There is nothing like summertime in the Berkshires of Western MA, and that goes double in Stockbridge -it's a historical destination brimming with culture, visual and performing arts, gilded age cottages, museums, and New England hospitality. The charming main street offers all sorts of shopping, trendy cafes, and restaurants. Its natural beauty which surrounds the downtown offers recreational parks, hiking trails and beautiful lakes for the entire family to enjoy. It’s a destination that serves up a little something for everyone. So, whether you’re looking to plan your summer vacation, a weekend getaway or a simple day trip, there’s so much waiting to be explored this summer in #StockbridgeMA.

LIVE PERFORMANCES GALORE TAKE STAGE THIS SUMMER

Berkshire Theatre Group has a variety of live performances lined up at their beloved Colonial and Unicorn Theatre. Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (June 27-July 21 at the Colonial Theatre) is a classic comedy as a musical, with music and lyrics by the great Mel Brooks. All your favorite characters will be there: Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, Igor and Inga, with unforgettable tunes such as “The Transylvanian Mania”, “Putin” on the Ritz” and “He Vas My Boyfriend.” Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Pipe Dream (July 26-Aug 31 at the Unicorn Theatre) is the musical based on John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. It has all the hallmarks of the Rodgers and Hammerstein genius and offers themes of love and resilience among the drifters and dropouts who call Cannery Row home. Other highlights, all at the Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, include 4000 Miles (May 16-June 1), Abe Lincoln in Illinois (June 13-July 14), and The Weir (Sept 26-Oct 27).

This summer Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, running June 26-Aug 25, will produce the 92nd season of its premier international dance festival, in a 9-week celebration of some of today’s most groundbreaking artists and dance companies performing locally, nationally, and around the world. The nine companies to perform for one week each in the Ted Shawn Theatre are, in chronological order: Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, The Royal Ballet of the United Kingdom, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, Social Tango Project, MOMIX, Camille A. Brown & Dancers, Parsons Dance, Soledad Barrio & Noche Flamenca, and Dance Theatre of Harlem. Companies with multi-night runs on the outdoor Henry J. Leir Stage will include M.A.D.D. Rhythms, Pathways to Performance (a project of Theresa Ruth Howard’s MoBBallet), Dancers of Damelahamid, David Dorfman Dance, and Gibney Company. The festival will also include special events, parties, classes and workshops, exhibitions and talks, digital premieres, livestreams, and pop-up performances in Berkshire County. Many of these offerings will be free of charge. Pillow Pride Party, a celebration of LGBTQIA + individuals and communities will be held on July 13, including a performance by MasterZ at Work Dance Family with Courtney Topanga Washington.

Shakespeare & Company’s season promises to be both cutting-edge and crowd-pleasing! “A Body of Water” Playwright Lee Blessing brings us what’s been called “existential with a touch of the absurd.” An older man and woman wake up one day in an isolated summer house high above a body of water. The problem? They both cannot remember who they are. A young woman appears, offering tantalizing clues to the couple’s identity. But will it help? (June 21-July 21). "The Comedy of Errors" takes over Shakespeare & Company’s outdoor mainstage this summer! The Bard’s fast-paced and farcical story of mistaken identities begins with two sets of twins separated by a storm at sea and culminates in a raucous series of misunderstandings and mishaps (July 13-Aug. 18). Other highlights include Shake it Up: A Shakespeare Cabaret (July 2-7), The Islanders (July 25-Aug 25), Flight of the Monarch (Aug 3-25), The Winter’s Tale: An Enhanced Staged Reading (Aug 21-25) and Three Tall Persian Women (Aug 30-Oct 13).



Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center presents live performances of music, dance, film and more. Blues Icon Keb’ Mo’, an eight-time Grammy winner, singer, songwriter, blues guitarist, and arranger will be on stage on Saturday, June 15 at 8 pm.  Keb’ topped the Billboard Blues Chart seven times; performed everywhere from Carnegie Hall to The White House; collaborated with many including Taj Mahal, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, The Chicks, and Lyle Lovett; has compositions recorded and sampled by artists as diverse as B.B. King, Zac Brown, and BTS; and earned the Americana Music Association’s 2021 award for Lifetime Achievement in Performance. NPR’s Mountain Stage hailed him as “one of the most decorated living blues artists,” while The New Yorker raved that “few musicians emblematize the blues like Kevin Moore,” and The New York Times praised “the subtle twists of his songwriting” along with his knack for “facing down desolation with a grin.” Also performing this summer is power-pop singer and pianist Ben Folds on June 22, jazz band The Hot Sardines on July 17, Justin Hayward of The Moody Blues on July 19, comedian Patton Oswalt on his new stand-up tour “Effervescent” on July 21 Ladysmith Black Mambazo on August 9, and folk-pop musician Suzanne Vega on October 5.

Tanglewood with its beautiful property in #StockbridgeMA stretching to the entrance in Lenox, has been the famed summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1937, as well as the Tanglewood Music Center, Tanglewood Learning Institute and the Boston Pops. The venue welcomes more than 350,000 visitors to chamber music, recital, and concert opera presentations; and a series of Popular Artist concerts, highlighted this summer by the 50th-anniversary performance of James Taylor and his All-Star Band in the Koussevitzky Music Shed on July 3 and 4. In some of the most eagerly anticipated events of the 2024 Tanglewood season, BSO Music Director Andris Nelsons will lead ten programs and two master classes in his new expanded role as Head of Conducting at Tanglewood including a weekend of programs celebrating the legacy of Serge Koussevitzky, on his 150th birthday anniversary and 100 years since his appointment as BSO music director (July 26-28). Pianist Kirill Gerstein, violinist Joshua Bell and cellist Steven Isserlis come together to play a program of Debussy, Ravel, and Faure (July 31, Seiji Ozawa Hall.) Other notable guest artists like Renee Fleming, Christine Goerke, Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma, and Yuga Wang will perform. Tanglewood is also hosting 2 memorable evenings of Film Nights with John Williams (Aug 2 & 3) and Tanglewood on Parade (Aug 6). The popular artists series includes John Fogerty: The Celebration Tour (June 20), Roger Daltrey (June 22), Kool & the Gang joined by En Vogue (June 23), Boy II Men (June 27), Jon Batiste (June 28), Brandi Carlile (June 30), Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders (July 16), Beck with the Boston Pops (July 23), Judy Collins, Rufus Wainwright, and Indigo Girls (Aug 30), and DISPATCH with Keith Lockhart and Boston Pops (Aug 31).

 

Don’t miss the summer season of celebrating the arts in the studio and gardens of Daniel Chester French, sculptor of the Minute Man and Lincoln Memorial Abraham Lincoln statues and a leading artist of his era. Chesterwood’s “Arts Alive” runs June 8 through Sept 14 and features dance, music, author conversations, award winning poets and more. Highlights include Award-winning poets Rodney Jones & Owen Lewis (June 22), Tanglewood Music Center fellows perform Abraham Lincoln Walks at Midnight: A Cantata of Lamentation for Mezzo-Soprano, Violin, Cello and Piano (July 17), Open Rehearsal & Director’s Insight with Tina Packer and the cast of Shakespeare & Company’s The Winter’s Tale (July 20) Seasonal favorite: Tableaux Vivants or “Living Pictures” The French’s favorite parlor game! (Aug 3) and Spirits of Chesterwood original choreography by the Berkshire Pulse dance community (Aug 14-17) and more. “Birth of a Shadow” is this year’s site-specific contemporary outdoor sculpture exhibition featuring 7 regional sculptors.  After a 2-year renovation hiatus, the Residence at Chesterwood is open to the public for tours. Chesterwood also includes French’s studio; museum collections of objects owned or created by him; outbuildings; and 122 acres of designed and wooded landscape.

CHECK OUT THE LINEUP OF NEW SUMMER EXHIBITIONS

You won’t want to miss the MAD Bash celebrating the summer’s most fun and irreverent exhibition What, Me, Worry? The Art and Humor of MAD Magazine June 8-Ocotber 27 at the Norman Rockwell Museum. This exhibition explores the unforgettable art and satire of MAD, from its beginnings in 1952 as a popular humor comic book to its emergence as a beloved magazine that spoke truth to power and attracted generations of devoted readers through the decades. MAD was a groundbreaking magazine that set the bar, and the tone, for contemporary humor and satire. MAD’s influence and cultural impact will be explored in this landmark installation, which features hundreds of original illustrations, and cartoons created by the magazine’s Usual Gang of Idiots—the many artists and writers who have been the publication’s mainstays for decades. The exhibition will include MAD About Mort Drucker, a special highlight gallery devoted to the art of Mort Drucker, the award-winning caricaturist and illustrator who contributed film and television satires to MAD for more than five decades. “This may be the perfect time for a MAD Magazine exhibition—a defining moment for old fans to rediscover the magazine and for young people to discover it for the first time,” reflected exhibition advisor Scott Bakal, award-winning illustrator and MassArt illustration professor. “It is a time to experience the brilliance of what MAD Magazine is and maybe, like it has for me, create a new generation of writers, artists, and creators to be the next ‘Gang of Idiots’.” In addition to the main exhibition, the museum will host a series of MAD-themed programs and events, including MAD Bash on June 8. Another summer tradition is the museum’s Art of Brewing festival with regional craft beers and other brewed products together with the creative illustration art that brings beer cans and bottles, and other brewed product packaging to life (Aug 10 1-4pm). 

The Clark Art Institute is featuring a robust program of exhibitions, events, and activities. Leading its summer program is a major new exhibition of works by French artist Guillaume Lethière featuring some eighty paintings, prints, and drawings. Organized in partnership with the Musée du Louvre (Louvre Museum), the exhibition premieres at the Clark (June 15–Oct 14) and then travels to Paris for an autumn 2024 exhibition at the Louvre. “We are already looking forward to summer 2024,” said Olivier Meslay, Hardymon Director of the Clark Art Institute. “Our exhibition on Guillaume Lethière promises to be an exceptional opportunity to reintroduce this important artist to the world after nearly two centuries of his reputation languishing in history books. Curating this exhibition with my colleague Esther Bell is a joy as we work to bring Lethière’s amazing story to life through new scholarship, some remarkable discoveries, and a modern perspective on a fascinating period. Our summer will be rich with other wonderful presentations including a special overview of works from the Corning Museum of Glass, a fresh take on Edgar Degas’s artistic methods and techniques, and solo presentations of David-Jeremiah and Kathia St. Hilaire, who are both vital and emerging voices in contemporary art.” The Clark’s summer exhibitions open on a staggered schedule, beginning in May. The program includes: Kathia St. Hilaire: Invisible Empires Lunder Center at Stone Hill (May 11–Sept 22), Guillaume Lethière The Clark (June 15–Oct 14), Treasures from the Corning Museum of Glass Michael Conforti Pavilion, Clark Center (July 4–Oct 27),  Edgar Degas: Multi-Media Artist in the Age of Impressionism, Eugene V. Thaw Gallery for Works on Paper, Manton Research Center (July 13–Oct 6). The Clark also holds outdoor concerts on five Wednesdays starting June 26 with a special August 31 performance by The Knights Orchestra. There are two Sunday concerts in June and July. Concerts are free and open to the public.

The Berkshire Botanical Garden featured summer art exhibition, “Microcosm,” will be on display in the Leonhardt Art Galleries June 7-Aug 4. The creator of the “Spotted Owl Mosaic”, a site-specific public installation that resides in the BBG’s outdoor garden, Peter D. Gerakaris of Cornwall, Conn., will present an indoor solo exhibition of mixed-media artworks that engage myriad nature-culture motifs through vibrant, pluralistic strands. Micorcosms will include Icon paintings on panel, small mosaic fragments translated from details of existing Icon paintings, origami sculptures, and works inspired by topographies and native species of the Housatonic Valley. Todd McGrain’s “The Lost Bird Project” outdoor sculpture exhibit (June 1–Oct 6) includes large-scale outdoor sculptures. They include monuments to the passenger pigeon, the Carolina parakeet, the Labrador duck, the great auk, and the heath hen. The indoor gallery (Aug 10–Oct 6) show features smaller-scale versions of the same sculptures, supplemented with original drawings and other related artwork. The Garden also offers a variety of classes, lectures, workshops, and display gardens. This summer BBG is holding Farm to Table Series with Miriam Rubin, a CIA trained chef, cookbook author and cooking teacher. Participants will work with the BBG’s vegetable garden to harvest fresh vegetables, then will head into the kitchen with Miriam to make a multi-course meal. This once-a-month series will be held from 11am–1:30pm on June 9, July 14, Aug 11 and Sept 15. Music Monday series returns to the garden and will run in the evenings July 1 - Aug 12 from 5 to 7pm. The ticketed events include Misty Blues, Brother Sal Blue Band and Zikinna and others.



The Erikson Institute of the Austen Riggs Center is excited to announce the exhibition “Painting Belonging: Community Art in the Berkshires,” on display throughout the summer of 2024 at 48 Main Street in Stockbridge, MA. Featuring art by community groups, this exhibition reflects the ideas of belonging and community while looking at the impact of art and mental health throughout people’s lives.

POPULAR TALK/LECTURE SERIES RETURN THIS SUMMER

 The Mount's annual 8-part summer lecture series lineup features an expanded roster of literary luminaries who reflect a diverse range of disciplines and perspectives. Highlights of the summer lecture series include Natalie Dystra, an emerita professor of English and senior research professor at Hope College. Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner (July 8-9), Peter Hessler, a staff writer at The New Yorker, Other Rivers: A Chinese Education (July 22-23) and Jonathan Eig, the bestselling author of six books, including his most recent, King: A Life (2023) King: A Life (July 29-30). After a successful launch of the Masters Series last summer, author André Bernard, Vice President of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, will return for a second season of conversations with literary masters, all unquestionably at the top of their game. All Master series talks at the Mount are from 5 to 6pm and authors will sign books afterwards. Highlights include Dwight Garner, senior book critic for The New York Times (July 12), Lauren Groff, three-time National Book award finalist (July 26), Rosanne Cash, singer, songwriter, and book author (Aug 2) and others. This summer, you can also stroll the grounds to learn about birding or look for Storywalks for a fun family adventure or view Sculpture at The Mount, a relaunch of SculptureNOW, artist-led talks will again be made available. Music after Hours, an outdoor jazz series on the terrace, returns on the 2^nd Thursday of every month, beginning June 13 and continuing through August. Performances include Tarik Shah, Natalia Bernal, and Standard Edition. Concerts are free and open to the public (May 24-Oct 20). 

Enjoy Tea & Talk, at Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum held each Tuesday at 4pm, offering lectures followed by a decadent English Teatime gathering in the den and dining room. Titles include Mary Todd Lincoln: Hostess & Housewife on June 11 & Part II on Aug 27, The Lenox Bachelors on June 18, The Fox Sisters, the History of Festival House on June 25, Daughter of Spies on July 9, Baseball in the Berkshires on July 16 and more. They also offer live performances of Chamber Music, Fortepiano Concert (July 3 &4 at 5pm), Jazz of the Gilded Age (Aug 1), Ghost Tours (June 2 & 14) and Paranormal Investigations (July 13). The Mansion is open for tours daily and is an imposing Jacobean Revival-style mansion built in 1893 for Sarah Morgan, the sister of J. P. Morgan. Designed by the architects Rotch & Tilden. 

 The Bidwell House Museum official season of guided tours begins on Memorial Day, May 27. Throughout the summer, the Museum will be showcasing its redware collection via multiple programs and a small exhibition visible at the end of the house tour. Favorite programs from past years, including the Bidwell Country Fair on June 22 and the Summer History talk series, will be returning along with new programs centered on the Museum herb garden, a meditative forest walk and a Banjo concert. History talks highlights include Unlearning to Learn: A Conversation About Local Indigenous Histories (June 8), Stories from the Berkshire Militia (July 6), “A Voyage of Discovery”: A Unitarian Missionary in Early Berkshire County (July 13). A two-part Herb Gardening workshop (July 2 & 16).



The Stockbridge Library, Museum & Archives offers numerous events and programs for adults and children. This summer’s Author Talks features Aaron Lansky and Michael S. Roth. Talk by Aaron Lansky of The Yiddish Book Center is on June 2. With insight and humor Stockbridge resident, Aaron Lansky will offer a candid, first-person account of the Yiddish Book Center’s unlikely story, and ask why Yiddish, once denigrated, sentimentalized, and relegated to obscurity, is speaking louder today than ever before. Author Talk by Michael S. Roth with Chesterwood is on July 27. An intellectual historian, Roth has published several books centered on how people make sense of the past. Roth’s 2019 book, Safe Enough Spaces: A Pragmatist’s Approach to Inclusion, Free Speech, and Political Correctness, addresses some of the most contentious issues in American higher education, including affirmative action, safe spaces, and questions of free speech. In the lower level of the library is the Museum & Archives, where you can meet with the curator, look at local artifacts and learn about the marvelous history of Stockbridge. On Display Now in the Procter Gallery: Homeland: Mohican Artists. 

Join the Stockbridge Chamber of Commerce for its 32nd Annual Summer Arts & Crafts Show Saturday, August 17, and Sunday, August 18. This is a rain or shine event boasting over 80 artisans and craftspeople from across New England. Original works in paintings, ceramics, jewelry, sculpture, photography, wood, mixed media, fashion and more will be on display for sale. The show is located at 50 Main Street, Stockbridge on the beautiful grounds of the Town Offices and Bidwell Park and open Free to the public.



The Trustees of Reservations’ Naumkeag offers a variety of summer activities including Berkshire Pride Tea Dance on June 9, on Sundays, June 16-Sept 1, Sunset Yoga takes place, on Fridays, July 12-Sept 20, Mindfulness meditations and Summer Solstice Meditative Celebration is on June 20. Backstairs tours of the house run June 1 through the first week of Sept., every Sat. & Sun. The historic home and gardens are open Thursday-Sunday, for self-guided and guided tours and is a 48-acre architectural masterpiece designed in 1885 by the firm of McKim, Mead, and White for Joseph Hodges Choate and his family.

Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio Open June 20 to Labor Day, the historic home and studio of two famous American Abstract Artists George L.K. Morris and Suzy Frelinghuysen has been preserved as it was during their lifetime. Check out their color workshops Thursdays and Saturdays at 11:15am with director Kinney Frelinghuysen. Painting demonstrations with professional artists will take place every Friday at 11am, free admission. Terry Wise, Collage w/Hand printed paper (June 21), Sally Tiska Rice, Watercolor (June 28), Carl Sprague Scenic Design for Film & Stage (July 5), Tony Conner, Watercolor (July 12) and others. A new weekly workshop, Exercise Your Creativity, on Sundays from 11am-1pm will be a chance to relax and create art. 

It's all here, in the Stockbridge, MA area, for your perfect summer getaway. Book your stay and tickets now and start planning here. 

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