THANK YOU!

WOW! - what an incredible weekend! Fantastic audiences for all events - Documentary Film Series on Friday Night, Puppet Show on Saturday afternoon, a Music from Salem Concert on Sunday afternoon AND the contra dance too! We have so much going on - so much creativity! Thank you to everyone who turned out this past weekend. Don't forget that All My Sons starts this Friday night - opening night! Join us for the Pay What You Will/Open Rehearsal on Thursday night at 8pm and then come to the show for real later in the run. Enjoy and compare - see how a show evolves over the run!

All My Sons:
April 1 pay what you will / open rehearsal 8pm
April 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 23, 24 at 8pm
April 4, 11, 18, 25 at 2pm

Call 518-677-2495 for tickets!!

First Friday Night Flicks Documentary Film: Under Our Skin

Friday Flicks Documentary Series

March 26 -- Under Our Skin (2009 Academy Award short list)

Screening @ 7pm in the Freight Depot Theater

Free – donations appreciated.

Under Our Skin - 3/26/10 @ 7pm

2008. 103 minutes. Not Rated. english

Unfolding like a real-life thriller, “Under Our Skin” exposes the hidden epidemic of Lyme disease. A gripping tale of microbes, medicine and money, UNDER OUR SKIN exposes the hidden story of Lyme disease, one of the most controversial and fastest growing epidemics of our time. Each year, thousands go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed, told that their symptoms are “all in their head.” Following the stories of patients and physicians fighting for their lives and livelihoods, the film will bring into focus a haunting picture of the healthcare system and a medical establishment all too willing to put profits ahead of patients.

"Like a well-made thriller, gets under your skin…More deeply terrifying than any slasher film you'll ever see." ~The Washington Post

Join us for general discussion following the film. There will also be a resource table available if you have information you'd like to share.

WAMC: Kevin O'Hara - A Lucky Irish Lad (2010-03-16)

Check out Joe Donohue's interview with our upcoming Friday night Curiosity Forum guest Kevin O'Hara!
March 19 7pm at Battenkill Books, on Main St in Cambridge, NY
Join us for a pint at the Cambridge Hotel after or head on over to Hubbard Hall for Katy Schonbeck performance of Cloud Dancing!

WAMC: Kevin O'Hara - A Lucky Irish Lad (2010-03-16)

Curiosity Forum: A Lucky Irish Lad

Curiosity Forum with Author Kevin O’Hara (3/19)

in Events

Friday, March 19th, 7 pm

Battenkill Books

(After the event, all are welcome to sojourn to the Cambridge Hotel for a pint and live music provided by the Ernie Williams Trio!)

Kevin O’Hara recreates his boyhood with these wonderful stories of growing up in Massachusetts in the 1950s and 60s as one of eight children. His parents, born in Ireland, came to this country for their children’s sake. His family struggled against grinding poverty but they never gave up and never lost their faith that God had a plan for them.

Kevin learned the lessons of making do and making things last, and what the true riches of the world are: good health and the love of a united family. All these lessons grounded him as he reached adulthood…and was sent off to fight in wilds of Vietnam as a reluctant solider.

This book will tug at your heart and make you cry tears of both sorrow and joy. It is a story about the Irish-American experience but it is much more–it’s the story of a generation growing up in the shadow of the Second World War and the start of a new age of hope and promise, a time when people believed that anything was possible as long as you dared to dream and had faith in yourself.

And a little Irish luck couldn’t hurt either.

Kevin O’Hara is the author of Last of the Donkey Pilgrims, an autobiographic telling of his travels around the coastland of Ireland with his beloved donkey Missy. A psychiatric nurse for more than 25 years, O’Hara still resides in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, the place to which his parents emigrated.

Praise for A Lucky Irish Lad

“Told in a loquacious style and hitting all the iconic moments of childhood, from his first baseball mitt to his first kiss, this engaging memoir is sure to warm hearts and elicit knowing nods from like-minded baby boomers nostalgic for their own childhoods.”–Booklist

“With great affection and narrative skill Kevin O’Hara brings back an era that needs to be remembered–a moment common to many Irish Americans.”–Mary Pat Kelly, author of Galway Bay

“Kevin O’Hara’s memoir of being Irish and growing up in small-town America of the Fifties and Sixties captures the time, the place, and the ethnic family values with such an unerring eye that you’ll hear the bands on the Fourth of July, taste Mallow cup candies, share in the cadences of the rosary—and smell a young draftee’s fear in the horror that was the Vietnam War. This is memoir as tour de force.”—Patrick Taylor, New York Times best selling author of An Irish Country Doctor “A story of growing up Irish and American that will stir deep emotions in every reader. Read it now and enjoy the movie later!”—Thomas Fleming, winner of the Lincoln Prize for Lifetime Achievement in History; and the New York Times bestselling author of The Secret Trial of Robert E. Lee

“Kevin O’Hara crystallizes the Irish-American experience of the mid-Twentieth Century as vividly, as accurately, and as humorously as anyone has yet. So read the book. You’ll feel lucky, too.”–William Martin, New York Times bestselling author of Back Bay and The Lost Constitution

“This funny, sweet and fast-moving memoir tells the story of growing up in a large Irish family in a small Yankee town — a way of life that has almost disappeared. Kevin O’Hara deserves a prominent place in the long tradition of the Berkshire’s finest storytellers.”—Debby Applegate, Winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher

Head on over to the Beacon Feed after Hadrian VII!

Curiosity Forum:
Breaking Out of Prison
Bernice Mennis, author of
Breaking Out of Prison: A Guide to Compassion, Consciousness, and Freedom
Sunday, March 7 at 4 pm
Beacon Feed Studio

For twelve years, Bernice Mennis, a resident of the Adirondacks, taught Composition and Literature in the Great Meadows and Washington Correctional Facilities as part of Skidmore College’s University Without Walls program. At the center of Breaking Out of Prison are papers written by students in a composition class in prison and the author’s journey toward understanding and freedom. The book is not only about those imprisoned by concrete and steel, but also about those who have placed them there and how habitual thinking and entrapped mindsets cast some people “beyond the pale” with the illusion that another’s imprisonment makes us safe. Breaking Out of Prison won the Adirondack Center for Writing’s Award for Memoir in 2009.

Curiosity Forum events are a collaboration between Hubbard Hall Projects, Battenkill Books, and the Open Studios of Washington County.

Last Chance to See Pope Hadrian!

We had yet another super weekend of performances for Hadrian VII! This coming weekend - March 5, 6 & 7 - is your last chance to see this unique, comedic/dramatic wonder! Here's a peek at what audience members have emailed us after last weekend:

An audience member passing on his friend's reaction: "Normi Noel, a Canadian director who lives in the Berks, whose entire work is about the ephemeral, fragile reality onstage that comes from who-knows-where, adored you all and what you've done, and she's very astute. Revan liked it even more than before."

From Philip Kerr, theater professor, director and actor"... and Bravo. What a full and delightful evening I had at the Freight Depot last night. What an imaginative and crisp exploration you and your splendid (sweaty) cast rendered ... , and gave to us the gift of seeing dear friends, newcomers, and the [audience] unite in a rare tumble of vision, insight, craft, and plain theatricality. Bravo encore. Please pass this on to your fellow artists..."

Only 3 more chances to share in the gift! Friday, March 5 at 8pm Saturday, March 6 at 8pm Sunday, March 7 at 2pm

If you want to be certain that you have a seat - you need to call 518-677-2495 anytime during our regular business hours which are Monday - Friday from 9am to 5pm. Please leave a message if we are unable to take your call at the time.

Any remaining tickets after 5pm on Friday will be available at the door. If a show sells out we will post it on the website and on voice mail.



"Hmmm, I think there are people out there who have yet to visit my Vatican! Be not afraid - come laugh with us!"