The Mount

The Mount, Edith Wharton’s country estate in Lenox, Mass suffered severe damage from last week’s record-breaking storm that dropped six and a half inches of rain over a five-hour period. Thanks to a quick response from the organization and financial support from the community, the damage to The Mount’s flower gardens and access road has, to a large extent, been addressed and the house has been able to reopen.

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Since it opened in 1955 with a superb permanent collection the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute has long been regarded among America's finest regional museums. With a $145 expansion and renovation designed by Tadao Ando the Clark is now a whole lot more fabulous. Combined with nearby Mass MoCA, Williams College, and the Wlliamstown Theatre Festival the Northern Berkshires are an even better first class arts desitinaton.

This summer, The Mount is pleased to announce a full schedule of lectures, readings, performances, music and more. The Mount will be open daily starting May 3rd through October 31st.

The Berkshire International Film Festival will showcase 75 of the latest in independent feature, documentary, short and family films from some 18 countries. The festival, which takes place from May 29 – June 1, 2014 in Great Barrington and May 31 – June 1st in Pittsfield, MA, will bring films, filmmakers, industry professionals and film fans together for a four-day festival celebrating independent film featuring 29 documentaries, 28 narrative features and 16 short films. Some of the countries represented this year are Jordan, Afghanistan, Philippines, India, Chile, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Iceland, Morocco, Iceland, Israel and France, and a record 41 filmmakers will be in attendance with their films.

When in Savannah Georgia you simply must have lunch at Mrs. Wilkes' Dining Room. During a campaign swing through town President Obama sampled the famous fried chicken and Southern hospitality.

Shakespeare & Company has planned a celebratory season packed with Shakespeare, modern works, premieres and special events in honor of the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. Tickets for the 2014 Performance Season go on sale in Mid-February. For specific date and info please check online at: www.shakespeare.org or by calling the Box Office at (413) 637-3353, or in person at 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA.

Not long after he took over as Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Company in 2009 Tony Simotes had to deal with near extinction caused by some $10 million in debt. With the board and managing director, Nicholas J. Puma, great strides were accomplished to reduce and restructure debt bringing stablity to the company which Tina Packer founded in 1979. In a major change the board has created the new position of Executive Director, Jerry Bilik, whom Simotes and Puma will report to. Those close to the company see this as a long term step foward.

Jon Kern, a writer for The Simpsons, was inspired by the aborted bombing attempt in Time Square to create the comedy Modern Terrorism: Or They Who Want to Kills Us and How We Learn to Love Them. This darkest of comedies attempts to humanize and humorize a suicide bomber avenging American drone strikes and attacks on Islamic citizens.

During the four day festival with 75 screenings we managed three days with seven films and one short film. So we review only a slice of the 8th annual Berkshire International Film Festival. Even with limited exposure it was an intense and absorbing experience.

Edith Wharton was 35 in 1897 when, in collaboration with Ogden Codman, she published her first work, the widely influential treatise "Decoration of Houses." Eight years later, in 1905, she published her first work of fiction "House of Mirth. " By then the Whartons had been living in The Mount, their estate in Lenox, Mass. for three years. The mansion and grounds expressed many of her theories of architecture, interior deign, and landscape gardening. She left under unhappy circumstances in 1911 never to return to the home she no longer owned.

Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Tom Reiss, Shakespeare & Company, SculptureNow, BIFF and Lift E'vry Voice have something in common: they are all part of The Mount's 2013 summer season.

The 8th Annual season of The Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) today announces the line-up to the action packed program showcasing over 75 of the latest in independent feature, documentary, short and family films from some 20 countries. The festival, which takes place from May 30 – June 2, 2013 in Great Barrington and May 31 – June 2nd in Pittsfield, MA, will bring films, filmmakers, industry professionals and film fans together for a four-day festival celebrating independent film featuring 27 documentaries, 25 narrative features and 24 short films.

Here's a second account of this year's WORDfest at the Edith Wharton estate, The Mount, in Lenox, Massachusetts, which celebrated authors and readers September 14-16. The article is offering a different point of view and photo angles.

On a glorious fall weekend WordFest was held at Edith Wharton's estate The Mount. There was an intense program of back to back panel discussions, interviews and poetry readings. It seemed like many in the audience were New Yorker readers while the speakers were top loaded with contributors. Surely it was a well read and well-heeled assembly in the posh Berkshires.

Last night the biannual WordFest, the second such, opened on a comic note in The Stables of the Edith Wharton estate The Mount in Lenox. Hoping to make WordFest eventually into an annual gathering Mount director, Susan Wissler, introduced two local authors Kevin O’Hara and Alison Larkin who read from their books to the delight of an audience that near to filled a spacious room. This was followed by a wine and cheese reception.

Susan Wissler, director of Edith Wharton's estate The Mount, in Lenox, discusses reducing debt from $9 million to under $4 million. In the past three years programming has quadrupled with an ambition to run year round. Some $750,000 has been raised to renovate The Stable as a performance, office and conference center. The September Vogue has an 18 page spread shot at The Mount by Annie Liebovitz. The second WordFest returns September 14 to 16.

A performance of The King Stag by Main Street Stage will be held at The Mount in Lenox on Sunday September 23rd at 11 a.m. The show is free and open to the public.

The Mount announces the launch of its second literary festival, Berkshire WordFest 2012, to be held at Edith Wharton's historic estate in Lenox during the weekend of September 14-16, 2012. The festival will bring nearly twenty nationally acclaimed writers--John Berendt, Adam Gopnik, Heidi Julavits, Matthew Pearl, Francine du Plessix Gray, and poet Mary Jo Salter among them--to The Mount for panels, interviews, and public conversations. The festival will also include many free readings by writers and poets with ties to the Berkshire region.

King Lear runs from June 16 through September 1 in S&Co.’s Founders’Theatre. Press Opening is on Friday, June 23 at 7:30PM. This profound and devastatingly beautiful tale of regret is directed by Rebecca Holderness who sets the stage in 1906 Russia as the monarchy is crumbling and Lear’s world descends into madness.

During the intensely busy opening weekend we attempted to interact with artists in the sprawling Mass MoCA survey Oh Canada. The selection mostly focused on younger and lesser known artists. The exceptions proved to be two internationally recognized artists Wanda Koop and Michael Snow.

This past January, Edith Wharton turned 150 and The Mount has been celebrating this important milestone all year long. That is why we are excited to announce our 2012 season, Edith Wharton: 21st Century Muse. We hope you will join us as we pay tribute to The Mount's remarkable creator with programming highlighting Wharton's life, work, and achievements. The Mount's opening day is May 5th.

The Mount will kick-start its 2012 season with two programs planned for late April. On Saturday, April 21 at 3:00 PM, Berkshire resident, Wharton scholar and Professor of English, Hildegard Hoeller will give a informative talk on Edith Wharton and her changing views of New York, entitled Edith Wharton: Old and New New York. On Sunday, April 22, The Mount will present Music in the Drawing Room with an afternoon performance by Elizabeth Morse, principle harpist of the Berkshire Symphony.

Berkshire Theatre Group announces programming for Summer 2012. BTG’s Summer of 2012 boasts a full assortment of theatrical productions, concerts, comedy, Friday Series play readings, Musical Mondays, Made in the Berkshires and more.

For the second season this summer there will be head to head musicals in Pittsfield. Berkshire Theatre Group has announced that A Chorus Line will be presented at the Colonial Theatre. While a few blocks away Barrington Stage will feature Fiddler on the Roof. Both theatre companies have yet to announce their complete summer season of plays and performances.