The Mount Announces Season Program
Something Old Something New in Lenox
By: Bob Fowler - Apr 30, 2010
The Mount reopens for a season of new programs and audience favorites. Highlights include the launch of The Mount's first annual writers festival, Berkshire WordFest (July 23-25); the return of theatre for the second year running in partnership with Wharton Salon (August 18-29); the seventeenth season of The Mount's popular Biography Series (July 12-August 30); and a new exhibit on adaptations of Wharton's works for stage and screen (opens June 5).
New this season: visitors 18 years and younger get free admission every day. General admission for adults is $16; for college students with valid ID, $13. Guided tours of Wharton's estate are available for $2; garden tours are free with general admission. Visitors who would like to enjoy The Mount's beautiful formal gardens and grounds (picnicking encouraged) may purchase a grounds pass for only $10. The Mount is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
"Our 2010 season explores so many different facets of Edith Wharton's fascinating legacy," said Susan Wissler, Executive Director of The Mount. "We're especially delighted to be expanding our literary programming with this summer's debut of Berkshire WordFest, a celebration of contemporary writers that we believe adds something new and needed to the cultural landscape of the Berkshires."
Selected Highlights of the 2010 Season
May 1-October 31
The Mount is open to visitors daily throughout the season. With general admission, visitors are invited to explore and savor the house and gardens of this uniquely autobiographical estate, created by one of America's finest writers.
June 5-October 31
Dramatic License: Edith Wharton on Stage and Screen
This new exhibit curated by The Mount presents Wharton with a twist, exploring film, stage, radio, and even opera adaptations of the great author's works. Dramatic License spotlights celebrated adaptations, including Martin Scorsese's sublime The Age of Innocence (1993), as well as strictly film-buff picks such as The Old Maid (1923) starring Bette Davis.
July 12-August 30
17th Annual Biography Series
For nearly two decades, noted biographers have taken the floor at The Mount, delighting audiences with the lives and lore of cultural icons as diverse as Gertrude Stein, Amelia Earhart, Julia Child, Coco Chanel, and John Singer Sargent's "Madame X." This year's speakers include Tilar Mazzeo, author of The Widow Cliquot; William Mann, author of How to Be a Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood and Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn; Linda Gordon, author of Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits; and Joan Schenkar, playwright and author of The Talented Miss Highsmith, the biography of mystery writer Patricia Highsmith, joined by actress Kathleen Chalfant.
July 23-25
First Annual Berkshire WordFest
"The air of ideas is the only air worth breathing," Edith Wharton wrote in her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Age of Innocence. This July 23-25, The Mount launches its first annual Berkshire WordFest in just that spirit, bringing together acclaimed writers and passionate readers for a lively weekend of talks, interviews, readings, and book signings. It is the first festival of its kind in the Berkshires and a significant addition to the region's cultural season. Speakers include John Hockenberry, Ruth Reichl, Francine Prose, Judith Thurman, Elinor Lipman, Tad Friend, Jim Shepard, Elizabeth Samet, Simon Winchester, and others to be announced. Tickets go on sale June 1. See www.edithwharton.org after June 1 for details.
August 18-29
Summer, performed by The Wharton Salon
The Wharton Salon made its debut at The Mount last year with sold-out performances of Wharton's comic short story, "Xingu." In August, the ensemble returns for a two-week run of Summer, Wharton's bittersweet coming-of-age story set in the Berkshires, adapted for the stage by Dennis Krausnick and directed by Catherine Taylor-Williams, Wharton Salon's founder. The Wharton Salon performs the stories of Wharton and her contemporaries in adaptation, offering a unique intimacy among author, actor, and audience. Learn more at www.whartonsalon.org.
Summer 2010
Special Installation: Xavier Veilhan and a Look Ahead to 2011
This summer's special installation of three sculptures by celebrated French artist Xavier Veilhan anticipates The Mount's 2011 French design showcase and offers visitors a thrilling chance to view Veilhan's art within the natural beauty of The Mount's landscape. The Mount joins a handful of locations around the world-including Versailles, host to a Veilhan exhibition this fall-distinguished by sitings of the artist's work. Details to come in June.
October 1-3
Coaching Weekend
A popular annual return to the Gilded Age, Coaching Weekend brings horse-drawn carriages to The Mount and other locations in the Berkshires each fall. The Mount's magnificent grounds are an ideal backdrop for the sights and sounds of the coaches and their Gilded Age-attired drivers and passengers.
About The Mount
The Mount is both a historic site and a center for culture inspired by the passions and achievements of Edith Wharton. Designed and built by Edith Wharton in 1902, the house embodies the principles outlined in her influential book, The Decoration of Houses (1897). The property includes three acres of formal gardens designed by Wharton, who was also an authority on European landscape design, surrounded by extensive woodlands. Programming at The Mount reflects Wharton's core interests in the literary arts, interior design and decoration, garden and landscape design, and the art of living. Annual exhibits explore themes from Wharton's life and work. In the summer of 2010, The Mount launches Berkshire WordFest, a vibrant gathering of writers and readers in one of the most beautiful settings in the Berkshires. Learn more at www.edithwharton.org.
About Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (1862-1937) was born into the tightly controlled society of Old New York at a time when women were discouraged from achieving anything beyond a proper marriage. Wharton broke through these strictures to become one of America's greatest writers. Author of The Age of Innocence, Ethan Frome, and The House of Mirth, she wrote over 40 books in 40 years, including authoritative works on architecture, gardens, interior design, and travel. Essentially self-educated, she was the first woman awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, an honorary Doctorate of Letters from Yale University, and a full membership in the American Academy of Arts and Letters.