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Chez Haynes had a counterpoint, of sorts, in the American Center in Paris. Not only by virtue of it hosting jazz concerts in its heyday a decade earlier, but also because of its focus on experimental theatre, dance, and poetry and its welcoming of young writers and performers. The Center was down on my side of Paris, 261 Boulevard Raspail, not far from the Tour Montparnasse; back then a brand-new monolithic beast (which ended up saving Paris from further skyscraper assault).

Over the past few months, three notable architects have passed, and they left our shared built environment an impressive inheritance. Interestingly, each of their bequests may differ from what might be expected based on an initial look at their professional careers.

The pure awareness of being. You leave yourself behind, and become part of the whole of creation; leaving your ego behind, you simply are. Nothing to strive for, nothing to become, there is only presence. You simply are. No longer trapped in your mind, you can observe your thoughts, emotions and reactions without being swept away by them. You are not your thoughts, you are the observer of them.

The Berkshire Opera Festival has restored world-class, fully-staged opera to the Berkshires.  Their  tenth anniversary season in Great Barrington features Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece La Traviata at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center on August 23, 26, and 29.

Artists came to study with the renowned teachers Charles Hawthorne, E. Ambrose Webster then later Henry Hensche and Hans Hofmann. The Provincetown Art Association was founded in 1914 and thrives under current director Christine McCarthy. The book includes essays and interviews from the 1980s through the present. Major artists, galleries and movements are vividly profiled. The summer long Forum '49 workshopped the emergence of abstract expressionism. In the 1950s the small but seminal Sun Gallery showcased 100 emerging artists. It was followed by the influential Long Point Gallery. Meet the whimsical conceptual artist Jay Critchley who has raised millions for charity. Much has changed but this book focuses on a golden age on Cape Cod.

Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival announces the start of an exciting new era with the much anticipated opening of the new Doris Duke Theatre, a transformational space to support the future of dance. Occupying the site of the former studio theater, which was destroyed by fire in November 2020, the reimagined Doris Duke Theatre is set to become one of the most technologically advanced theaters in the world dedicated to dance.  

Upon college graduation, The Woman re-settles in the Golden State in hopes of finding a new happiness. In her scrounging existence, her life becomes entangled with a co-worker and her landlady. The Woman grows as she faces the challenges of life.

The closing night of a show can be fraught with emotions. Cast and crew members have worked hard for weeks through rehearsals and performances. Friendships and feuds have developed. Add in an emotionally demanding play such as Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night, and everything is intensified.

A South Florida professional production of Norman Shabel's legal drama, "A Class Act" runs through this weekend. "A Class Act" is a call to conscience that we cannot afford to ignore.

It is 1975. In the small west Texas town of McCarthy, unwed mother Mona leads a life in remembrance of the 1955 filming of "Giant" in nearby Marfa. Her claim to fame is that her son Jimmy Dean was fathered by the iconic actor James Dean while he was on location and shortly before his death. His "disciples" 20th reunion of his fatal car accident reveals friendship, conflict, and more denouement than you could shake a stick at.

This 40th Anniversary Issue features exclusive interviews with poet Major Jackson, by poet and author Nick Flynn, and painter Joe Diggs, interviewed by writer and artist Andre van der Wende.

Assemble I also celebrates the limitless nature of collage across two- and three-dimensional forms, with diverse textures, materials, and execution styles. Each of our artists offers a distinct, inventive vision. Brad Greenwood, Los Angeles, merges his superb drawing skills with collage, placing the erotic fox often into the mix. Hans Pundt is our local, prolific collage artist of all mediums. His COSMOS Gallery window display welcomes all into this special world.  

The basics for writing are cheaper. I could hold them all and my five-box life in my arms at the same time. But then it would all simply be an exercise in self-entertainment or personal therapy. Somewhere along the line writing requires others. Readers for a start. Even if they are imagined. Then publishers would be a nice touch. Again, even if that is self-publishing.

With The Victim playwright, Lawrence Goodman, has bitten off a lot to chew in a dense one act play that feels more like three. It presents monologues by three remarkable actresses: Stephanie Clayman (Daphne), Yvette King (Maria), and Annette Miller (Ruth). He takes on DEI, The Holocaust, and The Covid Pandemic.

15 organizations and concerned citizens in the Berkshires hosted: Relay for Democracy; No Kings North Adams, Great Barrington, West Stockbridge  and Pittsfield; and Projecting Democracy, from 8 in the morning until 11 pm at night. A very busy and important day!

Jacob’s Pillow will welcome the LA-based contemporary dance company BODYTRAFFIC for their Ted Shawn Theatre debut, Wednesday, July 2 through Sunday, July 6. This engagement will occur in the second week of the historic summer festival’s nine-week season. Renowned for their “invention, attitude, and urban edge” (The Boston Globe), BODYTRAFFIC will offer dynamic performances exploring the power of memory and the unexpected reminders all around us that provoke deep feelings of nostalgia.   

The Board of Directors of Barrington Stage Company (BSC) is pleased to announce Greg Reiner as the company’s new Managing Director. Reiner, who most recently served as Director of Theater and Musical Theater at the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), joins BSC as of August 4, 2025.

Colleague and friend Edward Fast Eddy Rubin was astounding and incorrigible. He was a regular contributor to Berkshire Fine Arts. Though he enjoyed getting comped he was slow to submit reviews often just when shows were about to or already had closed. He was the leader of our pack with unflinching panache and humor. The moniker came early on when he worked for a PR firm. He was dispatched with orders "Eddy, quick go here or there and do this or that." His promptness in executing these commands identified him as Fast Eddy. This obit is written by New Orleans based critic and ATCA member Alan Smason.

Orgon is taken in by the false piety of rapscallion Tartuffe. He wants his daughter to marry Tartuffe but arranges to make the fraudster his sole heir before the wedding occurs. Needless to say, this causes consternation and crisis to his blood family.

Drawn from classic Greek tragedy, the King of Crete begs an indulgence from Neptune to save him from raging waters. The price is that Idomeneo is to sacrifice the first person he sees on shore. That turns out to be his son. Idomeneo deals with internal conflict throughout.

Provincetown's Berta Walker Gallery is presenting four, one person shows by Carmen Cicero, Lucy Clark, Danielle Mailer, and Deb Mell. They open on June 27 and run through July 20.

he Clark Art Institute marks the 100-year anniversary of Berenice Abbott’s first photographs with an exhibition examining the relationship between her portraits of people and her “portraits” of places. Berenice Abbott (American, 1898–1991) was one of the most important American photographers of the twentieth century, known for her pioneering documentary style, unpretentious compositions, and technical innovations.

I recall you always taking photos of yourself in these photo booths, often with staff and friends from the restaurant. Or with whoever happened to be with you at the time. Whenever we were on the metro together, changing metro lines or exiting, you would see a booth and suddenly track straight toward it. A compulsion. In hindsight, it was a bit strange, given we had access to your darkroom.

With his first feature length film "The Painted Life of Gregory Gillespie" Evan Goodchild has created a complex portrait of a brilliant but troubled artist who ended his life at age 64. In a New York Times obituary Roberta Smith wrote that "Mr. Gillespie had his first solo show in 1966 at the Forum Gallery and was included in several Whitney Biennials in the 1960's and 70's, but he remained an art world outsider, respected by many but enthusiastically embraced by few."

Esata is an ace computer coder, and Conway has a high-tech innovation that lacks code. They join forces and aspire to develop the product at an incubator in San Francisco. The narrative follows this and several other subplots in an uplifting homage to the Bay Area, and especially, a love letter to Oakland.