MCLA Blog

Live music, poetry, art openings, films, jewelrymaking, and theatre: it’s all happening this week in Pittsfield! Share the fun with your friends by forwarding this email to them. Signing up for Cultural Pittsfield This Week is free and easy! Just click on the link below.

Local favorite Jack Waldheim, blues guitarist and vocalist extraordinaire, plays in the cozy confines of Aster’s jazz bar on Friday evening, a perfect time and place to relax after a busy week.

Friday, April 6 | 6:30 - 9:30 pm | Asters Steaks and Raw Bar | 1015 South St | 499-2075 | No cover!

Friday, enjoy an intimate screening of the Oscar nominated film, The Last Temptation of Christ based on Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel, followed by a talk with Natalie Shiras, Pastor of Church on the Hill (United Church of Christ), Lenox. Saturday evening, it’s the Oscar winning The Robe with Richard Burton and Victor Mature. Discussion to follow.

Friday & Saturday, April 6&7 | 7pm | The Blue Iguana Room | 156 North Street | 464-0919 | $7

Enjoy a two-week party for new lambs, piglets, calves, goats, ducklings and chicks at Hancock Shaker Village, where you can see the animals up close. A special “Adopt an Animal” fundraising party Saturday morning kick off this year’s event and give children an opportunity to “adopt” a farm animal, giving families a chance to support the farm activities at the Village.

Saturday, April 7th-22nd | Hancock Shaker Village | Route 20 | 443-0188 | Admission charge

It’s that time of year for the Pittsfield’s Department of Parks & Recreation’s Annual Easter Egg Hunt is this Saturday!  Each age group has their own time: 10:30 a.m. for ages 2 & 3; 10:40 a.m. for ages 4 & 5; 10:50 a.m. ages 6 & 7; 11 a.m. ages 8 & 9.  Prizes will be awarded in each age group. Children need to bring to bring their own baskets and, OF COURSE the Easter Bunny will be there!

Saturday, April 7th | 10:30am-11:30am | Wahconah Park | 105 Wahconah Street | 499-9343 | FREE

Enjoy two art openings Saturday afternoon on North Street.  Images of Simpler Days, a show of work by Williamstown painter John Richards, Jr. (see left), who follows the style of the Hudson River School artists, opens at Pasko Art & Frame. And the vibrant work of artist Judy Artioli opens at Bagels Too.

Saturday, April 7 | 12 noon-3pm | Pasko Frame & Gift Center | 243 North Street | 442-2680 | FREE

Saturday, April 7 | 3-5 p.m. | Bagels Too | 166 North St. | 499-0119 | FREE

Learn how to create your own earrings! This class covers stringing materials, findings, kinds of beads and design concepts. The classes include handouts and you will complete three pairs of earrings to take home! Pre-registration is required as class size is limited to 10.

Tuesday, April 10 | 6:30-8:30pm | Bisque, Beads & Beyond | 370 Pecks Road | 442-9300 | Class fee

Word Street and the newly formed Pittsfield Youth Commission are working together with the Blue Iguana to bring area youth an opportunity to express themselves and be together every week at the Blue Iguana Youth Open Mike Night. Last night was the first one, and there were dozens of kids there reading poetry, signing, dancing and playing music for each other. Great fun!

Wednesday, April 11 | 7-9pm | Blue Iguana Room at Pancho’s Restaurant | 156 North Street | FREE

Arab-American playwright and actress Leila Buck performs twice at Berkshire Community College. In Buck’s first performance, “In the Crossing: A One-Woman Show,” she will read from her play based on a visit to Lebanon in 2006 during the Israeli bombing. Bucks’s second performance, “ISite,” is a one-woman show about her personal experience growing up in the Middle East and America.

Thursday, April 12 | 12:15pm & 7:30pm | Berkshire Community College | 1350 West Street | FREE