Five Colleges, Incorporated
97 Spring Street
Amherst, MA 01002
Five College Ink
NewsBreaks
Spring • 2007
photos by ben barnhart
Five College Net Completed
M
ore than 70 state, local, and college officials gathered in the newly renovated
11th floor of the University’s Campus Center on April 30 to celebrate the
completion of the construction phase of the Five College Fiber Optic Network.
The 53-mile network, which “loops” through seven area towns and municipalities and
connects the five campuses to each other and to a carrier-neutral facility in Springfield,
cost approximately $3.6 million. Owned by the campuses that built it, the high-tech
network, which has been called the largest project ever undertaken in the 40-year history of the consortium Five Colleges, Incorporated, will furnish cost-effective access to
nearly limitless bandwidth for research and teaching into the foreseeable future. It is
also expected to offer new opportunities for economic development to the communities
through which it runs.
Several speakers praised the project as a boon to the entire region, since a network of this
scale provides much-needed infrastructure rarely found in rural areas. The colleges will be
donating “dark fiber” to the towns through which it passes, enabling them to connect to
Springfield and from there to the wider world once they have funds to “light” those fibers.
In remarks to the gathering, Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins called the network
Continued on page 2
Donna Baron (center), director of information technology for Five Colleges, Incorporated,
and the construction team (left to right): David Moore, from Linx Associates; Robert
Zack, from Linx Associates; Kenneth DeRose, from Adesta LLC; Philip Leaman, from Linx
Associates; and Scott Mailman, from Adesta LLC.
The Five College Board of Directors (left to right): Tony Marx, president, Amherst College;
Joanne Creighton, president, Mount Holyoke College; John Lombardi, chancellor, UMass
Amherst; Lorna Peterson, executive director, Five Colleges, Incorporated; Ralph Hexter,
president, Hampshire College; and Carol Christ, president, Smith College.
John Lombardi (left photo), chancellor, University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Northampton
Mayor Mary Clare Higgins (right photo).
New Joint Faculty Appointments Announced
R
ecent searches carried out this year have resulted in the appointment of four new joint
faculty positions in the following fields: Architectural Studies, Middle Eastern History,
Art and Technology, and Theater. All the positions begin in the fall of 2007.
The initial three years of the appointments in Architectural Studies, Middle Eastern
History, and Art and Technology are being funded by a grant from The Andrew W.
Mellon Foundation. The fourth, a visiting position in theater for sound design, will be
supported by a combination of funding from Five Colleges and the hosting institution,
the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
ARCHITECTURE
Thom Long has been named Five College Assistant Professor of Architectural Studies.
The position will be based at Hampshire College and shared among three campuses:
Hampshire, Amherst, and Mount Holyoke Colleges. A practicing designer and architect
in Northampton, Long is the founder and creative director of Vision Laboratory, a small,
decade-old interdisciplinary design practice.
MIDDLE EASTERN STUDIES
These shared positions enable departments to plan for impending retirements or to introduce specialized or emerging areas of study into the curriculum. The joint appointment
was among the earliest forms of cooperation developed through the consortium. Three of
the new appointments are being shared by two or three institutions; the fourth, in theater,
is for a three-year visiting lecturer.
Nadya Sbaiti has been appointed Five College Assistant Professor of History to teach the social
and cultural history of the modern Middle East. This is a tenure-track position, based at Smith,
to be shared primarily between Smith and Mount Holyoke in collaboration with the history
departments of the other campuses. She currently serves as coeditor of the peer-reviewed
Arab Studies Journal and helped produce the documentary film About Baghdad.
Joint appointments are normally proposed by Five College departments or programs
that commit to collaborative planning. Additional positions are expected to be made
over the next several years.
John Slepian has been appointed to a shared position between Hampshire and Smith
Continued on page 2
ART AND TECHNOLOGY
Five College Net Completed—continued from cover
State Senator Stan Rosenberg and Lorna Peterson.
Presidents Tony Marx (center) and Joanne Creighton (right) congratulate Donna Baron
(left) while Senator Rosenberg looks on.
“the roads and bridges of the 21st century.” This, she said, “is what we need to make progress
happen.” Praising “your leadership,” Higgins turned to the Five College board of directors, all
of whom were present for the occasion. State Senator Stan Rosenberg noted that funds for a
wider western Massachusetts connection to the high speed Internet are expected to be made
available soon. Smith College President Carol Christ, who is currently serving as president
of Five Colleges, Incorporated, spoke of the network as another step forward in the communication continuum begun with the telegraph and telephone. All the speakers lauded the
role that collaboration had played in bringing the project this far. “Without the support and
involvement of many Five College committees, numerous outside consultants, our contractor
Adesta, the towns, and the state, this project would never have come to fruition,” observed
Donna Baron, director of Information Technology, who oversaw the installation.
“It’s a triumph,” declared University of Massachusetts Amherst Chancellor John Lombardi,
who hosted the celebratory event and served as master of ceremonies. “Together we took
the risk and created a strong, vibrant link that will provide advancements only available
in more populated areas,” said Lorna Peterson, executive director of Five Colleges,
Incorporated. “We all worked together,” she said.
Governor Deval Patrick, who was unable to attend, had sent a letter that was read aloud:
“I commend the Five Colleges and their business partners for taking the initiative to
bring fiber optic Internet to Western Massachusetts. This partnership is an excellent
example of the great strides communities and educational institutions can take together
to improve their neighborhoods,” the governor wrote.
Hampshire College President Ralph Hexter and Carol Christ, Smith College president.
Museums10 Awarded Third Grant from Massachusetts Cultural Council
partners as area booksellers. Taking its
inspiration from the Valley’s rich literary
heritage, BookMarks will feature an inviting
array of exhibitions, readings, performances,
book signings, and demonstrations all
celebrating the book. Three weekends in the
fall will offer programming shaped around
three core themes:
M
useums10, a partnership among
seven of the Five College museums, the Eric Carle Museum
of Picture Book Art, the National Yiddish
Book Center, and Historic Deerfield,
has been awarded a two-year matching
grant from the Massachusetts Cultural
Council’s John and Abigail Adams Arts
Program for 2007–08. This year’s award
of $75,000 will be used to promote both
the Museums10 brand and the upcoming
BookMarks exhibition slated for September 2007–January 2008. The amount
of the award for the second year will be
announced later in 2007.
The Art of the Book (September 20–23) will
feature an exhibition at Mount Holyoke
College Art Museum of the work of the
Leithauser brothers, who will be on hand
to discuss their collaboration. The series
continues on October 12–14 with Books Out
Loud, which will include a local broadcast of
the popular NPR feature “Selected Shorts”
and readings by noted authors at venues
throughout the Valley. On November
15–18, the focus shifts to From Books to
Blogs and Back, a look at where the book
is headed in the digital age and beyond.
Related exhibitions being mounted by the
ten member museums will each celebrate the
various ways in which the book has made its
mark on human history and development.
More information on Museums10 and the
fall series BookMarks can be found at www.
museums10.org.
This is the third consecutive grant from
the Massachusetts Cultural Council to the
museum collaborative, which is facilitated
by Five Colleges, Incorporated. In 2004 it
received a planning grant, and in 2005 a grant
to Museums10 from the Adams Arts Program
was used to promote its first joint exhibition,
GoDutch! The regionwide festival of Dutch
art, culture, and horticulture, the first of its
kind in the Pioneer Valley, was a key factor in
bringing over 105,000 visitors to the museums
from January through August in 2006.
Museums10 will launch its second major
thematic initiative—BookMarks—in the fall
of 2007, in cooperation with such community
New Joint Faculty Appointments—continued from cover
Colleges to further collaboration between their respective arts and science programs and
those of the Five Colleges in general. This is a full-time, continuing appointment at the
assistant professor level, for which Hampshire College will serve as the home institution
with Slepian teaching at Hampshire and Smith. Those serving on the search committee
comprised representatives from studio art, engineering, computer science, and cognitive
science. Slepian received a BFA in film and television from New York University in 1988
and worked for many years in commercial television and new media before returning
to school in fine art. For the past two years, he has served as the Luther Gregg Sullivan
Visiting Artist in Digital Media at Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
• Five College Ink NewsBreaks
THEATER—SOUND DESIGN
Robert Kaplowitz has been appointed Five College Visiting Lecturer in Sound Design for
a period of three years, beginning this fall. In this position, shared by all five institutions,
he will be based in the University’s Department of Theater. While the position serves
the needs chiefly of theater, it has implications and benefits for other performance arts,
such as music and dance, in which sound design plays a crucial role.
Prior to accepting this appointment, he had been teaching introductory and advanced courses
in sound design for both New York University’s Undergraduate Drama Production and Design Track and the Playwrights Horizons Direction and Design programs. His courses will
be open to students in any discipline, including theater, dance, music, and film.
Vice President of the American Political Science Association
and Former Editor of MELUS Named as Five College 40th
Anniversary Professors
Joseph T. Skerrett, (right photo) Jr. is a scholar of American literature in the Department of
English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has been a faculty member
since 1973. The courses he teaches focus on American studies and American fiction from
1865 to 1980. He has published work on Stephen Crane and James Purdy, but the primary
focus of his research and writing has been African-American writers. He has contributed
scholarly articles to American Quarterly, The Massachusetts Review, Callaloo, and Studies in
Short Fiction, among others. His essays on Richard Wright, Ralph Ellison, and Toni Morrison
have been published or reprinted in volumes edited by Harold Bloom, Kimberly Benston,
Marjorie Pryse and Hortense Spillers, and Arnold Rampersad.
This brings to eight the number of scholars now serving in this honorific capacity. Established
in 2005 by the Five College Deans, in consultation with the Five College Board of Directors,
to mark the 40th year of the consortium, these positions celebrate Five College cooperation
by enabling the schools to share with each other some of their most distinguished scholars.
The title brings with it a number of obligations as well as benefits. In return for being released
from teaching one course at their home campuses, during the three-year period of the appointment, 40th Anniversary Professors teach one course a year at a campus other than their
own and give a public presentation on a subject related to their research.
Martha Ackelsberg is professor of government and of the study of women and gender at
Smith. She has been involved in women’s studies both at Smith and in the Valley for over
30 years, including having served as member and chair of the Five College Women’s Studies
Committee. Her teaching, research, and writing have all centered on the nature and structure
of political communities, and, in particular, on patterns of power and participation within
them. Professor Ackelsberg teaches courses and seminars in U.S. urban politics, political
participation, the politics of wealth and poverty, and feminist and democratic theory. Of
particular interest to her is the anarchist movement in Spain, and what place the subordination
and emancipation of women had within it. Her research also concerns itself with women’s
place in the political arena in the United States. She is currently serving as vice president of
the American Political Science Association. Professor Ackelsberg will be at the University
in the fall semester 2007 to teach “Anarchism and Revolution: The Spanish Civil War.” She
will be on leave for 2008–09 but will return to serve as a 40th Anniversary Professor for two
more years following that.
Jim Gipe/pivot media
T
his spring, the Deans named two additional faculty members as Five College 40th Anniversary Professors: Martha Ackelsberg, professor of government, Smith College; and
Joseph T. Skerrett, Jr., professor of English, University of Massachusetts Amherst.
From 1987 to 1999 he was the editor of MELUS, the Journal of the Society for the Study of the
Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States. He coedited, with Amritjit Singh and Robert E.
Hogan, Memory, Narrative and Identity: New Essays in Ethnic American Literatures (1994)
and Memory and Cultural Politics: New Approaches to Ethnic American Literatures (1996).
In 2001 Longman published his text-anthology, Literature, Race, and Ethnicity: Contesting
American Identities. As a Five College 40th Anniversary Professor, Skerrett has been invited
to teach a course at Amherst College in spring 2008.
Early in May, a member of the inaugural
class of 40ths—Christopher Benfey,
Mellon Professor of English at Mount
Holyoke College and a noted scholar of
Emily Dickinson—gave the annual Jackie
M. Pritzen Faculty Lecture as his public
presentation. Benfey’s talk, “A Summer of
Hummingbirds: Emily Dickinson, Martin
Johnson Heade, and the Summer of 1882,”
attracted an overflow audience to the New
York Room in Mary Woolley Hall to hear
his interpretation of one moment in history
that he characterizes as “the summer of
love,” based on an excerpted chapter from
his forthcoming book.
Last year, two other members of the inaugural class, Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and
Political Science at Amherst College, and Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin
American and Latino Culture at Amherst College, gave the Pritzen lecture in two parts.
Others currently serving as 40th Anniversary Professors are Barton Byg, professor of
German and director of the DEFA Film Library at UMass Amherst; Daniel Warner,
composer and electronic artist, who teaches in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies at Hampshire College; and David Newbury, Gwendolen Carter Professor
of African Studies at Smith College.
Five College Committee for Community Based Learning
Celebrates Students, Faculty, and Community Partners
Renee Moss (right, above), director of the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Hampshire County, received
this year’s annual community partner award from the Five College Committee for Community
Based Learning, presented by John Reiff (left), director of the University’s Community Service
Learning Program. The recognition reception, held on April 30 in the Amherst College Alumni
House, also honored several students and faculty members who are “making a difference in
their communities.”
Pictured above (left to right) are Myrna Breitbart (Hampshire College), for her work in Holyoke
on community planning; Carol Angus (Five Colleges), for her support of the committee’s work
over many years; Lucy Mule (Smith College), for her work with area schools; Joseph Krupczynski
(UMass Amherst), for his efforts to rescue the historic Skinner Building in Holyoke; and Kristin
Bumiller (Amherst College) for her work with the Inside/Out Project, which brings college courses
into area jails. Simone Davis (Mount Holyoke College), not pictured, was also recognized for her
work with Inside/Out. Three students from each campus were recognized for their leadership
and “dedication to civic engagement.”
Remembering Ted Harrison
C
osmologist Edward R. (Ted) Harrison
(left), emeritus Distinguished
University Professor of Physics and
Astronomy at the University of Massachusetts
Amherst and a founder of the Five College
Department of Astronomy, died on January
29 in his retirement city of Tucson, Arizona,
where he was adjunct professor at the Steward
Observatory, University of Arizona. Perhaps
best known for his work on the growth of
fluctuations in the expanding universe and
his books on cosmology for the dedicated
layperson, Harrison had broad interests, and
published more than 200 papers in space
sciences, plasma physics, high-energy physics,
physical chemistry, and, principally, many
aspects of astrophysics.
Born in London, England, he came to the
United States in 1965 as a NAS-NRC senior research associate in the Theoretical
Division at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight
Center. In 1966 he became one of the three
founders of the Astronomy Program within
the Department of Physics and Astronomy
at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He also helped establish the Five College Astronomy Department and remained
associated with it for 30 years. The Five
College Department of Astronomy links
the University to the astronomy programs
at the four colleges. Harrison is also credited with the growth of the corresponding
astronomy graduate program at UMass
Amherst, which today enjoys interna-
tional recognition. He was a Fellow of the
American Physical Society, the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Astronomical Society, and
the Institute of Physics (UK).
Harrison’s longtime friend and colleague,
William Irvine, professor of astronomy at
the University of Massachusetts Amherst,
describes him as “a wonderful writer, whose
books frequently illustrate points of physics
or cosmology with references to poetry or
to classical history and philosophy.”
—excerpted from an obituary written by
William M. Irvine and Thomas T. Arny,
University of Massachusetts Amherst, with
Virginia Trimble, University of Maryland
Egyptian Night
Visiting Scholar Nahla A. Kader discusses the evolution of women’s dress in Egypt.
M
ore than 60 students and staff of the Five College Center for the Study of World
Languages (FCCSWL) gathered on Thursday evening, April 27, for the center’s
first festival celebrating Egyptian culture. Held in the Hampshire College Lebrón-Wiggins-Pran Cultural Center, Egyptian Night was coordinated by Maral Charyeva
(Smith ’06), one of the new program assistants in the FCCSWL whose position is being
funded under a grant to Five Colleges, Incorporated from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She was assisted by Nahla A. Kader, a visiting scholar from Egypt, who works with
the center, and Naglaa Mahmoud, a Fulbright fellow in Arabic, who serves as a mentor
to students enrolled in the center’s Five College Mentored Arabic Program.
Five College students enjoy sampling varieties of Egyptian food.
Classics Symposium Caps
Spring Student Forums
The festivities included an array of Middle Eastern food, presentations on Egyptian culture, an overview of the history of women’s dress in Egypt, a skit presented in Arabic by
the Mentored Arabic I class, a traditional belly dance performed by Hampshire student
Simone Stemper, and a display of Egyptian handicrafts.
Under the direction of University Professor of Italian Elizabeth H.D. Mazzocco, the
center develops materials and curricula for language learning with an emphasis on the
least commonly taught languages and on more commonly taught languages as spoken
in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Its Supervised Independent Language Program (SILP)
offers independent study courses in 19 languages: Bulgarian, Croatian (Serbo-Croatian),
Czech, Dari (Afghan Farsi), Modern Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, Norwegian, Persian
(Iranian Farsi), Romanian, Serbian (Serbo-Croatian), Slovak, Thai, Twi (Ghana), Turkish,
Turkmen, Urdu (Pakistan), Vietnamese, Wolof (Senegal), and Yoruba (Nigeria).
SILP is augmented by the Five College Mentored Language Program, which combines
independent study with small-group conversation sessions and individual tutorials for
Arabic, Hindi, and Swahili. An Egyptian Arabic dialect course joins the Levantine dialect
and Modern Standard Arabic courses in fall 2008 as part of the Five College Mentored
Arabic Program. All of the Mentored Arabic courses are being developed with the support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
D
evotees of Classics came together to “share food as well as intellectual nourishment” on Saturday, April 28, at Smith College, when the departments of classics
sponsored their Five College undergraduate symposium. Ten senior students
presented honors papers to an audience of peers and faculty members, with discussions
continuing over lunch. The classics symposium was the last in a notable series of events
this spring featuring student research or performances (see www.fivecolleges.edu for
more details). The students presented papers on a wide range of topics:
Tyrone Sandoval (HC)
The Electras of Sophocles, von
Hofmannsthal, and Strauss
George Baroud (UMA)
Callimachus and Catullus:
Poetry of Poetics
Elaine Chan (SC)
Printing the Greeks: Technical and
Aesthetic Considerations
Ashleigh Golden (SC)
Characterization in Menander and
Plautus: Demeas in the Samia and
Euclio in the Aulularia
Alyssa Hagen (HC)
The Gorgon in Iconography, Ritual
and Personal Religious Practice
Arabic Mentor and Fulbright Fellow Naglaa Mahmoud (front, center) poses with a group
of her students in Mentored Arabic level I, following the skit they presented in Arabic.
• Five College Ink NewsBreaks
Lindsay Sears (SC)
Etymological Wordplay as a Device
to Explain the Ancient Roman
Festival Calendar
Pat Mcgrath (AC)
Allusions to Virgil’s 6th Eclogue in
Milton’s Lycidas
A Special Supplement of Five College Ink NewsBreaks
Summering in the Valley
Arts and Exhibitions
Amherst College Mead Art Museum, Amherst:
(413) 542-2335, www.amherst.edu/mead
Through August 26: Through British Eyes: British
Art at the Mead
Drawn exclusively from the Mead’s permanent collection, the works in this exhibition reflect the breadth
and depth of the museum’s British holdings, one of
the strengths of its European collection. It showcases a
variety of media, including paintings, drawings, watercolors, prints, photographs and decorative arts.
Through August 26: Back to the Future—
Contemporary American Art from the Collection
Features works by American contemporary artists that
have been acquired by the Mead since 2002: Dotty Attie, Hugo Bastidas, Natvar Bhavsar, Beverly Buchanan,
William Christenberry, Petah Coyne, Elisa D’Arrigo,
Phyllis Galembo, Alex Harris, Geoffrey Hendricks,
Joe Jones, Wolf Kahn, Erica Lennard, Lloyd Martin,
Michael Mazur, Duane Michals, Vik Muniz, Elizabeth
Murray, William Noland, Helen Evans Ramsaran, Shuli
Sadé, Frank Stella, Mary Weatherford, Joan Witek,
Betty Woodman, and Michael Zide.
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art, Amherst:
(413) 658-1100, www.picturebookart.org
Through September 2: The Art of Eric Carle—
Eric Carle Picture Writer
Selections from Eric Carle Picture Writer explore the
sources of some of Carle’s stories, his highly acclaimed
collage technique, and a small glimpse at some of the
preliminary stages involved in the creation of a book.
This exhibition will also feature examples of Carle’s
non-book art, as well as recent acquisitions from the
museum’s permanent collection.
Through December 9: Birds of a Feather: The Art of
Eric Carle and Leo Lionni
When Eric Carle returned to America in 1952, a meeting
with Leo Lionni resulted in a friendship and a job lead.
The rest, as they say, is history. Neither Eric Carle nor
Leo Lionni ever imagined they later would create some
of the most memorable picture books of our time. The
similarities between these two artists are quite striking:
their pictures are filled with animals and nature; they
drew inspiration from their childhood experiences; and
their early careers in graphic design can be seen in their
bold simplicity and elegant sense of design.
July 3–October 28: The Art of Allen Say—
A Sense of Place
Organized in honor of Allen Say’s 70th birthday, The
Art of Allen Say: A Sense of Place explores both the
technical mastery and the thematic complexity of this
prolific artist and author. Trained as a commercial
photographer, Say found his place writing and illustrating children’s books somewhat by chance in the 1970s.
Author of more than 20 works since then, including
Grandfather’s Journey (1993), which won the Caldecott Medal in 1994, Say has spent much of his career
exploring the rich divide between his Japanese youth
and his American coming of age. It is his ability to
convey sentiments of alienation and dislocation in ways
that speak directly to children that makes his books
so remarkable. The exhibition is composed mostly of
Say’s illustrations for books, but also contains examples
of his commercial photography and oil painting to
underscore the full measure of his creative talent, as
well as his unifying aesthetic.
Historic Deerfield, Deerfield: (413) 774-5581,
www.historic-deerfield.org
Through August 12, 2007: What’s New?
Recent Acquisitions at Historic Deerfield
Highlights of the show include a creamware teapot in the
shape of a melon made in England circa 1765–1775 and
a joined, carved chest with drawers from circa 1707.
Through August 12: North by Northeast—
Five Centuries of New England Maps
A wide range of maps and related materials from
the period 1540–1918. Explore eight themes: New
England; politics of cartography; thematic and specialpurpose maps; the man-made landscape; geographical literacy and learning; cartography and conflict;
mapmaking and map reproduction; and the elements
of style: design and iconography. The exhibition also
features 19 important maps on loan from the Colonial
Williamsburg Foundation. Look for a related lecture
series on the history of maps and mapmaking coming
this summer!
Through December 30: Celebrating the Fiber
Arts—The Helen Geier Flynt Gallery
A testament to the passion of Historic Deerfield’s
cofounder Helen Geier Flynt during 60 years of collecting, this permanent gallery with changing elements
will present examples of embroidery, woven silks, bed
hangings, coverlets, quilts, costumes, and accessories
from about 1600 to the end of the 19th century.
Through December 31: Engraved Powder Horns
from the French and Indian War and the American
Revolution
One of the finest assemblages of this indigenous and unique
American art form ever displayed featuring 75 powder
horns and a wealth of documentary information about the
original owners and carvers who created them.
Starting August 25: The Write Stuff—The Material
Culture of Literacy
As part of the Museums10 regionwide promotion
“BookMarks: The Art of the Book,” Historic Deerfield
will offer an exploration of the objects related to reading and writing.
Ongoing: Asian Art from the Sackler Foundation
This remarkable selection of Asian art, on long-term
loan from the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation in New
York, is on view in the Norah Warbeke Gallery.
Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield: (413) 774-3768,
www.deerfield-ma.org.
Through June 17: Earthworks on Paper
During the 1960s and 1970s, artists began to use the
natural environment as a means as well as a subject for
art. This exhibition features 30 prints, drawings, and
photographs that document or translate site-specific
environmental sculptural works. Highlights include
Revival Ramp, a print documenting Mel Chin’s 1991
toxic soil reclamation project in St. Paul, Minnesota;
a preparatory drawing for Christo’s 1983 Surrounded
Islands executed in Biscayne Bay, Florida; and drawings
by Welsh sculptor David Nash of Ash Dome, a living
sculpture made from ash trees on his property, which
took 30 years for the artist to complete.
Through October 31: Made of Thunder, Made of
Glass—American Indian Beadwork of the Northeast
Features approximately 100 extraordinary beaded
bags and hats from the Gerry Biron and JoAnne
Russo collection. The intricate floral, geometric, and
figurative beadwork by early-19-century Iroquois
(Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk), Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora), and Wabanaki (Abenaki,
Maliseet, Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot)
is accompanied by contemporary paintings of Native
Americans by Gerry Biron, of Mi’kmaq descent. The
exhibition of exceptional beadwork and portraits of
Natives with beadwork examines the creativity and
meaning of Native American beaded designs.
Through November 4: Old Deerfield Fifth Biennial
Quilt Challenge
Quilters looked to a piecework quilt top created by
Electa Field of Conway, Massachusetts, in Memorial
Hall Museum to create message quilts for the Old
Deerfield Fifth Biennial Quilt Challenge. Inherent in the
designs is information that makes the quilter, and the
quilter’s thoughts or opinions, the heart of the quilt.
Date TBA: Slavery in Deerfield
A memorial to enslaved African Americans in the
Memorial Room is the first step toward giving greater
visibility to the African-American experience in
Deerfield. Like many New England towns and cities,
Deerfield was a slave-owning community. In the mid18th century, 7 percent of the population of Deerfield’s
mile-long Main street were enslaved Africans. But little
is known about the lives of these 21 people. Who were
they? What were their lives like?
Date TBA: Eastern European Farmers—
George Bluh Photographs
An exhibit of photographs of Polish and Eastern European farmers from Franklin and Hampshire Counties.
After George Bluh, of Conway, spent a year in Poland in
1994, he was inspired to embark on a project to document the relationship of the Polish to their land in the
Connecticut Valley. A former teacher at Frontier High
School and Greenfield Community College, George
Bluh donated his collection of 141 photographs and
his accompanying notes to Memorial Hall Museum in
2002. The nine photographs selected for this exhibition
were taken between 1995 and 1997.
Permanent: Introducing a Native American
Perspective
The exhibition begins with the Pocumtucks and other
local Natives from the thousands of years before the
arrival of Europeans and before they were forced out
of Deerfield in 1676. The remainder of the exhibition
includes noteworthy Wôbanakiak (Abenaki) and
Kanien’kehaka (Mohawk) art and objects dating from
the 18th through the 21st centuries.
Permanent: Clothing—18th to 20th Centuries
Extraordinary fabrics, splendid colors, and fine workmanship describe the clothing from the 18th century
to the early 20th century on exhibition in Memorial
Hall Museum’s Costume Room. In addition to the
clothing, the Costume Room includes displays on the
Franklin County Public Hospital School of Nursing
and Susie Walking Bear Yellowtail, class of 1927, who
was a Crow, from Montana.
Permanent: Pewter—the Solon Newton Collection
Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Newton’s great-niece,
Alice Newton Childs Smith, and a grant from the
Pewter Collectors Club of America, close to 50 pieces
of Solon L. Newton’s pewter collection were reinstalled
in a newly built exhibition case. The exhibit is accompanied by a gallery guide.
Permanent: Deerfield—The Many Stories of 1704
This exhibit examines the multiple perspectives of the
Deerfield raid by placing the attack within a continuum
of events in the history of England and France and their
respective colonies, New England and New France
(Quebec.) The interpretation discusses the relationships between the colonists and the Native Americans,
some of which continue today.
Mount Holyoke College Art Museum,
South Hadley: (413) 538-2245,
www.mtholyoke.edu/offices/artmuseum
Through July 22: Excavating Egypt—
Great Discoveries from the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology
This exhibition traces the development of Egyptian archaeology from its beginnings in the 1880s to the present
day through spectacular artwork and rare archival materials amassed by the Petrie Museum and its namesake,
Sir William Flinders Petrie (1853–1942). On view are
over 220 of the Petrie’s most important objects from sites
in the Nile River valley. Mount Holyoke received numerous objects (with the approval of Egyptian authorities)
from excavations by Petrie and his associates. A selection
of these—jewelry, pottery, funerary figurines, and other
items—have been organized into a special companion
show to Excavating Egypt.
Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton:
(413) 585-2760, www.smith.edu/art museum
The Botanic Garden of Smith College,
Northampton: (413) 585-2740, www.smith.edu/garden
Until December 21: The World in a Garden
John Burk has selected images, including many from
the rich collection of botanical works in the Mortimer
Rare Book Room and from the National Geographic
Image Collection, to showcase how botanists and
botanical artists have sought to describe and illustrate
the diversity of the known plant world in an age of
constant exploration and discovery.
University Gallery, Amherst: (413) 545-3670,
www.umass.edu/fac/universitygallery
Through June 3: The Experience of Color—
Ann Veronica Janssens & Diana Thater
This exhibition brings together for the first time the work
of two internationally acclaimed artists, Ann Veronica
Janssens (Belgium) and Diana Thater (U.S.), who utilize
colored light, in the form of luminous projections and
video installations, as their art’s medium.
Through June 3: What Is Love—Selections from the
Permanent Collection
This exhibition explores love, and the related issue
of loss, through works by a diverse group of artists:
Diane Arbus, John Cage, Harry Callahan, Elliot Erwitt, Alex Katz, R. B. Kitaj, Duane Michals, Nam June
Paik, Peter Saul, George Segal, Hui-Ming Wang, and
Gary Winogrand. Curated by Julie Thomson, UMass
Amherst M.A. candidate, art history ’07.
Special Events
Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst:
(413) 542-8161, www.emilydickinson museum.org
July 7, 1 p.m.: “Creatures of Bliss and Mystery”—
A Nineteenth-Century Children’s Circus
In conjunction with Amherst Day, come enjoy the
child’s amusements that Ned, Mattie, and Gib Dickinson would have loved at The Evergreens. A children’s
circus on a summer day was just what Austin and
Susan Dickinson’s children would have organized
for themselves and their friends. Featuring magician
Robert Olson. Rain date is Sunday, July 8.
July 15, 22, 29, 2 p.m.: “Poetry in the Garden”
Dickinson loved her garden. And on a summer’s day
there’s no better place to hear her poetry come alive.
Scheduled readers (in order of appearance): Cleopatra
Mathis, Nancy Ekholm Burkert, and Dara Wier. Book
signings and meet-and-greets follow each reading. Free.
Historic Deerfield, Deerfield: (413) 774-5581,
www.historic-deerfield.org
June 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24, 12–4 p.m.:
“How Does Your Garden Grow?”
Gardens were an essential part of life in early New England, providing food, seasonings, medicinal herbs, and
beauty. Join us in our Teaching Garden to understand
the basics of soil, seeds, and garden plants. Make an
herbarium to take home. Free with paid admission.
June 9, 9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Hall Tavern:
“Garden Day”
Enjoy lectures by Carol Stocker, correspondent for the
Boston Globe, and Christie Higginbottom, research
historian and horticulture and landscape specialist
at Old Sturbridge Village. Shop for plants, produce,
and area specialties in a garden marketplace. Learn
about composting, invasive plants, and more through
demonstrations. Enjoy open-hearth cooking; special
house tours with a focus on botanically inspired
decorative arts, and family-friendly activities. Free
with paid admission.
June 9, 16, 23, 30, 9:30 a.m–4:30 p.m., Hall Tavern
kitchen: “Open Hearth Cooking”
Savor the delicious sights, sounds, and smells of hearth
cooking while learning about colonial foods and diet.
Then sneak outside to stroll through the Cooks’ Garden
dedicated in memory of Margaret Quinn Orloske. Free
with paid admission.
June 15–17: “Our Own Words—New England
Diaries II”
The 32nd-annual meeting of the Dublin Seminar for
New England Folklife will take place in Deerfield, with
a program of approximately 17 lectures and workshops. For more information, contact Peter Benes at
dublsem@bu.edu, or visit www.bu.edu/dublinseminar.
June 29–July 1: Deerfield Descendants Reunion
Are you a Deerfield descendant? If so, please come
and connect with relatives and friends during three
days of special programs, lectures, walks, and tours.
Visit family heirlooms and homesteads and start a
Deerfield tradition for yourself and your children. Take
advantage of new benefits for Deerfield Descendant
Affiliate members, including an online bulletin board
for sharing information. Contact Mary Ramsay at (413)
775-7176 or mramsay@historic-deerfield.org.
July 1, 11 a.m.–3 p.m., White Church Community
Center: “Mass. Memories Road Show”
Deerfield residents and descendants of all ages are
invited to bring photos, family documents, and stories
that reflect their family’s origins in Deerfield, however
recent or long ago. These photographs and documents
will be scanned, indexed, and incorporated into an
online database to be used by researchers, educators,
schoolchildren, etc. The Mass. Memories Road Show
(www.MassMemories.org) is a statewide project sponsored by the Massachusetts Studies Project at UMass
Boston, New England Archivists, and the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities. For information,
please contact Mary Ramsay at (413) 775-7176 or
mramsay@historic-deerfield.org.
July 1–31, noon–4 p.m.: “Dig Deerfield Daily!”
Hands-on archaeology lab. Clean, sort, and identify artifacts. Learn about dirt and do a “shoe box dig.” Make
a redware plate or clay marbles, based on archaeological
fragments to take home. Free with paid admission.
July 7, 14, 21, 28, 9:30 a.m–4:30 p.m., Hall Tavern
kitchen: “Open Hearth Cooking”
Savor the delicious sights, sounds, and smells of hearth
cooking while learning about colonial foods and diet.
Then sneak outside to stroll through the Cooks’ Garden, dedicated in memory of Margaret Quinn Orloske.
Free with paid admission.
July 12. 7:30 p.m., White Church Community
Center: “Degrees of Latitude—Mapping Colonial
America”
Margaret Beck Pritchard, curator of prints, maps, and
wallpaper, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, will
present the first of three talks in the series “Looking
at Maps: Perspectives on Cartography and History.”
Sponsored by Bank of America. Free.
July 14–15, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., Hall Tavern: “Linen Tassels
from the 18th Century”
Join Thessy Schoenholzer Nichols for a two-day introduction to the little-known world of linen tassels:
really playful jewels, complicated and surprising, worn
only by men in the 1700s. During the course, participants will learn each step required to construct these
wonderful objects, dividing learning into many little
sections that everybody will try. The last part will deal
with the individualizing, personalizing, and mounting
of the final tassel. The fee is $165 for Historic Deerfield
members and $185 for nonmembers. For information
and registration, please contact Edward Maeder at
(413) 775-7202 or maeder@historic-deerfield.org.
July 19: 7:30 p.m., White Church Community Center:
“Understanding Maps and the Stories They Tell”
Ronald Grim, curator of maps, Norman B. Leventhal
Map Center, Boston Public Library, will present the
second in a series of three talks in the series “Looking
at Maps: Perspectives on Cartography and History.”
Sponsored by Boston Rare Maps. Free.
July 24–August 11 (closed Sundays and Mondays),
10 a.m.–12 noon, 1–3 p.m., Barnard Tavern/Frary
House: UMass Field School in Historical Archaeology
Visit with students from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, working under the direction of Dr.
Robert Paynter. Free.
July 26, 7:30 p.m., White Church Community
Center: “Mapping Boston—A Look at History
Through Maps”
David Cobb, curator of maps, Harvard Map Collection,
Harvard University, will present the third in a series of
three talks in the series “Looking at Maps: Perspectives
on Cartography and History.” Free.
July 28, four 40-minute sessions starting on the
hour, beginning at noon: “Family Dig Day”
Work together as a family excavating at our “mock” tavern site. Limited to four families per 40-minute session.
Pre-registration recommended. Contact Claire Carlson
at (413) 775-7217 or ccarlson@historic-deerfield.org.
Free with paid admission.
July 31–August 4, 10 a.m.–3 p.m. daily (pre-registration required): “Archaeology at Barnard Tavern”
Join archaeologists from UMass Amherst Summer
Field School in Historical Archaeology and work for
one day. Workshop participants will be paired with
archaeologists and work as part of the Barnard Tavern
research team. They will have the opportunity to excavate and sift at the site and clean artifacts in the field lab.
The fee is $40 for Historic Deerfield members and $45
for nonmembers. Workshop participants must be 16
or older. Space is limited. For more information and to
register, contact Claire Carlson by July 1, 2007, at (413)
775-7217 or ccarlson@historic-deerfield.org.
August 1–12, noon–4 p.m.: “Dig Deerfield Daily!”
Hands-on archaeology lab. Clean, sort, and identify
artifacts. Learn about dirt and do a “shoe box dig.” Make
a redware plate or clay marbles based on archaeological
fragments to take home. Free with paid admission.
A Special Supplement of Five College Ink NewsBreaks—continued
Summering in the Valley
August 4 and 11, four 40-minute sessions starting
on the hour, beginning at noon: “Family Dig Day”
Work together as a family excavating at our “mock”
tavern site. Limited to four families per 40-minute
session. Preregistration recommended. Contact
Claire Carlson at (413) 775-7217 or ccarlson@historic-deerfield.org. Free with paid admission.
Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield:
(413) 774-3768, www.deerfield-ma.org.
June 23–24: The Old Deerfield Summer Craft
Fair and Art Fest
The Old Deerfield Summer Craft Fair and Arts Fest
is the time to rediscover the world-famous sights,
sounds, scents, and tastes of Deerfield. Check event
schedule and get discount coupons for admission at
www.deerfield-craft.org. Plus have a chance to win
one of many $50 gas cards or a $500 phone card.
Admission: $6.
National Yiddish Book Center, Amherst: (413)
256-4900, www.yiddishbookcenter.org
June 10, 2 p.m.: “Nazi Confiscated Art”
Martha Lufkin, legal correspondent for The Art
Newspaper, explores the history of Nazi art looting
and discusses how museums have dealt with postwar claims. Cost: $5.
June 17, 2 p.m., Special Father’s Day Program:
“American Jews in America’s Game—Baseball AllStars, Journeymen, and Why We Care So Much”
Martin Abramowitz, founding president of Jewish
Major Leaguers Inc., talks about American Jews who
have played major league baseball. Cost: $5.
June 24, 2 p.m.: Mendel’s Daughter—The Art of
Remembering
Author and illustrator Martin Lemelman’s new book
tells the true story of how his mother survived the
Holocaust. A book signing will follow the program.
Cost: $5.
June 30, 8 p.m.: The Ritchie Boys
This film tells the story of a group of young men
who fled Nazi Germany and returned to Europe as
soldiers in U.S. uniforms. Not always courageous,
but determined, bright, and inventive, they fought
their own kind of war. “Ritchie Boy” Guy Stern will
introduce the film and answer questions after the
screening. Cost: $6.
July 1, 2 p.m.: Fighting the Fires of Hate—
America and the Nazi Book Burnings
Steve Goodell, director of exhibitions at the U.S.
Holocaust Memorial Museum, and Guy Stern,
professor at Wayne State University, discuss the
creation of this exhibit. Cost: $6.
July 8, 2 p.m.: Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg (a work
in progress)
Documentary filmmaker Aviva Kempner looks at the
life and career of the creator, writer, and star of The
Goldbergs, a popular 1930s radio show that became a
weekly television program. Kempner will introduce the
film and answer questions afterward. Cost: $10.
July 9, 3 p.m., Film and Discussion: Today You
Are a Fountain Pen and Out for Love, Be Back
Shortly
Set in 1989 during the week the Berlin Wall came
down, Today You Are a Fountain Pen is a poignant
story about a relationship between a grandfather and
his grandson. (2002; 25 min.). Out for Love, Be Back
Shortly is an autobiographical documentary offering a penetrating portrait of young people in Israel
today. (1998; 55 min.). Dan Katzir will introduce
his films and answer questions after each screening.
Cost: $10/both films.
July 10, 3 p.m.: Finding Pictures
Benjamin Geissler’s documentary film records his
discovery of Bruno Schulz’s murals after they disappeared from Drohobycz and reappeared in Yad
Vashem. Cost: $5.
Mexico City is the setting for this comedy about friends
and family sitting shiva for a beloved patriarch. The
film, based on a story by Ilan Stavans, was produced
by John Sayles and features an original score by the
Klezmatics. Director Alejandro Springhall and Ilan
Stavans will introduce the film (2006; 102 min.;
Spanish, Hebrew, and Yiddish, w/ English subtitles).
Cost: $10.
July 18, 3 p.m.: “The Poetry of Anna Margolin”
A discussion of Anna Margolin’s work with Adrienne
Cooper and Marilyn Lerner. Cost: $5.
July 29, 2 p.m.: “In Savage Shorthand—The Life
and Death of Isaac Babel”
Jerome Charyn traces the arc of Babel’s charmed life
and mysterious death. Hailed as the first great Soviet
writer, Isaac Babel was at once a product and a victim
of violent revolution. Cost: $6.
August 12, 2 p.m.: Mamele
Molly Picon stars as Khavtshi, a young woman who
promises her dying mother that she will take care of her
family. She’s busy cooking, cleaning and matchmaking
for her brothers and sisters—until she discovers the
violinist across the courtyard! (100 min.; b&w; Yiddish
with new English subtitles). Cost: $6.
August 19, 2 p.m.: Toots
A friend to the famous, a crook to the feds, father, brother, gambler, bum: Toots Shor was many things. Directed
by Shor’s granddaughter, this is a provocative, loving and
authentic film portrait of a self-made, unapologetic and
quintessentially American man. Cost: $6.
Music
Arcadia Players (413) 256-4888,
www.arcadiaplayers.org
May 27, South Congregational Church, 1066
Southeast St., on Fiddler’s Green, South Amherst:
Annual Meeting and New Season Celebration
Our annual get-together, complete with a pot-luck
dinner, an auction, and a free concert previewing the
19th season.
Jazz in July, Amherst: (413) 545-3530,
www.umass.edu/fac/jazz
July 13 and 20, 10 a.m.–3 p.m., Bezanson Recital
Hall: “Jamsations!”
Featuring Jazz in July participants. Free admission.
Memorial Hall Museum, Deerfield: (413) 774-3768,
www.deerfield-ma.org.
July 4, 3 p.m. in front of the Old Town Hall: Band
Concert
Free admission.
Sundays, July–August, 3 p.m.: “Deerfield Sunday
Afternoon Concert Series”
Chamber music in the lovely Victorian setting of the
museum’s music room. Admission $5.
National Yiddish Book Center, Amherst:
(413) 256-4900, www.yiddishbookcenter.org
June 3, 2 p.m.: A Yiddishe Momme in Wagner’s
Backyard
Pianist/composer Leonard Lehrman and soprano Helene Williams tell the story of the founding of the Berlin
Juedischer Musiktheaterverein and the first Yiddish
recital held there. Reservations suggested; $8.
June 17, 10 a.m.–noon: “Shir Delight”
Join us for an outdoor concert of Jewish music for families with young children, cosponsored by the PJ Library,
a program of The Harold Grinspoon Foundation.
July 12, 8 p.m.: Folksbiene Troupe—Makht a Tsimes
The world-famous Folksbiene Troupe returns with
a Yiddish revue (with English translation) featuring
classic songs and sketches. Cost: $18.
July 16, 3 p.m.: “Klezmer Music in Germany”
Veretski Pass offers a workshop about this growing
movement. Cost: $10.
July 11, 8 p.m.: “Stardust Lost”
Stefan Kanfer, author of Groucho: The Life and Times
of Julius Henry Marx; Ball of Fire: The Tumultuous
Life and Comic Art of Lucille Ball; and Stardust Lost
talks about Yiddish theater in America. Cost: $10.
July 16, 8 p.m.: Veretski Pass
Veretski Pass features Cookie Segelstein (violin,
viola); Joshua Horowitz (tsimbl, chromatic button
accordion); and Stuart Brotman (bass, basy, tilinca,
baraban). Cost: $18.
July 12, 3 p.m.: “White Piano from the Shtetl:
Ethnic and Cultural Identity of Post-Soviet Jewry”
Anna Shternshis, of the University of Toronto, is the
author of Soviet and Kosher: Jewish Popular Culture
in the Soviet Union, 1923–1939. Cost: $5.
July 18, 8 p.m.: Shake My Heart Like a Copper Bell
Pianist Marilyn Lerner composed the music and singer
Adrienne Cooper created the libretto for this song cycle
based on the poetry of Anna Margolin. Cost: $18.
July 15, 2 p.m.: Be Yourself!
Spend an afternoon with “the reel” Fanny Brice.
Film historian Bruce Lawton introduces this 1930
talkie. Cost: $10.
July 17, 3 p.m.: “When a Picture Is Worth More
Than a Thousand Words—Holocaust Photography and the Soviet Yiddish and Russian Press”
David Shneer, of the University of Denver, presents
never-before-seen photographs from Russia and
discusses how Jewish photographers represented
the war and the Holocaust. Cost: $5.
July 17, 8 p.m.: My Mexican Shivah
• Five College Ink NewsBreaks
July 19, 3 p.m.: David Krakauer—“A Personal and
Musical Journey through Klezmer”
One of the most important and influential musicians
in new Jewish music, David Krakauer talks about his
career using recorded and live examples.
July 19, 8 p.m.: David Krakauer’s Acoustic
Klezmer Project
Clarinetist Krakauer, known mostly for amplified
sound, will acoustically perform his own compositions
with his quartet. Cost: $18.
July 22, 2 p.m.: Laura Wetzler—“A World of Jewish
Music plus Great Classics of American Song”
Singer, songwriter, and folklorist Laura Wetzler performs with Robin Burdulis on percussion and Wes
Brown on bass. Take a musical journey to Jewish
communities in Uganda, Morocco, Tunisia, Poland,
Ethiopia, Spain, Yemen, Greece, and Italy in a highenergy celebration of Jewish culture. “Laura is one of
the very best,” says Pete Seeger. Reservations suggested.
Cost: $10.
August 5, 2 p.m.: “Hot Pstromi”
Ethnographer, filmmaker, author, and composer Yale
Strom brings together his unique style and his field
research in Europe to form the basis of this klezmer
ensemble. Vocalist Elizabeth Schwartz has been hailed
as the “Edith Piaf of klezmer” for her timbre and intepretation. Reservations suggested. Cost: $10.
August 26, 2 p.m.: “Klezamir”
Join musicians Jim Armenti, Joe Blumenthal, Amy
Rose, and Keith Levreault in a rockin’ anniversary
concert and celebration of the release of their new
CD, Warm Your Hands! Reservations suggested.
Cost: $10.
Yellow Barn Music School & Festival, Amherst:
(800) 639-3819, www.yellowbarn.org
July 7, 10:30 a.m.: Master class with violist Kim
Kashkashian
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College (Amherst,
Mass.), $5.
July 7, 8 p.m.: First Night Amherst—concert and
reception
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College (Amherst,
Mass.), $20.
July 10, 1 p.m.: Children’s Concert with Parker
String Quartet
Camp Allegro in Putney, Vermont, free. Call (802)
387-6637 for information.
July 10, 8 p.m.: Parker String Quartet
Yellow Barn Concert Hall in Putney, Vermont, $15.
July 11, 10:30 a.m.: Community Concert with
Parker String Quartet
Hilltop House in Brattleboro, Vermont, free. Call (802)
387-6637 for information.
July 11, 12:45 p.m.: Community Concert with
Parker String Quartet
Brattleboro Senior Center in Brattleboro, Vermont,
free. Call (802) 387-6637 for information.
July 11, 3 p.m.: Children’s Concert with Parker
String Quartet
Agape Church in Brattleboro, Vermont, free. Call (802)
387-6637 for information.
July 12, 1 p.m.: Community Concert with Parker
String Quartet
Kurn Hattin Homes in Westminster, Vermont. Call
(802) 387-6637 for information.
July 12, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $15.
July 13, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Yellow Barn Concert Hall, $20.
July 14, 10:30 a.m.: Master class with violinist
Donald Weilerstein
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $5.
July 14, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $20.
July 17, 5 p.m.: Community Concert by Yellow
Barn Participants
Brattleboro Museum & Art Center, $5. To order tickets,
call (802) 257-0124.
July 17, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Yellow Barn Concert Hall, $15.
July 19, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $15.
July 20, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Yellow Barn Concert Hall, $20
July 21, 10:30 a.m.: Master Class with artist TBA
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $5.
July 28, 10:30 a.m.: Master class with artist TBA
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $5.
July 28, 8 p.m., Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $20.
July 29, 11:30 a.m.: “Coffee” concert by Yellow
Barn Participants
Coffee, danish, and fresh fruit served at 11 a.m. in
the Yellow Barn Concert Hall, $15.
July 31, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Yellow Barn Concert Hall, $15.
August 1–2, 8 p.m.: Concerts by Yellow Barn
Participants
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $15.
August 3, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants and Reception
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $20.
August 4, 12 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn
Participants
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $15.
August 4, 8 p.m.: Season Finale Concert by
Yellow Barn Participants and Reception
Yellow Barn Concert Hall, $25.
Theater
Ko Festival at Amherst: (413) 427-6147,
box office (413) 542-2277, www.kofest.com;
The Ko Festival will take place July 1–August 4.
See Web site for more details.
New Century Theatre at Smith College,
Northampton: (413) 587-3933, box office
(413) 585-3220, www.newcenturytheatre.org
June 21–30: Kong’s Night Out, written and
directed by Jack Neary
NCT co-founder Jack Neary mixes the characters
from the classic movie “King Kong” with his own
eccentric creations.
July 5–14: Spinning Into Butter, by Rebecca Gilman, directed by Sam Rush
At a small liberal arts college in Vermont, a newly arrived dean of students must investigate the pinning
of anonymous and racist notes to the door of one of
the college’s few African-American students.
July 11–14, Paintbox Theatre: Rumplestiltskin
A proud dad brags, “My child can spin straw into
gold.” Prince shouts, “Yahoo.” What’s a girl to
do? Little man says, “I can save the day, if.” But
no one knows his name. Well, maybe you do. It’s
Rumplestiltskin!
July 19–28: Kimberly Akimbo by David LindsayAbaire, directed by Ed Golden
Sixteen-year-old Kimberly has progeria, a rare
condition causing her body to age more rapidly
than it should. When Kimberly and her family flee
Secaucus under dubious circumstances, she is forced
to reevaluate her short life while contending with a
hypochondriac mother, a rarely sober father, a scamartist aunt, and the possibility of first love.
July 25–28, Paintbox Theatre: Frog Princess
To smooch or not to smooch. The Princess thinks
maybe it’s not so bad being a frog, after all. Sure
you have to eat flies but a girl can’t have everything.
Featuring Kelsey Flynn as the Frog Princess.
August 2–11: The Cocktail Hour, by A.R. Gurney, directed by Zoya Kachadurian
In upstate New York, well-to-do Bradley and Ann,
armed with martini glasses, ice and top shelf liquor,
gather with their grown children to practice their
nightly ritual of cocktails before dinner. When their
son John, a playwright, announces that his latest work
just happens to be based on the family, the defensive
barbs and jabs flow faster than the bourbon.
August 8–11, Paintbox Theatre: Peter Pan
A classic tale done the PaintBox way. Peter, Hook,
Wendy—and in our version, the whole audience—
fly! How? Strings? Never! You’ll just have meet us
in Never Never Land to see.
July 21, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $20
National Yiddish Book Center, Amherst:
(413) 256-4900, www.yiddishbookcenter.org
July 22, 11:30 a.m.: “Coffee” concert by Yellow
Barn Participants
Coffee, danish, and fresh fruit served at 10:45 a.m. at
Yellow Barn Concert Hall, $15.
July 9, 8 p.m.: Yiddish Theater—A Love Story
Dan Katzir has created a poignant cinematic portrait
of Zypora Spaisman, founder of the Folksbiene
Yiddish Theatre and an extraordinary woman—
tenacious, dramatic, and passionate about Yiddish
(2006; 80 min.). Cost: $10.
July 23, 8 p.m.: Master class with cellist Paul Katz
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $5.
July 24, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Yellow Barn Concert Hall, $15.
July 25–26, 8 p.m.: Concerts by Yellow Barn
Participants
Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, $15.
July 27, 8 p.m.: Concert by Yellow Barn Participants
Yellow Barn Concert Hall, $20.
July 10, 8 p.m.: Republic of Dreams
Scenes from Double Edge Theater’s Republic of
Dreams: Under the Sign of the Crocodile, based on
the letters, drawings, and fiction of the visionary
Polish Jewish artist Bruno Schulz (1892–1942).
Cost: $18.
July 11, 3 p.m.: Joel Berkowitz
Author of Shakespeare on the American Yiddish
Stage discusses Yiddish playwrights’ responses to
the Holocaust. Cost: $5.