People

Recently Ben Brantley of the New York Times posted a rave review of John Douglas Thompson as Richard III in a production at Shakespeare & Company. There are now only a few performances left of this summer long event. We engaged with Thompson is an extended dialogue about his radical interpretation of Richard III.

Next summer there are plans for Sidewalk Sam and an army of volunteers to create the world's largest sidewalk painting in the parking lot of Mass MoCA. To give the folks in North Adams a hint of the immensity of that project, and to assist with fund raising, during the Down Town celebration Sam and his wife Tina were on hand to help create an enormous Matisse on Holden Street. Everyone involved had a blast.

The all too brief two week run of the smash hit The Last Goodbye with the music of the cult rocker Jeff Buckley conflated with Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet has come to an end on August 20. The world premiere at the Williamstown Theatre Festival was more like an extended workshop. Everyone agrees this show is Broadway bound. We met with the creative team of Michael Kimmel and Lauren Fitzgerald who insist on taking "their baby" through just one measured step at a time.

We caught up with Nicholas Martin for a hug and a kiss as he prepared for the first act of the sold out rock musical The Last Goodbye. Over the last three years we have shared both professional and personal ups and downs. In his three years as artistic director of Williamstown Theatre Festival he has put one of the nation's foremost regional theaters back on track.

This summer Campbell Scott has anchored a star studded cast in Nicholas Martin's production of Thornton Wilder's classic Our Town. This is his fifth season of participating in the Williamstown Theatre Festival. He has just wrapped shooting the upcoming season of the TV drama series Damages. In an in depth interview Scott discussed wanting to do more writing and directing. As well his productive and challenging life in theatre.

Dylan Baker has been nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Guest Actor in a Drama. He played a charming villain accused of murdering his wife in The Good Wife. The lawyer Alicia Florrick got him off. In the next episode he was arrested for murdering a mistress during kinky sex. He also appeared this year in several episodes of Ugly Betty and on Broadway in God of Carnage. He took a break from rehearsing Our Town, directed by Nicholas Martin, to discuss a career that includes thirteen seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Meeting with Nicholas Martin the artistic director for the Williamstown Theatre Festival I assumed this was the last of our seasonal meetings. This is his third and final year of running WTF. But he surprised me by stating that he will be back next year. To direct a play. In an at times intense and emotional interview we discussed his legacy. As well as insights regarding Stephen Sondheim and his impact on musical theatre in America. Martin is directing Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" this summer. It will feature a cast of many of the WTF "Family."

On July 7, Ringo Starr's 70th birthday, The Metropolitan Museum of Art will inaugurate a special display of his gold-plated snare drum that will remain on view to the public through December 2010 in the Museum's second-floor Musical Instruments Galleries. On loan from Ringo Starr, it was originally presented to him by the Ludwig Drum Company during The Beatles' 1964 visit to Chicago when the legendary rock group, in which Mr. Starr was the drummer, was on its first tour of the United States.

It was a gorgeous summer day for the seasonal picnic of the Berkshire International Club. A group of some 70 members gathered around a cool and inviting pool. There was a fabulous spread of food to share including an array of sinful deserts. Many languages were spoken as friends exchanged tales of travel and adventure.