People
-
Nicholas Martin Returns to Williamstown Theatre Festival
Part One With the Former Artistic Director
By: - Jul 20th, 2011When Nicholas Martin, after eight years of running the Huntington Theatre in Boston, took a similar position at Williamstown Theatre Festival the renowned festival was widely viewed as not what it had been. From 2008-2010 that state of the art excellence returned to the Berkshires. Under new artistic director, Jenny Gersten, Martin is directing She Stoops to Conquer surrounded by his theatrical family. During a rare day off we discussed his remarkable life in theatre.
-
Boxing Writer George Kimball at 67
The Fight Game
By: - Jul 09th, 2011George Kimball, dead at 67, was a One Eyed Jack of sports journalism. A giant of his era who covered some 350 title bouts. Like a lot of us he started out in the alternative weekly press of Boston/ Cambridge in the 1970s. Our paths crossed, and I had huge respect for him as a writer, but George was rough around the edges. He was at his best wallowing in the sloppy trough of the fight game.
-
Katy Kline Interim Director at WCMA
Joins Williams College Museum of Art in August
By: - Jun 01st, 2011Williams has announced the appointment of Katy Kline, former director of Bowdoin College Museum of Art (1998-2008), as interim director of the Williams College Museum of Art. She will serve from early August until the permanent director is in place.
-
Beaver Rescue at the Eclipse Mill
Memorial Day Saga
By: - May 30th, 2011A Memorial Day picnic and gathering of friends at the Eclipse Mill has an unanticipated dramatic element. In the river bed next to the mill an exhausted beaver was desperately trying to walk up against the current of a waterfall. The drama dragged on until after dark.
-
Stuart Chase Appointed CEO of 1Berkshire
New Position for Former Berkshire Musem Director
By: - Apr 28th, 2011Stuart Chase will provide 1Berkshire and its affiliates, the Berkshire Chamber of Commerce, the Berkshire Visitors Bureau and Berkshire Creative Economy Council, with executive leadership in all areas vital to the growth and success of 1Berkshire including strategic and organizational management, fundraising, economic development and marketing.
-
John R. Stomberg To Direct Mt. Holyoke Museum
Leaving Williams After Nine Years
By: - Apr 21st, 2011Several months ago Williams College Art Museum announced its director, Lisa Corrin, will resign as of June. Today we learned that deputy director, John R. Stomberg, at the museum for the past nine years, is also leaving. As of August he takes over as director of the Mount Holyoke College Museum of Art. Come the fall semester it begs the question of who will be in charge at Williams in a transition that may take at least a year.
-
Opening Day at Fenway Park
Wait Till Next Year
By: - Apr 13th, 2011Yaz threw the first pitch for opening day at Fenway Park. Mark Favermann invited me as well as Ben Kilgore and Joe Beggan to join him and 40,000 other fans. It was such a thrill. Hard to believe that Ben was late, With their worst start in decades, 0 for 6 by then, the Sox managed to beat the Yankees taking two out of three for the series. Predicted to go all the way the Sox have sucked so far.
-
Soho Rep Spring Gala 2011 Honoring Marian Seldes.
May 2nd Manhattan's Highline Ballroom
By: - Mar 14th, 2011Blythe Danner, Ted Danson, Parker Posey, Peter Dinklage, Lili Taylor, Michael Stuhlbarg and more to perform at the Soho Rep SPRING GALA 2011 honoring Marian Seldes. Hosted by Tim Blake Nelson the evening will also feature musical performances by Jomama Jones & The Lisps.
-
John Douglas Thompson Discusses Macbeth
Finding Humanity in Their Regicide
By: - Mar 10th, 2011While in tech rehearsals for Macbeth, which has its first preview for Theatre for a New Audience this week, John Douglas Thompson discussed the Scottish Play. He emphasized the humanity of a loving couple who had lost a child. Unlike past interpretations he insists that Lady Macbeth is not an evil, conniving "bitch." He said "The hope is to see our humanity reflected so we can go on a journey with these people."
-
Jenny Gersten of Williamstown Theatre Festival
Anticipating Her First Season as Artistic Director
By: - Feb 16th, 2011Jenny Gersten worked under Michael Ritchie as associate producer of the Williamstown Theatre Festival from 1996 to 2004. We discussed plans and ambitions for her first season as artistic director. As a producer she does not direct. She describes administration, budgets and marketing as her "comfort zone" while conveying concerns about the artistic challenges. We discussed welcoming the Gersten era of one of America's great theatre companies.
-
Lisa Corrin to Leave as Director of WCMA
Will Join the Williams Fine Arts Faculty
By: - Jan 26th, 2011Today Lisa Corrin called to let me know that as of June 30 she will be leaving as director of the Williams College Museum of Art. She is currently rehanging the permanent collection of the museum. It will reopen during the spring with eight major exhibitions and related programming. She will join the Willams fine arts faculty. Also she will be a fellow at the neighboring Clark Art Institute next year and serve as a visiting scholar in the Museum Studies program at New York University.
-
Herb Snitzer at Gallery Kayafas
Celebrating Jazz in a Book and Exhibition
By: - Dec 30th, 2010Recently, after a lapse of some years, we reconnected with the jazz photographer Herb Snitzer who now resides in Florida. He will be in Boston during January for the opening of an exhibition at Gallery Kayafas. He is also launching a new book. We discussed a career in the arts that spans 5O years and an archive of 700,000 negatives.
-
Dan Bosley Celebrated
Retirement Event Held at Mass MoCA
By: - Dec 10th, 2010Twenty one years ago Tom Krens pitched the idea of transforming the abandoned 17 acre Sprague Electric campus into Mass MoCA. That development cast a long shadow on the political careers of State Representative, Dan Bosley, and North Adams Mayor, John Barrett. Last night, at MoCA, Bosley celebrated a birthday and retirement after 24 years. Barrett, now out of office after 26 years, dropped by. As did a who's who of politicians including former Governor Jane Swift. On Monday Mass MoCA has "a major funding announcement ."
-
David Wilson Five
Avatar Aftermath Then to Now
By: - Nov 27th, 2010At the end of the summer of 1968, having published several issues of Avatar, David Wilson and Charles Giuliano parted to pursue new options. For a time they again collaborated publishing a newsletter/ fanzine The WAG Newsletter. They were involved in the music business as critics, publicists, and broadcasters. Eventually, they pursued academic interests, Art History, for Giuliano, and Psychology for Wilson. A couple of years ago they connected and are again working together on projects such as this.
-
David Wilson Four
Avatar and Mel Lyman
By: - Nov 20th, 2010The Mel Lyman gang from Fort Hill confiscated issue #25 of the Avatar. All but a handful of the 45,000 copies were sold as scrap paper. When the dust settled Charles Giuliano and David Wilson collaborated during the summer of 1968 to publish Boston's notorious underground paper. Together they reflect on those events.
-
Tom Rush Recalls
Folk Music in Harvard Square
By: - Nov 17th, 2010When Tom Rush performed at the Colonial Theatre we connected. Currently he is working on his memoirs. Tom took time to answer a couple of questions about how he evolved as a musician while an undergraduate at Harvard. This dialogue evolved out the series of interviews with David Wilson about art and culture during the 1960s in Boston and Cambridge.
-
David Wilson Three
Folk Clubs of the 1960s
By: - Nov 14th, 2010During the `1960s David Wilson took a break from editing Broadside to become manager of the folk club Cafe Yana. They got wiped out during the weekend of the Kennedy Assassination when everyone stayed home. Later, Wilson split the gate with Dick Waterman presenting Mississippi John Hurt which was a great success. But then he lost it all presenting blues artist Bukka White. With humor and insight Wilson recalls the Boston/ Cambridge club scene in the 1960s.
-
John Douglas Thompson Three
How Characters Evolve from the Text
By: - Nov 08th, 2010Thompson dismissed preliminary remarks about Macbeth a role he will perform later this year. Any preconceived notions are irrelevant until he finds the character in a careful reading of the text and through the rehearsal process. He discussed how the technique of Viewpoints was used by director Tina Landau in Antony and Cleopatra.
-
John Douglas Thompson Two
Passion and Politics
By: - Nov 08th, 2010There was a stark, minimalist staging of Antony and Cleopatra at Hartford Stage. The use of a trough of water to signify the Nile was discussed. Also the casting of Thompson and Kate Mulgrew as a middle aged couple with more emphasis on politics than passion.
-
John Douglas Thompson on Antony and Cleopatra
Difficulties and Challenges
By: - Nov 07th, 2010A growing number of influential critics regard John Douglas Thompson as one of the leading, clasically trained actors of his generation. We have engaged in an ongoing dialogue about his canonical roles. It started with Othello, three years ago, at Shakespeare & Company, continuing through Richard III this summer. Following a performance of Antony and Cleopatra, with Kate Mulgrew, we disussed the challening play.
-
David Wilson Interviews: Two
The Bosstown Sound and Folk Turns Political
By: - Nov 05th, 2010The then young Mike Curb, CEO of MGM Records, hyped an ersatz movement in the 1960s, the ill fated Bosstown Sound. The bands of that era performed at the Boston Tea Party in the South End. The folk music scene in Cambridge focused on Club 47 on Mount Auburn Street. As America was drawn into the Vietnam War David Wilson recalls a shift to radical politics and the protest movement.
-
The David Wilson Interviews: Part One
Broadside and Folk Music in Harvard Square
By: - Nov 04th, 2010During the summer of 1968, Charles Giuliano, Dave Wilson, Sandi Mandeville and Arden Harrison worked together to publish the underground paper Avatar. Wilson was a founder of the influential folk music publication Broadside. This first in a series of interviews covers the early years of the folk music scene in Harvard Square.
-
Jane Farver Retires from List at MIT
Remarkable 12 Years
By: - Oct 27th, 2010Jane Farver will leave her position at the MIT List Visual Arts Center in May. For the past dozen years Farver has been among the best and brightest in the Boston arts community.
-
Tony and Tina's Wedding
S&Co. Gala Fuggedddahboutit
By: - Oct 10th, 2010How fitting that there was a play within a play for the annual gala that hilariously raked in a ton of bling for Shakespeare & Company. The founding artistic director, Tina Packer, exchanged vows with the current one, Tony Simotes. That was followed by the ersatz wedding of Tony Nunzio and Tina Vitale. Their family of made men and wannabes made it up from Joisey and Queens to mix with, and loosen up, an assembly of Berkshire blue bloods who shelled out top coin for the privilege.
-
A Tea Party for Pittsfield
Kamms Seek Museum for Collection
By: - Oct 09th, 2010Over the past 30 years the Los Angeles based Sonny and Gloria Kamm have acquired 10,000 tea pots. Currently, they are seeking a museum partner to house their collection. The Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield appears to be a finalist. To house the Kamm's Tea Pot Museum the plan would be to acquire a church property in the heart of the city.
<< Previous Next >>