Daphne leaves South Dakota for New York City along with sister Miriam. Set over a year leading up to the Northeast Blackout of 1965, one sister seeks stardom on Broadway and the other is happy as a diner waitress. Their aspirations, relationships, and random events are the basis for a thoughtful pop musical.

Steve Locke is having a show now installed at MassMoCA (opened last August – goes to until Nov 8). Three years ago I wrote a poem to Steve, whom I know, after seeing his exhibition of “Cruising” at the Alexander Grey Gallery

Korean-American June lives in an assisted living facility. She swears up a storm; has major sex urges; and unfortunately, two men have died in her bed. Granddaughter Jade is an influencer and vloger who insinuates herself into June's life for her own selfish purposes, but when June is accused of murder, they will work toward common purpose in this comedy musical.

During a time of drought and poor fish catch, a fisherman and his daughter save a young boy from the sea, but he is from a different land and does not speak their language. Clashes ensue over how to deal with this involuntary interloper. The touching and well-produced opera benefits from its relevance to our current times and from the large role played by the San Francisco Girls Chorus.

Through June 1, the exhibition, Better on Paper, spotlights and celebrates some of the thousands of newly acquired and previously unseen works of art on paper, including prints, drawings, photographs, books, and other objects, acquired by the Davis Museum and the Wellesley College Library Special Collections over the last decade.

"The book has a long history and tradition, but since the beginning of the 20th century it has started to disappear physically and become virtual." Dorothea Fleiss has initiated and curated a number of book art exhibitions. The 2025 Biennale is dedicated to students and young artists.

The theater’s 40th anniversary season opens with ENGLISH by Sanaz Toossi, the winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize. “English Only” is the mantra that rules one classroom in Iran, where four adults are preparing for the TOEFL - the Test of English as a Foreign Language. Together, with their teacher, they leapfrog through a linguistic playground that is a funny, stunning triumph about the universal foibles of language and miscommunication, hoping that one day English will make them whole. TheaterWorks Hartford’s production of English will run October - November of 2025 (exact dates to be announced).  

Our North Adams neighbors Roger and Ellen Questel send news from Florida. They are sharing an exhibition Time and Transformation at Jane's Art Center in New Smyrna Beach. We are pleased to share their information and images.

Patricia Hills is a leftist/ feminist scholar, professor and curator. Since retirement from teaching art history at Boston University she has continued with research and writing. This essay is a chapter from her soon to be published memoir Feisty Feminist Challenges the Art World. Here she vividly relates the Boston Massacre when MFA director Malcolm Rogers fired renowned curators pursuant to his vision of One Museum. In a corporate, manner unique to the well mannered art world, they were escorted from the museum. Hills organized protest against this initiative. She endured a counterattack from the museum but was supported by Boston University.

Dahlia Stasevska, known for her commanding presence and elegant, balletic gestures, recently debuted with the Berlin Philharmonic. The response was enthusiastic. Her tenure as Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, extended through 2027, reflects her growing prominence in the classical world.

In this great serio-comic fantasy, the famed lothario Don Giovanni "courts" three ladies in short order. He also slays the father of one, setting off a man hunt and revenge by the spirit of the deceased.

Leir Stage performances will be held Wednesdays through Saturdays for all nine weeks of Festival 2025, offering one-night and two-night engagements by companies dancing Afro-Caribbean, contemporary, swing, tap, ballet, jazz, Indigenous, modern, West African, and more. Performances by artists of the Berkshires on Community Day, and by the Contemporary Ballet, Contemporary, and Tap Dance ensembles of The School at Jacob's Pillow, round out the schedule.

Night Side Songs is a communal music-theater experience performed for—and with—an intimate audience that celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. Inspired by American writer, philosopher, and cultural critic Susan Sontag’s observation that “illness is the night side of life.”

New City Players in South Florida triumphs with its first production of an Arthur Miller Play "All My Sons" runs through March 9 in Island City Stage's intimate black box space in Wilton Manors, near Ft. Lauderdale. Acting does not get much better than this.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning play English by Sanaz Toossi raises fascinating questions about the interconnections of language, culture, and identity. Does learning a new language result in the loss of our sense of self? Does adapting to a new culture mean you are rejecting your heritage?

. The season features expanded offerings in the spring, summer, and fall. With two mainstage productions, three Fresh Takes play readings, and a dynamic community program—including documentary films, thought-provoking panels, and creative exchanges with women-led theatre companies.

Jesus Christ's betrayal and crucifixion as rendered by Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice's stands as one of the long running musicals in history. To many theatergoers, it is simply a beautifully crafted work with fine music and intense drama. Yet to some, it teems with controversy as the character representations don't fit in traditionalists' boxes.

A stiff tree may withstand a strong wind for a time, but eventually, it will snap. A willow, on the other hand, bends and sways, yielding to the wind’s force, yet it survives even the fiercest storms. This is the essence of yielding: adapting, flowing, and ultimately overcoming by not resisting directly.

Marin Alsop debuts with the Berlin Philharmonie in Berlin. Leading the Berlin Philharmonic for the first time, she chose a special, continent-spanning program. The world premiere of Day Night Day by Finnish composer Outi Tarkiainen refers to the songs of the Sami, the indigenous people of northern Finland and revolves around the northern lights and ice that covers and protects the local landscape. The BSO was a commissioner.

Potsdamer Platz, Berlin, is, once more, the center of the 75th Berlinale, as it has been for many years. It is cold in the city, but the area around the film festival is crowded with spectators, press people and the arrival and departure of the film elite from all over the world. Happy and exciting times are here again, as always during the festival times, this year from February 13 – 23, 2025.

For the screening of 240 films at its international berlinale, Berlin was sunny, sometimes crisply cold and at others, almost balmy.  Perhaps because it is under the big sky, this city is a perfect place to see films in which the artists take their time, and let character and story emerge paced to the subject.

The poet and multimedia artist Gerd Stern has died at 96. His friend Mark Favermann wrote about him on two occasions for Berkshires Fine Arts. His companies USCO and Intermedia were a presence in Cambridge and Boston. Most notable was a recording studio on Newbury Street where the Cars and other bands recorded.

“Our 2025 season reflects The Mount’s unique intersection of history, literature, the arts, nature, and community. With Edith Wharton as our muse, we are excited to offer an illuminating season celebrating the sharing of ideas, stories, art, and music, while providing space for our community to gather, reflect, and wander in the natural beauty of the Berkshires,” says Susan Wissler, The Mount’s executive director.

 Through a contemporary lens, Anne Bogart says the show’s depictions of domestic violence, cycles of poverty and crime, suicide, and toxic masculinity still resonate strongly. “The treatment of these issues in Carousel may seem outdated by modern standards, but its artistic merits – and willingness to tackle complex human actions – make it a thought-provoking work within the classical music theater canon."

Mckinney’s work is a deeply personal exploration of portraiture, color, and composition. Her work draws from a wide range of sources, rooted in an expansive dialogue with art history while remaining true to her unique vision.