The cultural highlights in our region this weekend include film, theater, roots music, chamber music … plus a whole lot more.
The 16th annual Berkshire International Film Festival (the BIFF) began last night and runs today through Sunday, screening films and hosting film-related events in Great Barrington at the Mahaiwe and the Triplex and in Lenox at the Linde Center at Tanglewood. The BIFF lineup features 25 documentaries, 27 narrative features, 15 short films, and 13 animated shorts. The international aspect of the festival is underline with films from 30 countries, including Germany, Guatemala, Oman, France, Switzerland, Poland, Australia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, the UK, Vietnam, Denmark, Canada, Bulgaria, Spain, Romania, South Korea, Norway, Italy, and Egypt. (June 3-5)
WAM Theatre ushers in Pride Month with a Fresh Takes Play Reading of “Bright Half Life” by Pulitzer Prize- and Emmy-nominated writer Tanya Barfield in Club B10 at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Sunday at 2pm. “Bright Half Life” is described as “a kaleidoscopic play about love, heartbreak, skydiving, and the infinite moments that make a relationship.” (Sunday, June 5)
In 1976, Andy Warhol traveled to Tehran to take Polaroid pictures of the Shah’s wife. In the play “Andy Warhol in Iran,” a fictionalized portrait of the artist’s famed visit to Iran, enjoying its world premiere staging at Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Mass., tonight through June 25, Warhol encounters a young revolutionary who throws his plans into turmoil. (June 3-25)
Mamie Minch and Tamar Korn headline the TapRoot Sessions Women in Roots Series at Dewey Hall in Sheffield, Mass., tonight at 7. The duo’s music ranges from early country, blues, early and New Orleans jazz, to Appalachian folk and originals tunes. The duo draws upon repertoire from the Delmore Brothers and the Carter Family to Sister Rosetta Tharpe and James P. Johnson for songs of love, sorrow, and resilience. (Friday, June 3)
PS21 in Chatham, N.Y., kicks off its summer season with Re:INCARNATION, a dance, music, fashion, and visual art creation by Qudus Onikeku and the QDance Company tonight and Saturday night at 7. An ode to the richness of Nigerian culture, Re:INCARNATION celebrates the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth and Africa’s powers of reinvention in a show that draws on Afrobeats, Afro dances, and Black aesthetics. (June 3-4)
Alison Larkin’s new one-woman show, “Grief, the Musical … a Comedy,” kicks off the Great Barrington Public Theater’s Solo Fest at Simon’s Rock College in Great Barrington, Mass., tonight through Sunday, June 12. Arising from Alison’s experience with heartbreaking loss, this deeply funny love story blends stand-up comedy, songs, and theatre to bring audiences on a soul-healing journey through joy and the depths of sorrow to the heights of the human experience – and nothing less. (June 3-12)
The famed Emerson Quartet will perform works by Bach, Borodin, and Bartok at the Bard Fisher Center, as part of the Hudson Valley Chamber Music Circle series at Bard, on Saturday at 7 p.m. Over its 47 years, the Emerson Quartet has won nine Grammy Awards, and this will be one of your last chances to see the group perform, as they have decided to disband the quartet this coming autumn. (June 4)
Provocative indie singer-songwriter Carsie Blanton, whose work is inspired by artists including Nina Simone and Randy Newman and whose songs encompass a wide range of genres, from sultry, jazzy pop to punk-tinged Americana, is at The Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio in Albany, tonight at 8. (June 3)
And the Ed Palermo Big Band brings its “Still Married After All These Years” program to the Falcon in Marlboro, N.Y., focusing on the music of Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Yes, and King Crimson, on Saturday at 7. (June 4)
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.com
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