The cultural highlights in our region this weekend include a Broadway cabaret, roots-music, folk-rock, art openings, literary events, plus a whole lot more.
Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell will perform a rare, intimate cabaret concert outside under a tent at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, Mass., on Saturday at 8pm. The concert is a benefit for Berkshire Theatre Group, with a portion of proceeds going to The Actors Fund and Black Theatre United.
Tonight at 7pm, The Mapletones, an acoustic roots-music duo featuring Max Rainwater on fiddle and Nicole Ball on guitar, perform outdoors at Dewey Hall in Sheffield, Mass.
Singer-songwriter Sean Rowe will bring his gritty folk-rock poetry to The Foundry in West Stockbridge, Mass., on Saturday at 7:30pm. A throwback to 1970s-era soulful rock poets like Leonard Cohen, Bruce Springsteen and Van Morrison, Rowe boasts an impossibly deep and rich baritone and a gift for melody. I speak from experience when I say that Sean Rowe is just an amazing performer – you don’t have to go into his show knowing any of his material in order to be blown away by the experience.
Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter Reed Foehl -- best known locally as the founder and singer-guitarist of the group Acoustic Junction -- brings his rootsy brand of original folk-rock to Courtyard D outdoors at MASS MoCA on Saturday with two concerts at 7:30pm and 9:30pm.
Speaking of MASS MoCA, ceramic works by Peter Pincus inspired by three of Sol LeWitts wall drawings that are on display at the cultural laboratory, are on view at Ferrin Contemporary gallery on the MASS MoCA campus now through Sunday, October 11.
And paintings by five abstract artists, including Karin Schaefer, Hideyo Okamura, Dana Piazza, Lynda Schlosberg, and Barbara Takenaga, go on view today at Bernay Fine Art in Great Barrington, Mass., in the exhibition Lines and Colors, running through Monday, October 5.
The second annual Hudson Eye, an artist-driven, 10-day annual public program with a focus on dance, music, performance, film, visual art, and online panel discussions, concludes its run this weekend with more live and online events. On Saturday at 1pm, Sherry Jo Williams will lead a Zoom presentation about Hudson design in this design-savvy city. On Saturday evening at 7:30pm, dancer/choreographer Thea Little will perform at the Hudson Milliner Art Salon. On Sunday at 1pm, writer Rebecca Wolff will attempt to answer the question, “Who Is an Artist in Hudson?” in an online forum. And Sunday at 7:30pm, Shanekia McIntosh presents “The Spiral as Ritual” at Space 428.
Works by Don Voisine, Robert Palumbo, and Lisa Ivory go on view at Pamela Salisbury Gallery in Hudson this evening with an opening reception at 5-7pm. The artworks will remain on view through Sunday, October 4.
And looking ahead to midweek next week, author and journalist Seth Rogovoy – that would be yours truly -- will moderate a conversation with author Robert Kolker as part of the virtual Spencertown Academy Festival of Books on Wednesday, September 9, at 7:30pm. The discussion will focus on Kolker’s gripping new book, Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family, which recounts the heartrending story of a midcentury American family in which six of 12 children were diagnosed with schizophrenia. This medical mystery was so extraordinary that they were one of the first families studied by the National Institute of Mental Health. This year’s Spencertown Academy Festival of Books starts today and runs through Monday, October 12, and features a wide range of Zoom events with distinguished authors and documentary filmmakers, children’s programs, and an online book sale.
Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.com
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