Theater Matters with Jarice Hanson: Valley theater companies and audiences grow: Attracting new audiences has become an art in itself
By Jarice Hanson For the Valley Advocate In this next year, theater goers from Hartford to the Berkshires are going to have more entertainment choices than they’ve had in many years because attracting new audiences has become an art in itself. Older, more established...
Stagestruck: Postcards from the Cape, #1
Every summer I spend a week on Cape Cod, enjoying the beach and, of course, the theater. This year I saw four shows at three Outer Cape theaters, two of which I haven’t visited in a while. Here’s the first of three snapshots from those seaside shows, “Nat Turner in Jerusalem” at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater.
Stagestruck: A Valley Half-Dozen
It’s August, and the summer theater season is winding down. No, wait. It’s not. In the Valley, no fewer than six live-in-person productions will be vying for our attention this weekend alone.
Stagestruck: Burnett-ing Down the House
Archie Burnett is a living repository of the house dance that coalesced in after-hours dance clubs, and “Life Encounters” is his personal odyssey of discovery and initiation, narrated in onstage vignettes with his intergenerational, international, multiracial troupe.
Stagestruck: The ‘Art’ of Friendship
I’ve seen Art several times over the years, and what always strikes me is that it’s a play about men acting like women. And therein lies the crux of the play – and the problem with this production.
Stagestruck: Two Great Ladies on Noah’s Ark
My partner, a literature professor, has noted a principle in both scholarship and fiction that she calls the Noah’s Ark Approach: If you want to get attention for your female subject, pair her with a famous man. Two new plays in Berkshire theaters illustrate that rule.
Stagestruck: The Weather, the Union, and Othello
I had a theater-going “double feature” planned for last Saturday – two outdoor shows in a row from adventurous Berkshire-based companies. But those plans were disturbed by two irresistible forces: Nature and Actors’ Equity Association.
Stagestruck: A Shaky Shakespeare
Shakespeare & Company’s King Lear, the first show to open on its Lenox campus in a year and a half, marks another return of live theater after the long intermission. It’s also the inaugural production in the troupe’s new outdoor amphitheater, a handsome addition to the company’s stages that brings its history full circle. So it’s especially disappointing to report that this production falls so short of anticipation.
Stagestruck: Dancing on a Soggy Pillow
Necessity, that inventive parent, has stimulated some ingenious programming at Jacob’s Pillow, including a mix of live and online shows, starting with perennial favorite Dorrance Dance, a company that has pushed the boundaries of tap.
11 U.S. mayors commit to develop reparations pilot projects
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Eleven U.S. mayors — from Los Angeles to tiny Tullahassee, Oklahoma — have pledged to pay reparations for slavery to a small group of Black residents in their cities, saying their aim is to set an example for the federal government on how a...
Currently Open Local Dispensaries
Amherst1 Rise Holdings 169 Meadow St.Hours: Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.Phone: 413-825-9770Website: risecannabis.com/Products: Offers medical and recreational marijuana. 2 Mass Alternative Care Inc. 55 University...
Sessions
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Among The Acres on the Valley Advocate Sessions Stage
Among The Acres combine folk-rock, pop, and Americana with lush vocal harmonies.
The V-Spot: I’ve Had Enough With Vaginismus
“Editor’s Note: Sexual trauma addressed in this week’s column.”
Vaginismus — the unexpected tightening of the PC muscles/vaginal canal during sexual penetration resulting in physical pain and discomfort — is an especially upsetting and fickle symptom of trauma as its root causes are often both physical and mental/emotional.
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Stagestruck: Scully, Scandal, and Buckets of Blood – National Theatre Live in Amherst
Two revisioned classics, a brand-new political drama, and some audience favorites are on tap in the Amherst Cinema’s series of broadcasts from the London stage via National Theatre Live. First up, this Saturday and again on the 14th, is Shakespeare’s most lyrical...
