NEPM Day at Springfield Museums
Featuring Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: The Exhibit
Saturday, Aug. 10 from 10 a.m. — 5 p.m.
NEPM members get free admission with the discount code NEPMLOVE
The PBS Kids series Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum comes to life at Springfield Museums. Follow Xavier and his friends down a hidden passage in the Dinosaur Diorama, dig for fossils, go on a scavenger hunt or meet heroes like George Washington Carver, Sacagawea and others as you learn how they changed history. Your ticket includes admission to Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum: The Exhibit and all five of the world-class museums that make up Springfield Museums. Not a NEPM member? Become one today!
Sound and Vision
Amherst Cinema
Wednesdays, July 24 – Sept. 18 at 7 p.m.
This week marks the start of Sound & Vision, Amherst Cinema’s annual celebration of music culture through film with a diverse lineup of documentaries, concert films, narratives, and live performance films, all shown on the big screen. Special guests introduce some of the screenings, and live DJs spin music at afterparties in July and August. First up on July 24: Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande. Psst! Amherst Cinema’s George Myers was a featured guest on Monday’s Fabulous 413.
Shakespeare & Company: The Islanders
Tina Packer Playhouse, Lenox
Thursday, July 25 – Sunday, Aug. 25
Head to Shakespeare & Company for the world premiere of a new play by award-winning playwright Carey Crim. The story: Anna lives an insular life on an underpopulated island in the Great Lakes. Her quiet, controlled world is turned upside down by the arrival of a charming but secretive new neighbor Dutch. For different reasons, Dutch and Anna have each retreated from mainstream society. Can their connection survive the revelations that must inevitably come with true intimacy?
Chester Theatre Company: Will Sacrifice
Thursday, July 25 – Sunday, August 4
Chester Theatre presents the world premiere of a timely new comedy. Bridget’s fraught marriage to Nigel, a cramped NYC apartment, and her stagnant career convince her to search for a country escape in the post 9/11 real estate gold rush in the Catskills. Armed with a limited budget and plenty of nervous enthusiasm, she enlists the aid of Mr. Sunshine to help her realize her dream.
Off The Common – All Female Showcase
Hawks & Reed, Greenfield
Friday, July 26 from 5 – 11 p.m.
“Off The Common” is a free community concert on the last Friday of the month in conjunction with The Greenfield Art’s Walk. It brings together art, music, games, and food in a vibrant celebration of community spirit. July’s Off the Common features music performed by Madison McFerrin, Kimaya Diggs, Kendra McKinley and Daisy Skelton.
Great Barrington Public Theater: Night at the Speakeasy
Daniel Arts Center, Great Barrington
Friday, July 26 – Sunday, Aug. 11
Night at the Speakeasy is a sensational, hugely fun, new cabaret show spotlighting Janelle Farias Sando’s powerhouse voice, marvelous spontaneity and captivating stage talent. The audience is seated onstage, in the ambience of a secretive Roaring Twenties speakeasy club. It’s a one-of-a kind stage show that presents classic, new and rarely heard songs, jazzy discoveries, stylish treatments of American songbook favorites and surprising genre crossovers.
Real Live Theatre: When The Mind’s Free
Shea Theater, Turners Falls
Friday, July 26 – Sunday Aug. 4
Northampton Senior Center
Tuesday, July 30 at 1 p.m.
This original dance-theatre production has developed over a five-year period of improvisation and in conversation with Shakespeare’s King Lear, as well as in consultation with memory care organizations, caretakers, families, and individuals dealing with memory loss. It follows the experience of a lesbian couple and their family confronting the challenges of dementia and addiction. Each performance concludes with a moderated community conversation around the themes of the play.
Berkshire Historical Society: Poor Herman
Arrowhead's Barn, 780 Holmes Road, Pittsfield
Friday, July 26 – Saturday, August 3 at 7:30 p.m.
Herman Melville’s great-great-great granddaughter, playwright Elizabeth Doss, uses the author as a subject to speculate on the line between utter genius and epic failure in us all. Poor Herman unearths the life of Herman Melville, who arguably wrote America’s best and worst novels back-to-back in 1850 and 1851. The performance is held at Melville’s historic Arrowhead property, which he bought in 1850.
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Pipe Dream
The Unicorn Theatre, Stockbridge
Friday, July 26 – Saturday, August 31
It’s very good that this production has a long run, because several dates are already sold out, and many have low ticket availability. Richard Rodgers’ mesmerizing music and Oscar Hammerstein’s compelling book and lyrics breathe life into John Steinbeck’s treasured novels, Cannery Row and Sweet Thursday. Nominated for nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Pipe Dream weaves a tapestry of compassion, romance and hope among the drifters and dropouts who call Cannery Row home.
Water Chestnut Pull at Lake Warner
Connecticut River Conservancy Volunteer Opportunity
Lake Warner, Hadley
Saturday, July 27
Paddle with a purpose. Water chestnut is a harmful aquatic, invasive species, which is known to take over stretches of water. When left unchecked, water chestnut has the potential to decimate ecosystems and eliminate recreational opportunities. Fortunately, it is easily identifiable and smaller infestations can be managed with trained volunteers hand-pulling the plant. This event is organized by the Friends of Lake Warner and the Mill River. Registration is required.
Hilltown 6 Pottery Tour
Saturday, July 27 and Sunday, July 28 from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Every year, this self-directed pottery tour draws visitors from throughout the Northeast. It offers a fantastic opportunity for you to visit the studios of eight nationally recognized potters, meet guest artists, and experience a diverse and textured range of ceramic artistry. There are scheduled educational demonstrations on both days, which show off the potter’s techniques and exhibit the tools and processes behind their work. Here’s the map.
Jupiter & Okwess
Iron Horse, Northampton
Saturday, July 27 at 7 p.m.
Jupiter & Okwess are pyrotechnicians who draw the rhythms of the Congo out of obscurity to reveal their superpowers: the powers of rock and funk, ready for every kind of musical coupling and any kind of invitation. Their new album Explosive! Na Kozonga, is a blast of energy that bewitches the body and feeds the spirit.
Rock Voices: Tribute to Queen
Academy of Music, Northampton
Saturday, July 27 at 7 p.m.
Join the area’s only community rock choir for an evening of incredible music! Listen to the music of Queen, arranged by Tony Lechner and sung by more than 200 voices, backed up by a full, professional rock band. Rock Voices represents everything that is wonderful about the Pioneer Valley — a sense of community, a love of music, and a desire to share that joy with others. Catch them on Friday on The Fabulous 413.
Koussevitzky 150
Lee, Copland, Thompson, and Stravinsky featuring Paul Lewis, piano
Tanglewood, Lenox
Sunday, July 28 at 2:30 p.m.
Live broadcast on Classical NEPM
If you listened to The Fabulous 413 on Tuesday, you heard about what’s happening at Tanglewood to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Serge Koussevitzky's birth and the 100th anniversary of his appointment as the BSO's first Music Director. This concert is part of the celebration. The program includes a rich tapestry of 20th century music, with Copland’s Piano Concerto, Thompson’s Alleluia, and Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms. Performing artist Thomas Warfield joins as the narrator for James Lee’s Freedom’s Genuine Dawn, a piece based on the great Fredrick Douglas text “What to the Slave Is the 4th of July?”
Sevenars Summer Concerts: Inbal Segev, cello
The Academy, 15 Ireland Street, Worthington
Sunday, July 28 at 4 p.m.
Israeli-American artist Inbal Segev combines “thrillingly projected, vibrato-rich playing” (Washington Post) with “complete dedication and high intelligence” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Celebrated for her fresh insights into music’s great masterworks, she is equally committed to reinvigorating the cello repertoire, and has commissioned and premiered major new works from some of today’s foremost contemporary composers. At Sevenars, she will perform three Bach cello suites.
Raquy Danziger
Bombyx, Florence
Sunday, July 28 at 7 p.m.
Raquy Danziger is an internationally acclaimed musician, artist, teacher and composer based in Jaffa. Considered to be one of the foremost experts and virtuosos on the oriental goblet drum known as the darbuka, Raquy is renowned for her electrifying performances. Through her concerts, compositions, and teaching methodology, Raquy has made a significant contribution toward elevating the darbuka from a humble folk drum to a shining solo instrument fit for a concert hall. Plus! Raquy is holding daytime darbuka workshops on Saturday and Sunday.
Barrington Stage Company: Forgiveness
St. Germain Stage, Pittsfield
Tuesday, July 30 – Sunday, Aug. 25
This world premiere takes us to Minnesota, where a former convict who has served time for anything from drug dealing to murder is allowed to seek forgiveness from the Governor. They have 10 minutes to plead their case in a dramatic, pressurized process to gain acceptance back into the fold, or be stuck forever on the outskirts of society. In this interactive play, the audience helps decide who is worthy of forgiveness.