click here for a calendar of all Big Read Hudson Valley events.
Sandra Cisneros was born in Chicago in 1954. Internationally acclaimed for her poetry and fiction, which has been translated into more than 25 languages, she is the recipient of numerous awards, including the National Medal of the Arts, the PEN/Nabokov Award for Achievement in International Literature, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the MacArthur Foundation.
—A.K.
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BSC Playwright Mentoring Project to offer free performance April 9
PITTSFIELD — Barrington Stage Company (BSC) will celebrate its Playwright Mentoring Project Spring Tour with a free public performance on Saturday, April 9 at 3 p.m., at the Boyd-Quinson Stage (30 Union Street).
The Spring Tour features Berkshire County students from the following schools: Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter Public School (BART), Drury High School, Eagle Educational Academy, Hoosac Valley High School, John T. Reid Middle School, Lee Middle and High School, McCann Technical High School, Mt. Greylock Regional High School, Pittsfield High School, Smith Vocational School, Taconic High School, and Wahconah High School.
“We are thrilled to have the Playwright Mentoring Project (PMP) return to live performances this year,” said BSC Education Director Jane O’Leary. “Now in our 22nd year, we find ourselves drawing strength from our values and mission as we adapt to this year’s challenges. With the critical support from our clinical consultants, the community and our sponsors — not to mention a little luck — we have been able to bring back in-person rehearsals and performances after a two-year hiatus. The themes this year have to do with perseverance, resilience and building a caring community.”
Lasting six months, PMP is an intensive, out-of-school activity that uses theater as a catalyst to help young people learn valuable life skills that can aid them in developing positive self-images. PMP is offered at no cost to the students, and no audition is required. The Project gives teenagers a safe place to talk about serious issues in their daily lives. Participants learn the fundamentals of theater games and improvisation from experienced mentors, and theater is used as a means of self-exploration and self-expression. Over the course of the program, teens create an original performance piece based on their own stories.
—A.K.
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Ancram Opera House announces 2022 summer season
ANCRAM, N.Y. — Co-directors Jeff Mousseau and Paul Ricciardi announce the 2022 summer season at the Ancram Opera House (AOH).
The season opens with the storytelling series Real People Real Stories on Saturday, June 25 at 8 p.m. at the Hilltop Barn in Roeliff Jansen Park in Hillsdale. With each edition of Real People, local residents share their stories with the community. Tickets: $25.
“Amontillado,” a short story by Hugh Sheehy will be read from the Hilltop Barn on July 23 at 8 p.m. as part of AOH’s Crystal Radio Sessions: Upstate, the local outpost of the New York City reading series devoted to transmitting compelling literary expression through the ether. This confessional tale, inspired by Edgar Allen Poe, reminds us that there is no purer feeling than a wish for revenge. A Hudson Valley resident, Sheehy is the author of two collections of short stories: “Design Flaw,” which will be out in November, and “The Invisibles,” which won the 2012 Flannery O’Connor Award. Tickets: $25.
The Summer Play Lab (SPL) returns for a third year with public work-in-progress showings, free community workshops, and audience discussions. Initiated during the pandemic as a virtual program, SPL goes in-person this year with on-site residencies for teams of artists making new work.
- May 27–29: Tidtaya Sinutoke, Isabella Dawis, and Nana Dakin will showcase new material from their piece, “Sunwatcher,” featured in last summer’s SPL. A Noh-inspired musical, it’s the story of astronomer Hisako Koyama (1916–1997), intertwined with the ancient Japanese myth of the sun goddess Amaterasu.
- July 8–10: Celeste Lecesne returns to expand on their solo performance, “Poof!,” initially seen as part of last summer’s Plein Air Plays. Fairies have always enjoyed a close association with the natural world. But with so much of it under threat from climate change, the fairies are beginning to speak their mind and cast a few spells.
On Saturday, July 30 at 8 p.m., married folk-rock duo The Bengsons bring intimate, musical storytelling to the c.1799 Barn in Ancramdale for An Evening with the Bengsons. Abigail and Shaun Bengson are composers and performers based in NYC and Vermont who have performed across the country and around the world. Their video for “The Keep Going Song” has been viewed over 4 million times, and three of their singles have been featured on “So You Think You Can Dance” (FOX). They have received the Jonathan Larson and Richard Rogers awards and nominations for the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Lucille Lortel awards. Tickets: $35.
“Invasion!,” the summer’s theatrical offering, running August 5–21, was written by Jonas Hassen Khemiri and translated by Rachel Willson-Broyles. This satirical comedy is centered on a name: Abulkasem. What is introduced as an amorphous word of many meanings spirals into a range of potential identities: Abulkasem is an uncle visiting from Lebanon, a renowned theater director, an asylum-seeking apple picker, the world’s most dangerous terrorist. In a whirlwind of interconnected vignettes, “Invasion!”confronts prejudices about identity, race, and language.
—A.K.
