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Paris in the 20th Century – A Reading & Media Program at the Milne Library July 22

Williamstown, MA - The David & Joyce Milne Public Library in Williamstown will host a program based on the Jules Verne novel,  Paris in the 20th Century on Wednesday July 22th  at  7:00 p.m. Part of series called “Verne & Wells: Men Before Their Time” this illustrated lecture will explore many haunting technological predictions.

The story of a young man who wants to pursue the arts and writing, lives in a futuristic world that values only technology. In the book that was written in 1863 but not found till 1994, Verne predicted or alluded to a wide variety of modern technological items we, and earlier generations, have come to take for granted. Among them are: air conditioning machines, skyscrapers, gasoline-powered automobiles, high-speed trains, calculators, The Internet (a worldwide "telegraphic" communications network)  and electric chairs (criminals "executed by electric charge").

A new exhibit of 3 dimensional models and images from the many books including War of the Worlds, Journey to the Center of the Earth and The Time Machine, will be on display the month of July. 

All of the dates, programs and locations are available on the library’s website at www.milnelibrary.org.

These programs are all free and provided by the generous funding provided by the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

North Adams "Paint Out" July 25 at NAACO

North Adams, MA - The North Adams Co-op Gallery (NAACO) sponsors the "NORTH ADAMS PAINT-OUT",
Rain or shine, Saturday, July 25th, 2009, 11 AM-4 PM, with a reception to be held showcasing the works created, from 5 PM-7:30 PM.  Open to professional artists as well as people who just want to have fun and give it a try!  Meet at the NAACO Gallery at 33 Main Street, Sat. July 25, 11 am sharp. Painting can take place anywhere in the downtown area. Prizes, with separate judging for professional and non-professional artists, will be awarded at the reception. $10 entry fee, no advance registration required. Please call the gallery at 413-664-4003 during gallery hours (11-6 Wednesday through Saturday, 11-4 on Sunday) with any questions.

The idea behind a paint-out is simple; after registering, participants will fan out and paint outdoors in downtown North Adams. The paint-out is inspired by the tradition of "plein-air" painting, where artists
such as the Impressionists left their studios behind, and chose instead to paint outdoors in order to capture a fresh, immediate response to the world around them. Paintings can be in any media, such
as watercolor, oil, acrylics or even poster paints!  Subject matter is unlimited; paint a vista of downtown, a favorite storefront, or try an abstract interpretation!  Present your work at the gallery by 4pm, then clean that paint off your hands and join us at the opening reception.

Chris Beaulieu to Offer Two Acting Workshops at Main Street Stage August 3 & 4

North Adams, MA - Main Street Stage, in conjunction with Creatively Independent, will be offering two workshops Monday August 3 and Tuesday August 4 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Each workshop is $40.

The first workshop will be Stage Combat, Unarmed Violence for Stage & Screen
Slaps, punches, kicks & more taught with the “safety first” technique  used on stage & screen. Get on your feet & learn the illusion of  violence & how to stage it in your next show.  Participants will learn  the primary safety aspects of combat and the core unarmed moves they  will most likely come across in their scene work: identifying when  combat is needed and how to be smart, safe actors when dealing with  violence. Plus, the physical ensemble work will promote team building,  listening skills and a heightened awareness of one's surroundings.  All skill levels and body types welcome.

The second workshop is Physical Comedy - Extreme Actor/Audience Techniques
Let them laugh at you... It's your JOB!  Learn a hybrid of straight comic acting, physical comedy and quick witted improv to engage and mesmerize your audience.  Tune up your own comedic timing and inject that into your character work.  Find out the magic of repetition, how to make the simple hilariously difficult, and much more.  Participants will develop a stronger sense of the clown in their character work and how to incorporate the audience in everything they do. Focus is also put on being vulnerable in front of an audience and reaping the benefits from the honesty in your comic work.  All skill levels welcome.

The instructor, Christopher Beaulieu, is an Actor/Director/Fight Choreographer/Teacher with over 15 years experience teaching and directing students in various areas of theater.  Co-founder of the 
physical theatre company, Creatively Independent, LLC, Chris tours 250+ days/year performing and teaching the performing arts.  He has taught internationally in Germany and Canada, as well as nationally.  Chris has founded theater companies in Massachusetts and Germany.  He has trained and taught with the internationally recognized Shakespeare & Co. education program.

Chris is an accredited Advanced Actor/Combatant  in 7 weapons with the Society of American Fight Directors.  He recently finished the prestigious Physical Theatre Program at Dell Arte International School of Physical Theatre.  This intensive training focuses on the actor-creator and the development of devised work for the theatre including stage movement, mask construction & performance, commedia, melodrama, clown and improv.  Beyond the stage, Chris teaches at multiple conferences: Florida State Thespians, North Carolina State Thespians, Florida Assoc. of Theatre Educators and the prestigious Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (SE Region), as well as clown/performance skills under the Big Top for Circus Smirkus, a well established youth based circus school. 

Recently, Chris was asst. director to Dell'Arte's Artistic Director, Michael Fields on the original production of The Hunting of the Snark.  Chris is happy to announce his recent invitation to join the 
select list of teaching artists working for ISTA (International Schools Theatre Association).  ISTA reaches students across the globe and is responsible for the IB Theatre curriculum.   Recently, Chris 
directed Continental Theatre’s premiere of “The Diminticato Family Circus” at Montreal’s highly acclaimed Segal Centre.

To register for this class please call Main Street Stage at 413-663-3240 or visit their website at mainstreetstage.org and click on reservations. Space is limited.

For more information on Creatively Independent visit: creativelyindependent.net

Barbara Stanwyck & the Modern American Woman Film Series at the Clark

Williamstown, MA - The "An Artist in Her Own Right: Barbara Stanwyck and the Modern American Woman" film series at the Clark surveys the best of Stanwyck's groundbreaking work, which according to film scholar David Thomson, reveals the most "credible portrait in cinema of a worldly, attractive,
and independent woman in a man's world." Films, held on Saturdays starting July 18 at 2 pm, are free and open to the public.

On July 18, catch Alfred E. Green's Baby Face (1933, 70 min.), named an all-TIME Best Film by TIME magazine. Starring Stanwyck and George Brent, the film tells the story of a barmaid who marshals her assets and climbs man by man from the basement to the penthouse. Originally banned in some
U.S. cities due to its sexual innuendo, Baby Face won the National Film Registry award in 2005.

In Stella Dallas (1937, 106 min.), shown on July 25, a millworker (Stanwyck) marries a rich man (John Boles), and after a divorce, poignantly gives up her daughter to a better life. Directed by King
Vidor, this film was nominated for two Oscars, including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Stanwyck) and Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Anne Shirley). Stella Dallas inspired an American radio soap opera of the same name that ran from 1937 to 1955.

Howard Hawks' Ball of Fire (1941, 111 min.), shown on August 1, is a screwball twist on the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The comedy follows a gang moll that takes refuge with a group of seven professors and helps them compile an encyclopedia of slang. Starring Stanwyck, Gary Cooper, and Oskar Homolka, Ball of Fire garnered four Oscar nominations, including Best Actress in a Leading Role (Barbara Stanwyck) and Best Writing, Original Story (Thomas Monroe, Billy Wilder).

Lady Eve (1941, 97 min.), shown on August 8, is one of TIME magazine's All-TIME 100 Movies and was selected to the National Film Registry at the Library of Congress in 1994. Stanwyck stars as a con-woman supreme who wraps a bumbling herpetologist beer heir (Henry Fonda) around her little finger-twice! Roger Ebert heralded director Preston Sturges for his seemingly effortless ability to perform a "breathless balancing act...involving romance, deception and physical comedy."

Finally, Stanwyck plays the ultimate femme fatale in Double Indemnity (1944, 107 min.), shown in August 15. Co-starring Fred MacMurray and Edward G. Robinson, the film follows a seductive housewife who lures an insurance agent into a plot to kill her husband. Double Indemnity garnered seven Oscar nominations. Roger Ebert applauded director Billy Wilder's rare ability to craft a film "so taut, savvy, cynical and, in many different ways and tones, funny." In 2007, the American Film
Institute ranked the film number twenty-nine in the Greatest Movies of All-Time.

Like Stanwyck's, Georgia O'Keeffe's career spanned most of the twentieth century. On view at the Clark is the exhibition Dove/O'Keeffe: Circles of Influence. Georgia O'Keeffe burst onto the New York art scene in 1916 and captured the imagination of people around the world, not only with incredible artistic talent, but through her bohemian spirit as well. Experience this distinctly American artist's early works with those of modernist Arthur Dove, whom she credited as having the most significant
role in the formation of her abstract works.

Trio Café Budapest to Play St. John's Noontime Concert Series July 20

Williamstown, MA - St. John’s Episcopal Church in Williamstown continues its Summer Noontime Concert Series on Monday, July 20th with a performance by the Trio Café Budapest.   The concert will begin at noon and end by 12:45.   Audience members are welcome to bring a bag lunch and St. John’s will provide drinks and cookies.   Admission is free; donations to help offset expenses are welcome.

Trio Café Budapest (Bill Wootters, piano; Ted Gilley, guitar and bass; Jimmy Bergin, violin) have been playing together since 2002.  Their varied repertoire includes traditional fiddle tunes, the blues, spirituals, popular music, ethnic music and much more.

The concert series will continue on Mondays from July 27 - August 17.  Featured performers include trombonist Will Lang; Loadbang, a contemporary ensemble from New York City; violist Nick Revel; duo-violinists Emily Kalish and Abigale Reisman.

Updated information can be found at  www.saintjohnswilliamstown.org

St. John’s is located at 35 Park Street and is wheelchair-accessible.

Trombonist Will Lang Plays St. John's Noontime Concert July 27

Williamstown, MA - St. John’s Episcopal church in Williamstown continues its Summer Noontime Concert Series on Monday, July 27 with a performance by the virtuoso trombonist Will Lang.   The concert will begin at noon and end by 12:45.   Audience members are welcome to bring a bag lunch and St. John’s will provide drinks and cookies.   Admission is free; donations to help offset expenses are welcome.

Trombonist William Lang is making a career in new music. As an active musician in both New York and Boston, he is dedicated to the performance of new music by established and emerging composers. He has performed new music in such venues as Carnegie's Zankel Hall, the Winter Garden, the Cathedral of St. Paul in Boston, the Flea, the Tank, Secret Project Robot, the Gershwin Hotel, and the Stone. Lang has been involved in the premiere of over 45 new works in the last year alone; in addition to NotaRiotous, he has performed with such ensembles as the TACTUS Ensemble, Zero Gravity, the SEM Ensemble, the Claremont Ensemble, the Guidonian Hand (a trombone quartet he started,) Grocery Store Sushi, Wet Ink, and Loadbang, a new music group of which he is a founding member. Lang is an active performer in New York City's freelance orchestra scene, and has toured across New York State with the SUNY Fredonia Wind Ensemble as a soloist, performing Richard Peaslee's Arrows of Time. He recently received a Masters degree in the Contemporary Performance Program (of which he is a flagship member) from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Benjamin Herrington.

The concert series will continue on Mondays from August 3 – August 17. 

Featured performers include:           

August 3:  Nick Revel, viola

August 10:  Loadbang, contemporary chamber ensemble

August 17:  Emily Kalish & Abigail Reisman, violin duo

Updated information can be found at  www.saintjohnswilliamstown.org

St. John’s is located at 35 Park Street and is wheelchair-accessible.

Mill City Productions Presents "Zombie Prom" July 16-26

North Adams, MA - Mill City Productions is pleased to announce performance dates for the musical “Zombie Prom” by Dana P. Rowe & John Dempsey. Performances will take place Thurs. 7/16 – Sat. 7/18 and Fri. 7/24 & Sat. 7/25 at 8pm, with matinees on Sun. 7/19 & Sun. 7/26 at 2pm. Tickets are $9 for adults and $7 for students/seniors. The play features 15 Berkshire County actors and musicians and is directed by Mike Grogan, with musical direction by Marissa Carlson and choreography by Liz Urban. “Zombie Prom” has been described as “Grease”-meets-“Rocky Horror Picture Show”-meets-1950s-comic-book, and a campy romp through America’s Atomic Age and the golden age of comics. Due to aspects of comic horror and innuendo, “Zombie Prom” may not be appropriate for some children 10 and under. Performances will take place at Mill City’s theatre at Building 4 (next to the Visitor’s Center) in the Western Gateway Heritage State Park in North Adams. Please park in either the Northwest lot (near NBCTC) or in the Son’s of Italy lot. For more information or to reserve tickets, please visit www.millcityproductions.org or call 664-0161. Mill City Productions is a non-profit, community-based, multigenerational collaborative focused on creating an outlet for expression and education for theatrical veterans and novices alike. To obtain more information about Mill City, please visit www.millcityproductions.org or email info@millcityproductions.org.

Main Street Historical Walk July 19

North Adams, MA - Local Historian Paul W. Marino has announced the next in his series of Walks for 2009, a walking tour of Main Street Walk, which he will lead on Sunday, July 19.

Lying on the track of the original Mohawk/Mahican Trail, Main Street predates North Adams by many, many years.  It has been walked by soldiers of the third and fourth French and Indian Wars, the American Revolution, the Civil War and both World Wars, as well as by 95 of the most unusual strike breakers North Adams ever saw.  Three of the city’s four major theaters fronted on Main Street.  The first building in North Adams to have plate glass windows was on Main Street, and the first building erected on steel pilings still does.  The Holiday Inn, North Adams’ only hotel, stands on a site that’s been occupied by a hotel since the community’s earliest days; another nearby hotel, demolished in 1912, housed the Post Office and one of the earliest theaters in town.  Neither should anyone forget the high point of Main Street’s history, a Presidential visit to Monument Square.

Paul W. Marino is a life-long resident of North Adams.  He has been leading cemetery walks and local history tours for more than fifteen years.  He leads them with a sense of humor, a refined sense of showmanship and an eye toward historical accuracy, backing up what he says with photos, drawings and maps.  He also encourages people to bring children on his walks.  “Local history,” he says.  “Is the story of where we come from as a community, and this is important information.  It’s interesting to adults, but it’s essential for kids.  They need to hear these stories.”

The Main Street Walk starts at 2:30pm at the west end of the street, past SubWay.  Interested persons are advised to dress for the weather, wear a good pair of walking shoes, sun-block and a hat with a wide brim.  They should carry a canteen or bottle of water, bring their own (or someone else’s) children, and be prepared to have their ears talked off.  Rain or high wind cancels.  For information, Marino can be reached at 1-413-207-1344.

Sasaki Photography Workshop Exhibit July 10 at BArT

Adams, MA - Please join us to celebrate the work created during Gordon Sasaki’s  weeklong residency program with Community Access to the Arts.  Since  Monday, a diverse group of artists with and without disabilities have  been attending daily photography workshops with Mr.Sasaki at the 
Berkshire Arts & Technology Charter Public School (BArT) in Adams, MA.

Samples of work from all the workshops will be on display in the  lobby at BArT from 2:00 – 3:30 pm Friday, July 10.   Light refreshments will be served and Mr.Sasaki will be available to 
discuss the work and answer questions.  Everyone is welcome!

  BArT is located at 1 Commercial Street in Adams.

Annie & the Hedonists Perform at the Clark July 14

Williamstown, MA - Annie & the Hedonists, an eclectic acoustic group from upstate New York,
will perform on Tuesday, July 14, as part of the Clark's free outdoor concert series held at 6 pm on Tuesday evenings in July. Concerts are held on the Clark's expansive south lawn (picnics, blankets, and lawn chairs encouraged). The Clark will sell barbeque fare and the galleries will remain open until 6 pm on concert evenings. In the event of rain, concerts will be held in the auditorium. Concert admission is free.

Boasting influences as diverse as Billie Holiday and Bob Dylan, Annie & the Hedonists offers something for everyone. With tight harmonies, the band performs an eclectic mix of acoustic folk, torchy blues, standards, bluegrass, gospel, and early jazz. The musicians are known for their creative arrangements, and have interpreted everything from Joni Mitchell's River to the popular jazz tunes like Everybody Loves My Baby.

Based out of Schenectady, New York, the quartet consists of Annie Rosen on lead vocals, Jonny Rosen on guitar, Betsy Fry on bass, and Steve Fry on mandolin, trumpet, guitar, and keyboard. For the group's Clark performance, the two couples will be joined by special guest Peter Davis on clarinet, banjo, and piano. The musicians have been playing together for more than fifteen years, and their chemistry is reflected in their music's relaxed, organic sound. Don't miss out on the group that
Metroland named 2008's "Best Acoustic Band."

In addition, for those who arrive early, Clark docent Adele Rodbell will lead tours of Through the Seasons: Japanese Art in Nature at 4:30 pm on concert Tuesdays. Tours are free with paid gallery admission.