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Downtrodden Franz Wozzeck suffers abuse from those in higher social classes and is betrayed by his common-law wife who has an affair with a Drum Major. West Edge depicts the drama of the underclass in concert with the dissonance of Alban Berg's music.

Artist and activist Dana C. Chandler, Jr. ( (April 7, 1941 – June 9, 2025) was the foremost Boston African American artist of his generation. Implementing change he got things done. As Edmund Barry Gaither, director of the National Center for African American Artists and MFA adjunct curator put it "Dana shook the tree and we harvested the fruit."

Then on a Sunday afternoon, you’ll be queuing for the Louvre, and you’ll start chatting with a lady from Wichita, Kansas, and she’ll ask you all sorts of questions. How do you know so much about Paris? Are you a professor or something like that? And I’ll say no I’m a bartender and a painter.

Curated by Manship Artists Sharon Bates and Donna Hassler, our biennial exhibition Heavenly Earth includes some 70 pieces installed throughout the Starfield landscape and inside the Manship Barn Studio. The thirteen juried artists have responded with a range of compelling works that reflect both the thematic prompt and the natural and cultural significance of this historic setting. Work by Laraine Cicchetti is also presented in her memory.

Steps from the Cape Ann Museum, currently closed for renovation, is the Jane Deering Gallery. Opening on September 6 is Three Women Draw: Gabrielle Barzaghi, Susan Erony, Ann Ledy. A commonality is the studio as a place for solace and creativity deflecting the ongoing barrage of bad news.

This is exactly the moment to remember a time when the federal government saw theatre not as a luxury, but as a public good—bringing professional productions to cities large and small across America.

Joan written by Daniel Goldstein is a compelling and well crafted play about one of the dominant comic geniuses of her generation. The complex story of Rivers is portrayed by four actors assuming multiple roles. As such it is an absorbing evening of drama. Where it falls short, ironically, is as comedy.

Charpentier's 1688 opera celebrates the close but star-crossed friendship of Biblical hero David with Jonathan, the son of Saul, Israel's first king. Saul's resistance to God's call to step down in favor of David results in a clash between Saul and David as well as Jonathan's conflict between love and duty. Without bending the text, the West Edge twist is that David and Jonathan's relationship is carnal.

In a world that champions the hustle, the grind, and the relentless pursuit of goals, the ancient Daoist concept of Wu Wei can seem paradoxical, if not entirely counterintuitive. Often translated as “non-action” or “non-doing,” it’s easily mistaken for passivity or indolence.

From August 24 to September 14, 2025, Theater for the New City (TNC), under the direction of Crystal Field, will present its thirteenth  Dream Up Festival, adventurous drama in New York. 

Barrington Stage Company announces two dazzling evenings of Broadway talent at Mr. Finn’s Cabaret, headlined by two of the Great White Way’s brightest stars: Andrea McArdle and Julie Benko.

Over Labor Day weekend, The Knights return to the Clark Art Institute to present two free concerts for music lovers of all ages.

Celebrating twenty-five women artists working in Britain between 1875 and 1945, the Clark Art Institute presents A Room of Her Own: Women Artists in Britain, 1875–1945 featuring 87 paintings, drawings, prints, stained glass, embroidery, and other decorative arts. The exhibition explores the spaces these women claimed as their own and which they used to further their artistic ambitions, including their rooms, homes, studios, art schools, clubs, and public exhibition venues.

Dolores Huerta made her mark as Cesar Chavez's most trusted associate in the California grape pickers strike and boycott starting in 1965 that would result in major protections for agricultural workers. Independently, she led strikes and boycotts elsewhere, and she negotiated the contract that would end the unrest.

Ever since my boarding school days in Vienna and going on school skiing trips, mountains mean snow and snow means cold. I was cold those four years in Vienna. To this day give me the Mediterranean heat.

In the 1960s I met Edna Andrade several times when she traveled from Philadelphia to bring new work to the East Hampton Gallery in New York. The gallery was know for Op Art which describes her work at the time. Edna Andrade: Imagination Is Never Static presents a selection of drawings recently gifted to the Harvard Art Museums by the artist’s estate, this exhibition emphasizes the central role of drawing as well as interdisciplinary exploration in her art and in modernist movements of the 20th century.

The hedonistic and opportunistic Comte Ory takes advantage of men being away at the Crusades to pursue women. Knowing that the Comtesse Adele seeks spiritual guidance, his first gambit is to disguise as a hermit, but his own page gets in the way.

A radio play, The Beginning of the End (of Judy Rhines) by Peter Littlefield, accompanies the installation. The play is a mystery set in the 1940s. Judy Rhines is a secretary, until one day, losing her job and just about everything else, she learns the ways of a witch

As part of its 150th anniversary celebration, the Munich Opera Festival presented Pénélope by Gabriel Fauré—a bold and welcome choice. To champion this rarely performed work, the company brought in Andrea Breth, one of Germany’s most accomplished theater directors. The cast clearly responded to her direction with commitment and nuance.

No opera company today rivals the Munich Opera when it comes to innovative yet deeply respectful productions of the classic repertoire. While it’s tempting—and often rewarding—to look beyond the traditional opera circuit for new creative voices, few choices are as effective as Hungarian filmmaker and theater director Kornél Mundruczó.

The Munich Opera celebrates summer with an annual festival. This year, the prelude to the Ring Cycle by Richard Wagner, Das Rheingold, provided novel and thrilling music and drama.

Annie has a strong connection to Connecticut. It started life at Goodspeed in 1976, before heading to Broadway, where it not only won multiple Tony Awards but played until 1983. While the inspiration was the comic strip, Little Orphan Annie, the musical’s plot by Thomas Meehan, is completely original. Charles Strouse wrote the music with lyrics by Martin Charnin.

When Stephen Petronio announced that he was disbanding his company of 40 years Pamela Tatge of Jacob's Pillow jumped in. Together they planned a program that best represented his work. He spoke directly and candidly to the audience which responded with love and support.

Brünhilde's empathy for illicit lovers Siegmund and Sieglinde induces her to betray the orders of her father Wotan, the king of gods. His punishment is to reduce her to becoming a mortal. Santa Fe Opera's production excels.

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap opened to mixed reviews in 1952, and other than a hiatus for Covid, is still running. It’s a London tourist trap and as much a site to see as Big Ben and the museums. Berkshire Theatre Group's sizzling production at the Colonial Theatre is a home run. This show is the most fun of the Berkshire season.