RADIO PLAY VERSION of ‘IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE’ at SHAKESPEARE & CO.
(LENOX, Mass.) – “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play,” inspired by the classic 1946 film starring Donna Reed and James Stewart, returns to Shakespeare & Company for a limited run through December 28, 2014. Adapted by Joe Landry from the original screenplay by Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra and Joe Swerling, “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” reunites director Jenna Ware with the cast from the 2013 Shakespeare & Company hit production.
COLONIAL THEATRE’S ‘A CHRISTMAS CAROL’ FEATURES 30 BERKSHIRE YOUTH ACTORS
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – Berkshire Theatre Group’s annual community production of Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol,” this year featuring 30 talented young Berkshire county actors many of whom are returning to the Colonial Theatre and some who are performing for the first time, runs through December 22 at the Colonial Theatre.
ARTIST PAUL GRAUBARD GETS RETROSPECTIVE EXHIBIT at CITY MUSEUM
(PITTSFIELD, Mass.) – Self-taught artist Paul Graubard is the subject of a retrospective exhibition of his paintings at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts in December 2014. The show opens Friday, December 5 and runs through December 27. There will be a reception with the artist on Friday, December 5, from 5 to 8pm during the city’s First Fridays Artswalk. Musician Paul Green will perform klezmer music during the reception.
MASS MoCA INSTALLATION MARKS CENTENNIAL of PASSENGER PIGEON EXTINCTION
(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Eclipse, a site-specific installation at MASS MoCA on view through September 1, 2015, evolved from a series of conversations between New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert and artist duo Sayler/Morris (Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris). The exhibition examines species extinction through the passenger pigeon, whose once-massive population disappeared 100 years ago. Eclipse combines video, sound, and text to create an immersive and contemplative exhibition in a newly conceived exhibition space – a dramatic lightwell at the center of the MASS MoCA campus. The exhibition marks the centenary of the death of the last known passenger pigeon, Martha. With extinction rates now “higher than they’ve been at any point since the dinosaurs disappeared sixty-six million years ago,” Elizabeth Kolbert asserts that we are at a watershed moment in the history of our planet.
CLARK ART EXHIBIT CONSIDERS MONET’S INFLUENCE on ELLSWORTH KELLY
(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – Monet | Kelly, the first exhibition to consider the influence of Impressionist painter Claude Monet on the works of leading contemporary American artist Ellsworth Kelly, is on view at the Clark Art Institute. The works in the exhibition were selected by Kelly and include two paintings and eighteen unpublished drawings by the artist, together with nine paintings by Monet from his Belle-Île series and of his garden in Giverny. The exhibition examines how both Monet’s motifs and the sites that inspired his paintings have shaped Kelly’s approach to his work. Monet | Kelly will be on view through February 15, 2015.
THE BANG GROUP PERFORMS ‘NUT/CRACKED’ at BARD COLLEGE
(ANNANDALE-on-HUDSON, N.Y.) – Nut/Cracked, the Bang Group’s beloved, witty response to The Nutcracker, will be staged in the Fisher Center at Bard College on Saturday, December 20, 2014, at 7:30pm and Sunday, December 21, at 2pm. Showcasing choreography by David Parker ’81 with music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Nut/Cracked takes its inspiration from all corners of the dance canon, from tap riffs to en pointe ballet, by way of bubble wrap, disco, and Chinese take-out noodles.