Who would have thought that a solo performance about a family on the seedy edge of society as told by one of its descendants would captivate a theater audience? Sara Porkalob writes, tells, and sings stories of surviving entertainingly and with consummate magnetism and conviction.

Phil Kline created a magical holiday event thirty years ago. This year, Unsilent Night in North Adams, MA was presented by MCLA Gallery 51/MOSAIC, nbCC, North Adams Chamber, Anna Farrington, Andrew Fitch, Isabelle Holmes & Todd Reynolds In collaboration with LumiNAMA Holiday Lights Walk.

Now a Berkshire resident Steve Nelson and his wife Jan resided high above D.C. when Jimmy Carter became president. This piece was inspired by looking at vintage snapshots.

The Salvagers takes place in a Chicago winter, as a father and son (Boseman Salvage Senior and Junior) must break down the barriers between them, explore the secrets that have created these, and start to find peace with each other and romance in their lives.

Not only is A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas back at Hartford Stage, but it is better than ever. It’s been missing due to the pandemic and its aftermath.

Palm Beach Dramaworks (PBD) in South Florida is the first stop for "The Messenger" in the National New Play Netwwork Rolling World Premiere Program. A cast of four excels in PBD's production, which runs through Dec. 24. Ultimately, "The Messenger" is about the need to speak out or take action in the face of hatred and violence.

The 10X10 Upstreet Arts Festival is a winter arts festival located in Pittsfield’s Upstreet Cultural District in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, organized by the City of Pittsfield and Barrington Stage Company. Presenting short new plays during the dead of winter.  

Recipe for a delightful evening: Take one part A Christmas Carol and one part Sherlock Holmes. Blend well, then let a talented team of actors serve to it you. A Sherlock Carol by Mark Shanahan does just that and it is a delight. It’s getting a brief run at Westport Country Playhouse through Saturday, Dec. 23. I wish it were longer.

The new year begins with Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Andris Nelsons conducting the orchestra in two blockbuster programs that spotlight the BSO’s enduring creative partnerships and major recording projects. Both programs will first be performed in Boston: works by Maurice Ravel, Tania León, and Igor Stravinsky with acclaimed pianist Seong-Jin Cho on January 11–13, followed by a concert version of the landmark 1934 Dmitri Shostakovich opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk on January 25 and 27. Performances of the two complete programs will be repeated at New York’s Carnegie Hall on January 29 and 30, respectively.   

The Prisoners, a riveting play, entertains and shines a necessary light on unhealthy obsessions. While four performances remain, one of them is sold out. The theater is located in the Ft. Lauderdale suburb of Wilton Manors.

Rose Art Museum names Mexican artist Noé Martínez the 2024 Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence.Since 2002, the Perlmutter Residency has been part of the Rose Art Museum’s longstanding tradition of promoting emerging artists of extraordinary talent whose work addresses contemporary issues of vital urgenc

Huang Ruo, who searches for the Asian American voice and translates it for an audience of Asian Americans and all other Americans too, will present the New York premiere of his vocal theater work, Angel Island, at the Harvey Theater at BAM on January 11, 12 and 13.  It is part of the Protopype Festival, now celebrating its 11th anniversary. 

Carlos Caicedo, a native of Colombia, is an award winning photographer and graphic designer. With his daughter Sandra, who also creates colorful fabric designs, they recently moved to the Eclipse Mill in North Adams. During a studio visit we discussed his process and how what he calls abstract photography is more accurately defined as non objective.

Pandering to the public continues at the ever more accessible Museum of Fine Arts. It follows a blockbuster show of Sargent portraits of white supremacists with an in depth view of the ultimate charlatan Salvador Dali. He has been described as the greatest modernist from the wrist down. Dalí: Disruption and Devotion, opens in July with 30 works by Dali compared to European masterpieces from the museum's collection. The Dalis are on loan from the St Petersburg, Florida museum. The project is both cost effective and crowd pleasing.

Beth Morrison is an important leader in the development of new opera with new alliances and venues. She is a force that the future of classical music depends on. The Prototype Festival she created is now in its 11th season in New York.

Opening night of Jean-Paul Sartre's "Die Schmutzigen Hände" (Dirty Hands) on January 26th, 2024 at the famed Berliner Ensemble in Berlin, Germany was sold out.

The young Suzanne Valadon was the favorite model and lover of Renoir. She learned much in his studio and for some 40 years pursued her own work. One of which is a gem which we encountered at Norton Gallery in Palm Beach.

A Vietnamese soup shop verges on closure when it "wins a grant" from a mysterious company that offers to pay to implement a new marketing strategy to revive the business. A consultant's program includes an unlikely and unseemly advertising campaign, but it works. Or does it?

Simona’s Search is worth seeing, even if you finally conclude that it needs improvement. Less monologue would help, as would having someone point out that Simona’s conclusions may be wrong. The only person who does that, her thesis director, is so blatantly sexist and demeaning that the audience immediately discounts that position.

Prayer for the French Republic is thought-provoking, but last season’s  Leopoldstadt, which addresses many of the same themes, is a better work.  

Running approximately 65 minutes without intermission, I Love You So Much I Could Die isn’t just theater, it’s an experience. The fact that I found it disturbing is a compliment to the playwright because she made me feel something, even though that something was emotionally unsettling. As Edward Albee said: “if the theater must bring us only what we can comfortably relate to, let us stop going entirely and sit in our rooms and contemplate our paunchy middles.”  

The musical is based on the teleplay by JP Miller and the Warner Brothers film, all with the same name. The 1958 Playhouse 90 production starred Cliff Robertson and Piper Laurie. The 1962 film starred Jack Lemon and Lee Remick.

After nearly a half century lapse Tanglewood has doubled down on the vintage British rock group The Who. Last summer we heard Pete Townshend leading Quadrophenia with the Pops. Last night lead singer Roger Daltrey performed the entire 75-minute Tommy as well as three encores minus the orchestra.

It was a long but satisfying evening at Tanglewood. Chris Hillman, a founder of The Byrds, and Herb Peterson, one of The Dillards went on at 7 PM. They were followed by Mary Chapin Carpenter. Then David Crosby brought it on home at 10:30 PM. The hits just kept on coming.

Fifty years ago Stephen Stills and Judy Collins met and had a relationship that lasted for two years. That breakup resulted in "Suite Judy Blue Eyes" the hit of the debut album of Crosby Stills and Nash. Not long ago they were booked for an AARP event. That chance encounter resulted in a tour that touched down at Tanglewood. On September 22 they will release a studio album "For What It's Earth" titled for a Leonard Cohen song.