Two weeks of theatre mania, the Theatre Festival, came to an end on May 20. Selected productions from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland could be experienced on several Berlin stages. Serious and timeless human struggles and subjects took center stage.

Tootsie may not be the perfect adaptation of a hit movie, but it is very good and very enjoyable

Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre in suburban Miami is mounting a riveting production of John Patrick Shanley's Pulitzer- and Tony-Award-Winning, scorching drama Doubt: A Parable. The play feels relevant in our divisive world and because the priest abuse scandal still remains fresh in our minds. Four of South Florida's finest stage actors fully inhabit the roles. It never feels like they are "performing." The production runs through June 9.

Working "24/7" over several months the renowned, Williamstown-based artist, Barbara Ernst Prey, created Borrowed Light. The suite of watercolor renderings of interiors is on view in a converted chicken coop of Hancock Shaker Village. It is a part of expanded contemporary programming under the director Jennifer Trainer Thompson. She was a founding member of the MASS MoCA team. They have been neighbors and friends for many years. It was intuitive for them to undertake this remarkable project.

On the spot, fully packed and ready to travel, we decided on a car trip to Canadian locations: Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Niagara Falls, after we were denied boarding an airplane to Chicago. Our final destination was (not) to be Edinburgh, Scotland and London, England. Here's a cultural overview of our ersatz-trip, which turned out to be just great!

The Young People’s Chorus gave their third annual Vocal Resolutions Concert on May 19th at the Gerald Lynch Theater in New York. This group, founded by Francisco Nunez three decades ago, has reached the pinnacle of professional success. They invited an equally celebrated group, the Shalloway Choir from Newfoundland, to join them this year. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2019, Ellen Reid's world premiere composition for YPC was a highlight of the program.

Ensemble Studio Theatre and Radio Drama Network Present Five one-act plays in the superb annual festival. Five writers, five directors and 16 actors bring us an amusing and thoughtful collage of 21st century dilemmas.

As “the longest running LGBT theatre anywhere,” Theatre Rhinoceros’s mission is to “enlighten, enrich, and explore . . . aspects of our queer community.” So what connection would prompt Rhino to produce this musical? By convincing the license holder to allow a first – gender switching the key roles – Rhino made it fit.

This year, Green River will host over 30 bands on three stages that will ensure a constant groove and plenty of options for music lovers of every stripe. While many come for a particular artist, many more recall finding new favorites throughout the weekend. So whether you think you are a dyed-in-the-wool Americana, Blues, Cajun, Country, Jazz, or Soul fan, by the end of the weekend, you might just change your (i)tune. Regardless, you are sure to find plenty to like and do.

There had been a surge of interest in the Mariposa sisters since Junio Diaz told their story in his Pulitzer Prize winning, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. In a middle-class family, three out of four sisters formed an underground resistance to the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic, each in her own way. Minerva studied law and led her group. She could not sit by and leave her children living in a world created by a tyrant.

What makes the Ojai Festival in California unique among festivals? Its Artistic Director continues year after year. Each year a different Music Director is chosen. That person curates the festival as through-performance. You are led by the music on a journey full of surprises and delights.

It’s amazing that this classic musical by Meredith Willson is having its first production at Goodspeed. It seems perfectly suited to the theater.

Palm Beach Dramaworks' production of The House of Blue Leaves is a laugh fest, but lacks enough darkness. A talented cast of well-known South Florida performers excel in their roles. The actors and director convey the play's pathos and nail comic timing .While John Guare's play is a farce, it will surely leave you thinking.

Musical artist Michi Wiancko under the wing of the American Lyric Theater’s development program and backed by Opera America has written a new opera with librettist Deborah Brevoort. The 17th century Astor Chinese Garden Court was the setting of a modern take on the 11th century Tales of Genji. It was written by court lady-in-waiting Murasaki Shikibu who lived between 973-1025 C.E. in Japan. She was the daughter of a petty court noble.

During four years in China Kathleen Jacobs learned calligraphy from a master. That entailed rubbing ancient reliefs and copying the inscriptions. Several years ago she developed a technique of making paintings by attaching canvas to trees. The surfaces are rubbed and the canvases left outside to endure a year of seasons. The paintings are finished in the studio. Through Echos finished paintings and works in progress are on view at TurnPark Art Space in West Stockbridge, in the Berkshires.

Central Works’ world premiere of Patricia Milton’s The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective is a brisk and bright crime procedural. It is a feminist cry. Taking place in London at the end of the 19th century, we are reminded that the misogynism of that day has been diminished but not extinguished.

The play opens in the early 1960s in a civil rights office in Virginia. The leader – Rachel Helen Christopher has arranged for Rosa Parks to come and to speak to a group; it is the big day. But will it actually happen?

Its been one hundred years since the Franco family started in the Prosecco business. Who knew Prosecco existed so many years ago? The Prosecco varietal is now known as Glera, the new name of the grape. This way there is no confusion with the town of Prosecco and the DOC label attached to the wine. The Franco family have been pioneers of present day Prosecco, especially Primo Franco, who is known as the 'architect' of modern day Prosecco.

Claude Vivier died in 1983 at age 35. He lived in Paris at the end of his life and was stabbed to death by a young man he had been attracted to. His final opera which told this story before it happened was sitting on his work table. He never heard Koperikus produced, but in this century it has built up a head of steam. Its New York premiere was held at the Image Project Room in Brooklyn.

Boston Lyric Opera has surpassed their charge to “translate this story in the moment for the audience” as stated by renowned theater and opera director Anne Bogart, who joined the creative team at the helm of “The Handmaid’s Tale” production.

Occupying a former municipal structure, since 1987, The Power Plant in Toronto has been a renowned presenter of Canadian and global contemporary art. We visited during the final days of three solo exhibitions: “Same Dream” by Omar Ba a Senegalese artist who divides time between Dakar and Geneva, Switzland. Shuvinai Ashoona, a member of a renowned family of Inuit artists, presented “Mapping Worlds.” For twenty years, Alicia Henry, a graduate of Yale, has resided in Nashville, Tennessee where she teaches at Fisk University. Her show was titled "Witnessing."

Its spring time in New England and the flowers are blooming. The bears are out of their dens and the days are longer. As a devoted wine person and year-round Rose drinker it has been a wonderful journey this past winter to narrow down the Roses i have sampled to a few favorites. I recommend them for your summer libations.

Founded in 1862 as Buffalo Fine Arts Academy today Buffalo's Albright-Knox Art Gallery is regarded as one of America's foremost small, regional museums. Its first building opened in 1906. In 1962 a wing was added and a new 30,000 square foot structure will begin construction at the end of this year. It will double space for the permanent collection and special exhibitions.

Wineries have loved the Bobal grape for many years. They used it primarily as a blending grape. Today's new age of winemakers believe the grape can stand on its own. After sampling dozens of wines made with the varietal its hard to disagree.

Prosecco seems like a new phenomenon. Surprisingly, it is not. The Nino Franco winery, from northern Italy has been peoducing Posecco for one hundred years. Who knew?