Article by Dave Read.

Berkshire Theatre Festival, one of the oldest professional regional theatres in the United States, was founded in Stockbridge, Mass. in 1928. BTF’s Main Stage was designed and built in 1888 by Stanford White as the Stockbridge Casino (a miles away from the current location). It seats 408, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

A Christmas Carol at Pittsfield’s Colonial Theatre

Also in Pittsfield, A Christmas Carol, the Victorian story of Ebeneezer Scrooge by Charles Dickens runs at the Colonial Theatre between Dec. 14 and Dec. 29. The Christmas 2013 schedule at the Colonial begins with Mary Verdi: Christmas at the Colonial on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 followed by 4 performances of The Nutcracker by the Albany Berkshire Ballet Dec. 7 and 8.

Berkshire Theatre Festival contact info:

• PO Box 797, Stockbridge, MA 01262
• Box Office – 413-997-4444
• website: BerkshireTheatre.org

Berkshire Theatre Festival driving directions:

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Article by Dave Read.

Shakespeare and Company was established in 1978 at The Mount in Lenox, Mass., Edith Wharton’s former home, and currently occupies a 30 acre parcel on Kemble St., which it bought for $4.1 million in 2000. In addition to presenting plays and other programs on campus, Shakespeare and Co. runs educational programs throughout the Northeast.

Shakespeare & Co. schedules It’s A Wonderful Life

A perfect show for the holiday season. It’s A Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, inspired by Frank Capra’s classic 1946 film starring Donna Reed and James Stewart, is filled with just the right hint of nostalgia, charm and straight-from-the-heart moments. In true old-fashioned radio style, Ware brings audiences this poignant, funny and unique play-within-a-play that will leave you believing in angels! It’s A Wonderful Life runs December 6 through December 29, 2013 at Shakespeare & Co.’s Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre in Lenox, MA.

Fall Festival of Shakespeare at Shakespeare & Co.

The annual Fall Festival of Shakespeare is nine-week residency program at high schools throughout western Massachusetts and parts of neighboring New York State. Shakespeare & Company directors at each school lead nearly 500 students through a language-based exploration of a Shakespeare play, culminating in full-scale productions performed on Shakespeare & Company’s Tina Packer Playhouse for the public Nov. 21 – 24, 2013.

Shakespeare & Company contact info.

• 70 Kemble Street
• Lenox, MA 01240
• phone: 413-637-1199
• www.shakespeare.org

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Jan. 02, 2015 Article by Dave Read

News item: Elm Court, the Sloane-Vanderbilt estate, built in 1886 on Old Stockbridge Rd. in Lenox, 55,000 sq. ft. on 44 acres, the largest shingle style residence in the country, was sold by its 4th generation owners to developers in Colorado for a little less than ten million dollars. (See Bob Villa video about fixing-up Elm Court.) With that transaction, the Berkshire Cottage era has come to an end. Speaking of rapacious developers, the best of the lot today would be hard-pressed to match the me-my-mine meme that was the defining characteristic of the bluestockings who inspired Mark Twain to coin the “Gilded Age,” whence the Berkshire cottage had its day in the sun.

Lenox and Stockbridge Gilded Age mansions

Some of America’s wealthiest families built mansions in and around Lenox and Stockbridge during the Gilded Age, which came to be known as Berkshire cottages. One hundred fifty years later, some of them remain standing, if re-purposed, such as Bellefontaine, current site of Canyon Ranch, and Belvoir Terrace, now a summer camp for girls. Only one remains in the hands of its original family, Elm Court, recently reclaimed by the Vanderbilt family and now available for private functions and overnight accommodations.

Shadowbrook – Kripalu Yoga Center

Shadowbrook was built in 1893 for Anson Phelps Stokes, with Frederick Law Olmsted designing the 900 acre estate. It was purchased in 1917 by Andrew Carnegie, who died there in 1919; in 1922 Carnegie’s widow sold the estate to the Society of Jesus who operated a Jesuit seminary there until it was destroyed by fire in 1956, killing four Jesuit priests. They built a new structure, which closed due to declining enrollments in 1970 and stood vacant until it was purchased in 1983 for the establishment of Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health.
Belvoir Terrace, currently a summer camp for girls, was built in 1888-1890 for Morris K. Jesup, the banker and philanthropist wh was a founder of the Y.M.C.A. Bellefontaine, current site of Canyon Ranch was built in 1897 for Giraud Foster. Hotel Aspinwall, built in 1902 by General Thomas H. Hubbard, burned to the ground in 1931. The site is now Kennedy Park. Ventfort Hall was built in 1893 for George and Sarah Morgan, sister of J. P. Morgan, to designs by architects Rotch & Tilden. The Mount, designed by and residence of Edith Wharton from 1902-11, is open today under the operation of the Edith Wharton Restoration.