Cheap Tickets at Local Performing Arts Venues

THEATER

At Barrington Stage Company, “Pay What You Can” is back, available for one performance per person at the Mainstage and one performance per person at Stage 2. Minimum $5 per ticket, limited to patrons 35 or younger, and includes a post-show party with Mainstage performers. Underneath the Lintl, Friday, July 10 at 7:30, Stage 2; Sleuth, Friday, July 24 at 8, Mainstage; Streetcar Named Desire, Friday, August 14 at 8, Mainstage; I’ll Be Damned, Friday, August 21 at 7:30, Stage 2. , Pittsfield, Mass., 413.236.888, www.barringtonstageco.org.
 

Berkshire Playwrights Lab presents free staged readings every other Wednesday at 8 followed by an audience talkback session with playwright and actors. July 1, July 15, July 29, August 12, August 26, and September 16. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, , Great Barrington, Mass., , www.berkshireplaywrightslab.org.
 

Berkshire Theatre Festival’s series of play readings (mostly new plays) are on Fridays at 2 (July 10, 17, 24, 31, and August 7, 14, 21) at the Unicorn Theatre, though the venue might vary. $10 suggested donation. , Stockbridge, Mass. , www.berkshiretheatre.org.
 

 

Shakespeare & Company offers the free, ongoing Bankside Festival, featuring Toad of Toad Hall performed at the Rose Footprint Theatre (June 20-August 29). Plus, the world premiere of Dennis Krausnick’s Word Play, a fast-paced romp through Shakespeare’s most insulting insults (August 3-September 6). ., Lenox, Mass. . www.shakespeare.org.
 

 

Williamstown Theatre Festival stages a free, hour-long, family-friendly play at the Main Stage July 6 at 7 p.m., and July 7-12 at 11 a.m.; Directing Studio Fellowship Projects (a play) July 12-13 at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.; a musical August 12-13 at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m., and Kid’s Day is held on the front lawn on Saturday, July 11 starting at 9:30 a.m. ’62 Center, 1000 Main St., Williamstown, Mass., , www.wtfestival.org.
 

DANCE

Free “Inside/Out” dance performances begin at Jacob’s Pillow on July 1 with Dawn Lane & Co.’s common ground, and ends August 29 with TAKE Dance’s Linked, “an examination of connectedness in our increasingly technological world,” choreographed by Takehiro Ueyama, formerly of the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Wed-Sat at 6:30 p.m., on the outdoor stage. ., Becket, Mass., , www.jacobspillow.org.

MUSIC

The Clark offers three free outdoor concerts in July, all on Tuesdays at 6. Groups include the Osmond-like family the Doerfels (July 7), ten performing children and two parents; Annie & the Hedonists (July 13), an eclectic acoustic group from upstate New York; and the Equalites (July 21), a six-piece reggae/R&B band. ., Williamstown, Mass., , www.clarkart.edu.

 

The Norman Rockwell Museum invites neighbors from near and far to enjoy a free evening of old standards on Thursday, July 23 at 5:30, performed by the Berkshire Music School’s Cabaret-to-Go. , Route 183, Stockbridge, Mass. , www.nrm.org.
 

Tanglewood offers up to four free lawn tickets for children 17 and younger accompanied by a parent/legal guardian to any concert (other than the Popular Artist concert series) if picked up on the day of at the Tanglewood Box Office. There are also hour-long walking tours of the Tanglewood grounds on Tuesdays at 1:30, Wednesdays at 10 and 3, and Sundays at 12:30 for BSO concert ticketholders only, and also during Tanglewood on Parade (July 28) from 3 to 7. Led by volunteer guides, the tours include visits to the Koussevitzky Music Shed, Ozawa Hall, and other musical facilities and cover the history of Tanglewood and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Route 183, Lenox, Mass., , www.tanglewood.org.

FILM

The Clark shows a number of no-cost screenings throughout the summer of decidedly un-blockbuster films, starting with Baby Face (1933), a seventy-minute film about a barmaid using her assets to climb from the basement to the penthouse, man by man (July 18 ). Six other films include the more familiar Double Indemnity (1944) on August 15. Other screenings are on July 24, July 25, August 1, August 8, and August 23, all at 2. ., Williamstown, Mass., , www.clarkart.edu.
 

Presented by Images Cinema in Williamstown, Mass., Family Flicks Under the Stars features family-friendly films screened at sundown at the top of Spring Street on Morgan Hall Lawn. Families are encouraged to bring lawn chairs, blankets, and food; concessions are for sale as well. In case of rain, films move indoors to Wege Auditorium on the Williams College campus. July 12, 19, and 26 (plus a tentative August 2 date). Williamstown, Mass., , www.imagescinema.org.

 

Free movies at PS/21 in Chatham, N.Y., every Tuesday night under a covered tent, rain or shine. Blankets are provided on cold nights and concessions are for sale. Prior to each screening is a brief, fifteen-minute intro by F.I.T. film professor Frank Farnham. Saturday Night Fever kicks off the season on July 7 at 8:30, and Moulin Rouge closes it on September 1 at 8. 2980 Route 66, Chatham, N.Y., , www.ps21chatham.org.

MISC

Inspired by Dove/O’Keeffe: Circles of Influence, the ongoing exhibition inside the museum, Family Day at The Clark (August 2) explores artists’ interpretations of nature, along with some Southwestern-based entertainment, food, and workshops on creating a cacti garden or perhaps some turquoise jewelry (workshops, however, do require a fee). Admission to the gallery is also free that day from 11 to 4. ., Williamstown, Mass., , www.clarkart.edu.

The Berkshire Museum has its share of no-money-down, cool, ongoing stuff, but of particular note are the free extended hours at the museum during Pittsfield’s Third Thursdays on July 16, August 20, and September 17, from 5 to 8. /, Pittsfield, Mass. , www.berkshiremuseum.org.

Hancock Shaker Village invites visitors to enjoy the entire village for free every Tuesday from 3 to 5 during July and August. Route 20, Pittsfield, Mass. , www.hancockshakervillage.org.

 

The Norman Rockwell Museum’s Private Lives: Public Persona talks, held on Thursdays at 5:30, begin on July 16 with Norman Rockwell: Private Moments for the Masses, an overview of Rockwell’s body of work and his personal journey, by chief curator Stephanie Plunkett. The series concludes on August 13 with The Many Lives of Andrew Warhola, a.k.a. Andy Warhol. All free with museum admission. Norman /Route 183, Stockbridge, Mass. , www.nrm.org.

 

Two free ways to enjoy the great outdoors of The Mount, the cottage built by Edith Wharton: Some Enchanted Evenings at the Café on the Terrace every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday through Labor Day weekend from 5 to 8. Wharton on Wednesdays, a series of readings of selected Wharton works, also on the terrace, takes place Wednesdays from 5 to 6 from July 1 to August 26. The cafe is open on these Wednesdays, offering wine, beer, and other beverages before each reading. 2 Plunkett St., Lenox, Mass. , www.edithwharton.org.

[JULY 2009]