Washington Post

Pablo Picasso was the most famous and influential artist of the 20th Century. The marking of fifty years from his death has created numerous global exhibitions. Critics have waded in with evaluations that acknowledge the work but deplore the man. Simply put it begs the question. Was Pablo Picasso and asshole?

The Huntington announces its complete lineup for the 23/24 season, featuring an eclectic mix of 7 highly acclaimed shows by a wide variety of diverse artists, the first full season completely programmed by new Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco. 

Running June 28 through August 27, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival 2023 will feature nine weeks of performances in the Ted Shawn Theatre and on the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage, as well as special events, parties, and pop up performances in Berkshire County. This season will offer the largest breadth of international performers since 2019, as well as multiple performances with live music, and dance styles ranging from hip hop and street dance to ballet and contemporary.

Participating cultural organizations include Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire Botanical Garden, Berkshire International Film Festival, Berkshire Theatre Group, Community Access to the Arts, The Clark, Hancock Shaker Village, Jacob’s Pillow, Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, MASS MoCA, The Mount, Norman Rockwell Museum, Shakespeare & Company, The Trustees and Williamstown Theatre Festival. 

When There Are Nine, a world premiere play about Ruth Bader Ginsburg, is an entertaining production that tells the public story of the late Supreme Court associate justice. Playwright Sally Deering positions her work as a dream play, taking place in Ginsburg’s mind, where she recalls important moments in her life and how she addressed challenges.

Festival 2022, which will feature 10 weeks of on-site programming, opens June 22, and runs through August 28, attracting dance audiences from across the globe to the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts. The season-opening Gala will be held on June 18. The recipient of the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award and the gala program will be announced on March 15.

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WAM Theatre will present a special limited run of Madeline Sayet’s solo show, WHERE WE BELONG, directed by Mei Ann Teo. This Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company film adaptation, produced in partnership with Folger Shakespeare Library, is filming now at Woolly Mammoth in Washington, D.C., and will be available for digital streaming through WAM Theatre June 24-27, 2021 only.

Mike Kaplan is a producer, documentary director, actor, award-winning poster designer and marketing strategist. He is known for co-producing The Whales of August, (Lilian Gish’s last film.) A Clockwork Orange,  I'll Sleep When I'm Dead,  Robert Altman’s Short Cuts and more. In addition, he is noted for his collection of historic movie posters that have been exhibited in Museums from Los Angeles to Jacob’s Pillow. He is also a songwriter.

George Crossan Seybolt (1915-1993) was president and chairman of the William Underwood Company, best known for its canned Deviled Ham. He was recruited to the board of trustees by the director, Perry T. Rathbone. When be became president of the board there was constant conflict. Seybolt mico managed the museum and ousted Rathbone over the Raphael incident. His personal appointment for director, Merrill Rueppel, proved to be a disaster. He was fired after a Globe exposé. Seybolt went on to be a museum lobbyist and visionary. It's what we discussed in 1977.

Howard Cruse was a pioneering gay cartoonist and Berkshire neighbor. He passed away last year. His legendary Stuck Rubber Baby is having its 25th anniversary edition. The publication will be available this summer.

Several years ago The Fenway Motor Inn, morphed into the boutique, rock themed, Verb Hotel. David Bieber was commissioned to provide vintage memorabelia from his vast archive. Since then, with a small staff, he has been unpacking and cataloguing the collection. He also worked with the late Stephen Mindich to archive The Phoenix material at Northeastern University. Bieber discusses an era in the counterculture of Boston when there was a community of music makers, promo men, writers and DJs. Rent was cheap compared to now and we were living large on other people's money.

A play about preserving Shakespeare's words honored with ATCA/Steinberg awards. The American Theatre Critics Association award goes to Lauren Gunderson for The Book of Will.

The recently published book Astral Weeks, by Ryan Walsh, has brought national attention to the counter culture of Boston/ Cambridge in 1968. This extensive interview with Harper Barnes, former editor of the Cambridge Phoenix and columnist for The Real Paper, covers developments in the early 1970s. It was a fertile era that launched careers of numerous arts critics and political commentators. After a stint in Boston, eventually, he returned to the Saint Louis Post-Dispatch and the city where he continues to reside.

On January 2nd, Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) officially launched its 29th Annual Film Festival and Gala. More than 2400 guests, attended, along with stars, celebrities, industry professionals, screenwriters, producers, directors, and actors to rub elbows at the Palm Springs Convention Center, as they accepted their Awards for their artistic accomplishments during 2017.

After celebrating its record-breaking 85th Anniversary Season, Jacob’s Pillow announces new, expanded fall, winter, and spring programming as a main component of Vision ‘22, a strategic approach to the Pillow’s transformation into a year-round center for dance research and development and a civic partner in our region.

The exhibition to celebrate 'Centerbeam’s' 40 th anniversary has been open since mid May in Karlsruhe. On September 2nd ZKM will host ten representatives of the original participants on location or via skype. The symposium should deliver lively discussions of the past and perhaps a way forward to recreate 'Centerbeam,' a third time, in the near future.

During a meeting of American Theatre Critics Association in New York there was a panel devoted to the development from page to stage of the recently opened, well reviewed musical Dear Evan Hansen

Following the critical acclaim and record-breaking attendance of Festival 2016, Jacob’s Pillow Dance announces its 85th Anniversary Season of exciting programming featuring world premieres, commissions, site-specific work, international artists, live music, and Pillow-exclusive engagements. Running June 21-August 27, Festival 2017 marks a notable moment in the history of the organization, with the first season programmed by Jacob’s Pillow Director Pamela Tatge who joined the organization in April of 2016.

The Mount in Lenox announces its schedule of events for the 2016 season.

Highlights of Jacob's Pillow Festival 2016 include a world premiere engagement created by tap dance powerhouses Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Derick K. Grant, and Jason Samuels Smith; former New York City Ballet principal dancer Wendy Whelan and choreographer Brian Brooks in an evening of new duets and solos, accompanied by eminent string quartet Brooklyn Rider; rare U.S. appearances by France-based Compagnie Hervé KOUBI and Korea-based contemporary ensemble Bereishit Dance Company; the explosive Che Malambo of Argentina; and the return of the beloved Seattle-based company Pacific Northwest Ballet.

Mass MoCA a kunsthalle or non collecting museum established a new paradigm when it opened 25-year-long, large scale installations of works by Sol LeWitt and Anselm Kiefer. Now six more A list artists are planned including space for multi media performance artist Laurie Anderson. During the recent media event to announce these ambitious projects we spoke with Anderson about her ongoing relationship with MoCA and the Berkshires.

Yesterday's lively press conference at Mass MoCA, announcing the $54.4 million Confluence Campaign, was preempted by a news leak of an embargoed press release by Geoff Edgers of the Washington Post. While that story provided a tantalizing overview the press conference covered many of the complex and exciting details. This updates our prior reports with more to follow.

On November 17 Mass MoCA announces plans for the renovation and programming of 130,000 square feet of industrial space as the final phase of development for its North Adams campus. Planned to open in 2016 the museum must match a state grant for $25.4 million. Works from the estates of Robert Rauchenberg and Louise Bourgeoise will be on view in addition to installations by Laurie Anderson, Jenny Holzer, James Turrell and Gunnar Schoenbeck.

CATF has been invited to transfer its world premiere production of Uncanny Valley by Thomas Gibbons to New York City’s Off-Broadway venue 59E59 Theaters. Hailed as the Festival’s “most satisfying offering” by The Washington Post, Uncanny Valley will be presented by CATF for a four-week run beginning on October 2.