Circus & The Bard
Shakespeare & Company, Lenox
Thursday, Aug. 21 – Sunday, Aug. 31
For the kids and the kids in all of us, Shakespeare & Company and Spirit of the Circus present a merry mash-up of professional circus acts and Shakespeare’s characters. Featuring aerialists, jugglers, quick-change artists, and more, audiences of all ages will enjoy an afternoon of spectacular acts paired with the words and whimsy of the Bard.
The Cummington Fair
Thursday, Aug. 21 – Sunday, Aug. 24
The Cummington Fair was initiated in 1883 as the Hillside Agricultural Society with the mission for “the attainment and diffusion of scientific and practical knowledge in the cultivation of the soil and the raising of its various and useful production as comprehended in The Department of Agriculture, Horticulture and Pomology . . .” Its charming setting and manageable size — with plenty of events, great food, and fun rides — make it a perfect choice for families. Bring a jacket for the first nip of chilly weather in the evenings!
Diane DiMassa: Hothead Paisan
MASS MoCA, North Adams
Thursday, Aug. 21 at 5 p.m.
Head to MASS MoCA to meet Diane DiMassa. Her Hothead Paisan is an icon of the ’90s lesbian DIY comics scene, a patron saint of those who wonder if going off the deep end is the only sane response to life in modern America. One of the funniest, sharpest, and most unexpectedly warm comics of the late 20th century, Hothead Paisan is still as shocking today as it was more than two decades ago.
Boston Celtics Day
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame
Friday, Aug. 22 at 1 p.m.
Join special guest 2008 NBA champion Brian Scalabrine and the Celtics beloved team mascot Lucky the Leprechaun for a day filled with Celtics pride, stories, laughs, and legendary vibes.
Metamorphosis: Echoes, Mirrors, and Portals of Life Unfolding
Holyoke Media
Friday, Aug. 22 and Saturday, Aug. 23 at 7 p.m.
The coACT Community Theatre Collective supports trans, nonbinary, and gender-expansive youth and adults participants in creating a playful space to share personal and collective narratives. This year’s adult cohort have created a constellation of testimonies of transformation, love, grief, self, joy and pride. It’s an intimate showcase that will leave you with a heart filled with whimsy, magic, melancholy, and interconnectedness.
Heartwood Trio: The Well Tree
Shea Theater, Turners Falls
Friday, Aug. 22 at 7:30 p.m.
Heartwood is a trio of singers and instrumentalists that came together in 2021 during a music intensive on a remote island in Lake Superior. The Well Tree is a musical, illustrated by an illuminated, paper-cut, hand-cranked scroll. It is an original tale of a young woman who moves beyond the fog of isolation to meet songbirds, snails and ancient trees as she travels through unraveling times to find her way home.
Keith Lockhart 30th Anniversary Celebration
Tanglewood, Lenox
Friday, Aug. 22 at 8 p.m.
This special evening at Tanglewood celebrates 30 years of Keith Lockhart at the helm of the Boston Pops. Special guests include Lynn Ahrens, Jason Danieley, Ben Folds, Mandy Gonzalez, Bernadette Peters, Guster's Ryan Miller, John Pizzarelli, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Time for Three.
Back Porch Songwriters Series
The Basement Tapes songs of Bob Dylan & The Band
Academy of Music, Northampton
Friday, Aug 22 at 7:30 p.m.
The Back Porch Songwriter Series returns to the Academy of Music with an exploration of Bob Dylan and The Band’s late 60’s groundbreaking collaboration, known as “The Basement Tapes.” These sessions included numerous classic songs which rank with their best work. This is presented as part of the Seventh Arcadia Folk Festival and a portion of the proceeds will go towards supporting the work of Mass Audubon’s Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary in Easthampton.
Arcadia Folk Festival
Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Easthampton
Saturday, Aug. 23 from 10 a.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Signature Sounds and Mass Audubon present the seventh annual Arcadia Folk Festival, an outdoor musical event that brings the community together around music in the heart of the Valley to celebrate and support the work at Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary and to model a sustainable community event. There are two stages and it’s easy to move from one to the other, plus a lovely little stroll takes you to a third concert space in the woods. Food trucks galore!
Northeast Fine Arts Exhibition
Workshop13, Ware
Opening reception Saturday, Aug. 23 from 1 – 4 p.m.
This annual exhibition of realism is held in the bautiful Grand Hall gallery of Workshop13, a non-profit cultural arts and learning in Ware. Awards will be announced at 3 p.m., including the $1,000 Best in Show Award. The juror for the 7th annual NEFAE is David Gray, whose award-winning works have been covered by major art publications including Southwest Art, Art of the West, and American Art Collector. The show will be up from Aug. 23 through Sept. 7. You can visit Fridays from 4–7 p.m. and Saturdays and Sundays from 1 – 4 p.m.
Berkshire Opera Festival: La Traviata
The Mahaiwe, Great Barrington
Saturday, Aug. 23 at 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Aug. 26 and Friday, Aug. 29 at 7 p.m.
Set amid the splendor of Parisian nightlife, Giuseppe Verdi’s timeless tale of love and sacrifice has become one of the most beloved operas of all time. Violetta lives a life of decadence and grandeur until she finds true love for the first time with Alfredo. They leave high society for a life in the countryside together, but when fate intervenes, Violetta must make an agonizing choice. Sung in Italian with projected English translations.
Play With Time
Studio E, Linde Center for Music & Learning, Tanglewood
Saturday, Aug. 23 at 2 p.m. and Sunday, Aug 24 at 7 p.m.
Play with Time, by Eric Henry Sanders, features the music of Philip Glass and reconfigures a conversation between Philip Glass and the visual artist Fredericka Foster. It's a music theater piece on the theme of time and uses Glass's own method of iterative composition. This show is presented in collaboration with the Massachusetts International Festival of the Arts (MIFA) and Ensemble for the Romantic Century (ERC).
Stone Soup Café 20th Annual Harvest Supper
Greenfield Town Common
Saturday, Aug. 23 from 4 – 7:30 p.m.
It began in 2005 with a vision from the late Juanita Nelson — a civil rights activist, pacifist, and fierce advocate for local food. Harvest Supper is a taste of the valley experience that draws people to downtown Greenfield to celebrate everything that makes this region so abundant and unique. Over 1,000 guests are expected to attend this year’s event to enjoy a nourishing, chef-prepared meal made with ingredients donated by more than 50 local farms and producers from across the Pioneer Valley. The event will also feature live music, community art-making, face painting, hula hooping, and more.
Motorama
Downtown North Adams
Sunday, Aug. 24 from 9 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Motorama is an annual event that celebrates all types of vehicular engines. Main, Holden and Eagle Streets are closed down to all but pedestrian traffic as downtown North Adams fills with hundreds of cars, trucks, motorcycles, snowmobiles and tractors. Plus, music, 50/50 raffles, food, shopping and more.
Meadow Flutes
North Hall, Huntington
Sunday, Aug. 24 at 2 p.m.
The North Hall was built originally as a schoolhouse in 1795 and served as a Huntington district school until the early 1930's. Today it’s a multi-purpose community center that hosts a very nice Sunday afternoon summer arts series. Meadow Flutes explores flute chamber repertoire of all kinds. The quartet performs on C Flute, Piccolo, Alto Flute and Bass Flute. A rarity!
Steve Hofstetter
The Drake, Amherst
Monday, Aug. 25 at 8 p.m.
Steve Hofstetter, who has over a billion views on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, is a Nobel Peace Prize-nominated comedian. His book (Ginger Kid) is a top 5 pick on Amazon and debuted at number one in its category. He's been in four movies, and he has had two top 20 comedy albums. He is a former columnist for Sports Illustrated and the NHL, and has also written for Maxim and the New York Times, among others.