Hancock Shaker Village to offer free admission on Community Day
Pittsfield — Hancock Shaker Village will hold a Community Day Saturday, Oct. 24, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with free admission all day.
Activities for all ages include a “Where the Wild Things Are” storywalk with Berkshire Athenaeum, artist and craft demonstrations, a scavenger hunt, rope drumming, food, live music, and visits with the barnyard animals. Most buildings in the historic village will be open for exploration, and the special exhibition, “Notes About Home: 60 Years at Hancock Shaker Village” will be on view in the Visitor Center. The accessible 1-mile Farm and Forest Trail will also be open.
Advance reservations are encouraged but not required. For more information or to register, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or contact Hancock Shaker Village at (413) 443-0188.
–E.E.
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Berkshire Opera Festival to present world premiere of ‘The Trial of Susan B. Anthony’
Great Barrington — On Monday, Oct. 26, at 8 p.m., Berkshire Opera Festival will partner with ADA Artist Management, Austin Opera, Minnesota Opera, Opera Colorado and San Diego Opera for the world premiere of Steven Mark Kohn’s “The Trial of Susan B. Anthony” starring Adriana Zabala, who plays multiple roles, and pianist Myra Huang. The piece will be sung in English and runs approximately 30 minutes.
This premiere comes on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, inviting conversation about this milestone of democracy as well as on the work that still remains to achieve gender and racial equity. A live talkback will follow the premiere and feature the artists as well as journalist and “The Woman’s Hour” author Elaine Weiss; Sharon Nelson, president and CEO of CREW; Deborah Hughes, president and CEO of the Susan B. Anthony Museum; and tenor and diversity activist Lawrence Brownlee as moderator.
The performance is free and open to the public. After the premiere, the opera will be available on-demand via BOF’s YouTube channel through Sunday, Nov. 8. Registration is required. For more information or to register, see the Berkshire Edge calendar, or contact Berkshire Opera Festival at (413) 213-6622 or info@berkshireoperafestival.org.
–E.E.
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Berkshire Children’s Chorus to hold public speaking workshop
Sheffield — Berkshire Children’s Chorus invites all interested middle- and high-schoolers in the Berkshire region to “Stand Up and Be Heard,” an online public speaking workshop taught by actor, voice teacher and Berkshire Children’s Chorus alumna Rory Hammond on Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 5:30 p.m.
Hammond will be share voice techniques and exercises to strengthen the voice and build confidence in speaking to a crowd. Participants will learn and practice excerpts from famous addresses and will learn how to improve their delivery through vocal warm ups, articulation exercises and other approaches.
Hammond works as an education artist at Shakespeare & Company. She has spent the last three years focusing on directing and teaching Shakespeare to youth ages 7-18. Hammond has trained at Shakespeare & Company starting with Young Company and ending with as a member of the Summer Performing Institute. She is pursuing her certification in the Linklater Voice technique, the vocal method that is foundational to the work of Shakespeare & Company. Hammond is also a graduate of Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York City and a founding member of Animus Theatre Company.
The workshop is free and open to the public, and limited to 15 participants. Registration is required by Friday, Oct. 23. For more information or to register, see the Berkshire Edge calendar, or contact Berkshire Children’s Chorus at (413) 229-2465 or voices@berkshirechildrenschorus.org.
–E.E.
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Curnutt to discuss F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Montgomery stories
Salisbury, Conn. — On Saturday, Oct. 24, from 4 to 5 p.m. via Zoom, the Scoville Memorial Library will present “All of the Belles: The Montgomery Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald” by Kirk Curnutt, Ph.D.
During his Roaring ‘20s heyday, F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote three stories about the belles of Tarleton, Georgia, a setting readers recognized as a thinly veiled version of his wife Zelda’s hometown of Montgomery, Alabama. Inspired by Fitzgerald’s own belle, Zelda Sayre, whom he met in Montgomery while stationed at Camp Sheridan training for the Great War, the stories are regarded as the best of the 160-plus short stories the writer published during his short life. “All of the Belles” is a collection of Fitzgerald’s Montgomery stories, which have never been collected in a single volume until now. The publication of the book is timed to the many centennial Fitzgerald anniversaries recognized in 2020.
Curnutt is executive director of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society and serves as managing editor of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Review. He is professor and chair of English at Troy University. His office in downtown Montgomery looks out toward Pleasant Avenue, where Zelda Fitzgerald was raised. Curnutt is the author of “The Cambridge Introduction to F. Scott Fitzgerald,” among other books, and the editor of “The Oxford Historical Guide to F. Scott Fitzgerald.”
The event is free and open to the public. Registration is required. For more information or to register, see the Berkshire Edge calendar, or contact the Scoville Memorial Library at (860) 435-2838 or scovlibn@biblio.org.
–E.E.
