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Holiday greetings from Allyn Burrows the artistic director of Shakespeare & Company. With hope for a New Year and a lively summer season.

A year like no other, let me wish you a warm home, enough to eat, company however virtual and safety from this deadly virus with the good fortune to come through this plague sometime in 2021 or 2022. Thank you for connecting globally on ZOOM, FaceBook + Messenger video calls.  Erica H. Adams is a photographer, artist and activist who lives on Cape Cod. We regularly enjoy her social media posts that keep us amused and connected.

As an institution that seeks to unite people and communities by celebrating cultural diversity in dance, Jacob’s Pillow has an ongoing responsibility to challenge white supremacy and to disrupt systems of bias and oppression. For the Pillow, this includes bringing under-recognized artists and stories to our stages, including Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), people with disabilities, and LGBTQIA+ artists, as well as increasing support to women choreographers and leaders of companies, and ensuring that people of color who have historically had limited or restricted access have robust opportunities to present, study, and develop work. 

The late Kahlil Gibran created a sculpture for a mini-park in his South End neighborhood. It has been decorated for the holidays with a festive, bright red bow and flowers.

For more than five decades artist Hunt Slonem has been painting and reimagining his obsessive motifs:  butterflies, birds, bunnies, and portraits of Abraham Lincoln, whom he refers to as his Marilyn. Repetition plays a huge role in his work. Excess and extravagance define his life and art.

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced $32.8 million in grants to support 213 humanities projects in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

Faced with a spike in new cases of the coronavirus Mayor Marty Walsh has taken action to flatten the curve. Starting tomorrow categories of businesses and cultural institutions will be closed for the next three weeks. Even with vaccines it is too early to say if there will be business as usual for the arts this summer in the Berkshires.

Seasons Greetings and an appeal from Hancock Shaker Village.

Brandeis University has named Gannit Ankori as the Henry and Lois Foster Director and Chief Curator of the Rose Art Museum, effective January 1, 2021. Ankori, a professor of art history and theory in the departments of Fine Arts and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University, has been serving as interim director at the Rose since July 2020.

NCRT latest foray into filmed stage plays which ‘opened’ on December 9th is streaming the play “An Iliad” through January 3, 2021.  The play, freely, adapted, by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare from ancient Greek playwright Homer, creates a modern dress production of Homer’s “Iliad’.  Deftly directed by savvy NCRT artistic director David Ellenstein, “An Iliad” stars award winning actor Richard Baird in a powerful, mesmerizing, tour-de-force, performance that leaves the streaming home audience in a state of awe.

The Irish Repertory Theatre has brought superb streamed theatre to the public this fall. Their most recent production, streaming now, is Meet Me in St. Louis. It is just the right champagne for the holiday season.

Norm Lewis: Christmastime Is Here premieres Thursday, December 17 at 8PM and streams on demand through December 31. It is part of the 54 Below Premieres series. Previously he co stared with Audra McDonald in Porgy and Bess at American Repertory Theatre.  

Virtual theater has come in many forms during the last eight pandemic months. Our most recent theater review was actor/clown Bill Irwin’s new version of his bravura performance of On Beckett adapted for livestreaming by Irish Repertory Theatre. In this article, we look at how virtual theater is faring in Chicago and beyond.

For the first time in its 44-year history, American Conservatory Theater’s holiday tradition, A Christmas Carol, comes to life as a radio play.

Tony Award-winning Broadway actor Jefferson Mays plays more than 50 characters in an online streaming version of A Christmas Carol. This production is a filmed version of Geffen Playhouse's 2018 production. Streaming continues thru early January.

During a year of Covid disruption our theater correspondent, Nancy S. Bishop, has taken time to publish a book of essays. She describes growing up a Cubs fan while pursuing the literary life. Some years ago she went bonkers over Bruce Springsteen. Often with her nephew, she has attended more than 30 concerts. The range of her interests and insights is formidable. Hop on and enjoy the ride for a tour of the Windy City and its arts.

Experiments in Opera (EIO) is the company that gives most hope for the future of the form. They are fleet, inclusive and steeped in the history of the opera. Most importantly, they have extended the camp story-telling which characterizes the form. For all the beauty of classic operas, let’s face it: they are camp. A new podcast series has just been released by the group.

Barrington Stage Company (BSC), is pleased to announce the first round of Spark Grants of $2,500 each to eleven artists with whom Barrington Stage Company has either collaborated with on past work or looks forward to collaborating with in the future. Each recipient was awarded the grant under the single condition that the money be used to spark the artist’s creativity.

During this holiday season if you can't get to the Nutcracker it will come to you. The San Francisco Ballet will stream the Sugarplum Fairies to your very own livingroom. Plan on great family entertainment.

My hot water tank blew last week.  I went to bed on Friday after a hot shower, and woke up Saturday morning with only cold water. A new hot water tank was installed on Tuesday, and order was restored.  Four days of dishes and pans got washed, as did I.  No big deal.

Palm Beach Dramaworks' third annual New Year/New Plays Festival will take place via Zoom. This year, the South Florida theater company's annual event will last five days, instead of the usual three. Audiences assist in the process of writing new plays by offering feedback.

New York theatre curators Valeria Orani and Frank Hentschker will host the Third Edition of the Italian & American Playwrights Project (IAPP) on Monday, December 14, 2020, 4:30 pm live on US Non-Profit Digital Theatre Platform www.HowlRound.com. 

Recently the Doris Duke Theatre of Jacob's Pillow was lost in a fire on November 17. You can help to rebuild this landmark of American dance in the Berkshires.

The artist Andy Warhol focused on making "underground movies" from 1963 to 1987. Drawing on his entourage they were primarily shot in his studio known as "The Factory." As art they were deadpan and amateurish. The "actors" were primarily drama queens with no professional training. Andy turned on the camera and let them be themselves. In so doing he captured the flavor and essence of an era. While often enervating to sit through the films offer insidious insights of what was cool and camp during an era of great invention and energy.

James T. Demetrion, the second and longest-serving director of the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (1984–2001) and director of the Des Moines Art Center (1969–1984) and Pasadena Art Museum (1964–1966), died Nov. 29. Demetrion had celebrated his 90th birthday in July.