Bits & Bytes: Fall Festival of Shakespeare; Tolkien literary workshop; tobacco treatment open house

Shakespeare & Company to present Fall Festival of Shakespeare

Image courtesy Shakespeare & Company

Image courtesy Shakespeare & Company

Lenox — The annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare will bringing hundreds of teenagers from 10 area high schools to Shakespeare & Company’s Tina Packer Playhouse Thursday, Nov. 21, through Sunday, Nov. 24. The four-day festival marks the culmination of the nine-week program that places Shakespeare & Company education artists in high schools in Berkshire and Hampden counties in Massachusetts as well as and Columbia County in New York. During the program, students explore creative thinking, teamwork and Shakespeare as they create 90-minute, fully produced performances to be shared with their neighboring communities. The Fall Festival of Shakespeare is nationally recognized for its innovative teaching, emotional intelligence training, and philosophy of creativity and collaboration that encourages students from a variety of schools to come together and support one another.

Image courtesy Shakespeare & Company

Image courtesy Shakespeare & Company

Led by Shakespeare & Company’s director of education Kevin Coleman, education artists, technical theater designers and school mentors, the Fall Festival is a celebration rather than a competition. Students are encouraged to delve into Shakespeare’s works, unpack the language and savor the humor, intensity and beauty of the plays. Daily rehearsals focus on students’ personal responses to the text and connection to the language. Students also have the opportunity to develop skills in stage combat, performance aesthetics, dance, technical theater, costuming, stage management, marketing and publicity during the Fall Festival experience.

Fall Festival of Shakespeare performance schedule

Image courtesy Shakespeare & Company

Image courtesy Shakespeare & Company

Thursday, Nov. 21
6:15 p.m. – Berkshire Waldorf High School, “The Comedy of Errors” directed by Lezlie Lee and Zoe Wohlfeld
8:30 p.m. – Lee Middle and High School, “Henry IV, Part 1” directed by David Bertoldi and Kirsten Peacock

Friday, Nov. 22
6:15 p.m. – Mount Greylock Regional School, “The Tempest” directed by Tom Jaeger and Lilliana Macarone
8:30 p.m. – Taconic High School, “Henry V” directed by Luke Haskell and Dara Brown

Saturday, Nov. 23

Image courtesy Shakespeare & Company

Image courtesy Shakespeare & Company

1:15 p.m. – Mount Everett Regional School, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” directed by Madeleine Rose Maggio and Devante Owens
3:30 p.m. – Lenox Memorial Middle and High School, “Julius Caesar” directed by Rory Hammond and Noa Egozi
6:15 p.m. – Monument Mountain Regional High School, “Twelfth Night” directed by Dana Harrison and Diana Evans
8:30 p.m. – Springfield Central High School, “Henry VI, Part 1” directed by Jake Merriman and Ellie Bartz

Sunday, Nov. 24
1:15 p.m. – Chatham High School, “Henry VI, Parts 2 and 3” directed by Lori Evans and JoJo McDonald

Image courtesy Shakespeare & Company

Image courtesy Shakespeare & Company

3:30 p.m. – Taconic Hills High School, “Macbeth” directed by Gregory Boover and Kirstin Leigh Daniel
5 p.m. – The Reverence (closing event)

Tickets per play are $16 for adults and $10 for students. All-festival passes are $80 for adults and $35 for students. For tickets and more information, see the Berkshire Edge calendar or call the Shakespeare & Company box office at (413) 637-3353.

–E.E.

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BCC to host workshop on works of J.R.R. Tolkien

Wayne G. Hammond. Photo courtesy Tolkien 2019

Pittsfield — On Thursday, Nov. 21, at 2 p.m. in room K-111 at Berkshire Community College’s main campus, the English department will present its Fall Literary Series workshop, “Adventures in Scholarship Among the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien,” with author Wayne G. Hammond.

During the forum, Hammond will reveal how, as an enthusiastic reader of Tolkien, he came to be a leading expert on the author, decided on his profession and found love in the bargain. A rare books specialist at Williams College since 1976 and the director of Williams’ Chapin Library since 2015, Hammond has published widely on Tolkien, including the standard bibliography of Tolkien’s writings and, with his wife, three books on Tolkien as a visual artist and the reference works “The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion” and “The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide.” Hammond is also the co-editor of Tolkien’s stories “Roverandom” and “Farmer Giles of Ham,” the poetry collection “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil,” and the corrected text of “The Lord of the Rings.”

This event is free and open to the public. BCC students who attend will receive forum credit. For more information on this forum, contact: BCC liberal arts program Chair Matthew Muller at (413) 236-4584 or mmuller@berkshirecc.edu.

–E.E.

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Fairview to host tobacco treatment open house

Great Barrington — Fairview Hospital will hold a tobacco treatment open house Thursday, Nov. 21, from 4 to 6 p.m. in its ground floor conference room to provide information about resources and support (both group and individual) available to help nicotine-dependent individuals make a smooth transition to being nicotine-free. Designed for those who are thinking of taking the steps to become tobacco-free in the new year as well as those looking for what support is available now, certified tobacco cessation counselors and respiratory therapists will provide strategies, programs and resources to reach a healthier future. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Tom Fleming at Fairview Hospital at (413) 854-9737.

–E.E.