By Mark G. Auerbach
The Mass Cultural Council has launched the Cultural Organization Economic Recovery Act, a $10 million initiative to provide grant assistance to Massachusetts nonprofit cultural organizations negatively impacted by the COVID19 pandemic. Of the $10 million, $2 million will be earmarked for small cultural nonprofits. For details: https://massculturalcouncil.org/organizations/cultural-organization-economic-recovery-program/
SEBASTIAN CANTANA
Berkshire Opera Festival has announced its expanded 2021 season, which features Verdi’s comic opera Falstaff, to be performed Aug. 21, 24, and 27 at Great Barrington’s Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center. Sebastian Cantana sings the title role in the production conducted by Brian Garman, and staged by Jonathon Loy. A new opera, Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied, will be performed at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington on July 22 and 24. It’s the story of Colonel Jim Thompson, America’s longest held prisoner of war. Thompson was imprisoned during the Vietnam War. The company will also present a free concert, Much Ado About Shakespeare on Aug. 11 at The Mount in Lenox, MA. For details: www.berkshireoperafestival.org.
The Bushnell has postponed all Broadway touring programs through at least Aug. 1. This includes postponed shows from the 2019-2020 season, including Blue Man Group, The Band’s Visit, Dear Evan Hansen, and Escape to Margaritaville. Also included are shows initially announced for the 2020-21 season, including Hadestown, Hamilton, Pretty Woman: The Musical, What The Constitution Means to Me, My Fair Lady and Mean Girls. Season ticket holders should contact The Bushnell box-office for options. www.bushnell.org.
New Century Theatre, a summer institution in the Pioneer Valley, ceased operations, because of the pandemic. According to co-founder and artistic director Sam Rush, the theatre had been performing for 28 years.
Donald T. Sanders, executive director of MIFA, The Massachusetts Institute for the Arts, will direct the ERC Ensemble for the Romantic Century audio productions of two plays starring Vanessa Redgrave, the legendary stage and screen actor. Redgrave will perform the role of the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova in Eve Wolf’s Akhmatova, The Heart is not made of Stone, and Maureen Lawrence’s play about Akhmatova, Real Writing. Eve Wolf serves as music director for the project. For details: https://www.romanticcentury.org/
VANESSA BUTLER
A Community Carol, Hartford Stage’s reimagination of its annual production of A Christmas Carol, which would have been presented for its 23rd consecutive year, will stream beginning Dec. 17. Rachel Alderman directs the show, set on a quiet winter night, when the cast of A Christmas Carol ZOOM together. But cold winds sweep in, the WIFI becomes unstable, and the spirits that haunt A Christmas Carol take over. The cast includes some of the familiar actors who usually take the stage at Hartford Stage’s annual tradition: Vanessa R Butler, Robert Hannon Davis, Kenneth De Abrew, Rebecka Jones, Sarah Killough, Shauna Miles, John-Andrew Morrison, Michael Preston, Buzz Roddy, Alan Rust, Noble Shropshire and Terrell Donnell Sledge. A Community Carol streams for four days. Tickets are free, but registration is required. And, donations are requested. For details: www.hartfordtage.org.
New Horizons, Shakespeare & Company’s virtual gala will be streamed on December 5. The free program will feature video performances by Shakespeare & Company actors and special guests, and a sneak preview of the upcoming documentary Speak What We Feel. Among those scheduled to appear are Elizabeth Aspenlieder, John Douglas Thompson, Annette Miller, Tina Packert, Ryan Winkles and Finn Wittrock. For details: www.shakespeare.org.
KELLI O’HARA
An Evening With Kelli O’Hara, the Broadway star will be live-streamed by UConn’s Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts on Dec. 5. The Tony Award winning stage and screen star will perform holiday favorites, along with music from Broadway and the American Songbook. O’Hara will do a post-concert Q&A with Jorgensen director Rodney Rock. O’Hara has been in the Broadway spotlight for over 20 years. She earned a Tony for her turn as Anna Leonowens in the 2015 revival of The King and I, and, more recently, was nominated for a Tony for her performance in Kiss Me, Kate. Her other Broadway credits include The Bridges of Madison County, Nice Work if You Can Get It and South Pacific. She stars alongside Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon in HBO’s new series The Gilded Age. For details: www.jorgensen.uconn.edu.
The Supadupa Kid 2: Move, the action/superhero book by Pittsfield author Ty Allen Jackson, gets a free virtual reading from Barrington Stage Company, directed by Julianne Boyd. The free stream begins Dec. 3, and the cast features local youth and their parents from Western Massachusetts and the Capital Region in New York. Prior to the pandemic, BSC commissioned a musical version of The Supadupa Kid, which was originally scheduled to be performed by the Youth Theatre in the 2020 season. That production will be scheduled for a future season. For details: www.barringtionstageco.org.
DinoFest , the 4th annual Greenfield weekend devoted to all things dinosaur, takes over downtown Greenfield in person and online, December 5-6, courtesy of the Piti Theatre Company & Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association. Blending science, arts, and community-building, DinoFest 2020 will feature Piti Youth Troupe’s comic meditation on emerging fascism The Mayor of Greenpants: Dino Disaster as well as Jurassic Roadshow’s renowned paleontologists, artists and passionate fossil collectors via Zoom. Presentations will explore the connections between deep time and the Pioneer Valley and offer a window into cutting-edge dino research. For details: www.ptco.org/dino
MARTIN MILLER
Martin Miller, president of New England Public Media, marked a milestone as he celebrates his 25th anniversary of service to public media in Western New England. He joined 88.5fm/WFCR in 1995, after working in a number of capacities at WGBH in Boston. He orchestrated the addition of WNNZ, then a Westfield station, to become WFCR’s all-news sister station, and the service expanded to 13 frequencies in Western New England as New England Public Radio. Last year, NEPR and WGBY partnered to become New England Public Media. For details on New England Public Media: www.nepm.org.
The UMASS Department of Music and Dance presents two free virtual jazz concerts on its YouTube channel. The Vocal Jazz Ensemble performs tunes by Sting, Randy Newman, Irving Berlin and more on December 6. On Dec. 8, the program includes an eclectic mix of jazz and pop. For details: https://www.youtube.com/user/umassmusicdance
TINA FABRIQUE
A Very Ella Christmas, starring Tina Fabrique as legendary Ella Fitzgerald singing holiday favorites, streams on demand from TheaterWorks Hartford, Dec. 11-31. Accompanied by a jazz trio and filmed at TheaterWorks, Fabrique sings Jingle Bells, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Winter Wonderland and more. For details: www.twhartford.org.
Mark G. Auerbach studied theatre at American University and the Yale School of Drama. He’s worked for arts organizations and reported on theatre for newspapers and radio. Mark produces and hosts ArtsBeat TV/Radio for WCPC15 and 89.5fm/WSKB, and is a contributor to Pioneer Valley Radio.
