It's Here: WordXWord Festival 2012!

WordXWord Festival returns for another year of incredible live performances written, spoken and sung in Pittsfield's Upstreet Cultural District! The 4th Annual WordXWord Festival is a week-long celebration of the power of words running from Sunday, August 12 through Saturday, August 18. Dozens of word workers—authors, poets, story tellers, spoken word artists and songwriters—will perform in both traditional and not-so-traditional venues, ranging from a barbershop to a theater. With over 40 events, they can't all fit here. And get this: every event isFREE! Click HERE for a complete schedule of events.

Saturday-Saturday, August 12-18 | dates & times vary | Upstreet Cultural District | North & South Streets | FREE

Free Fun Friday at the Berkshire Museum

The Berkshire Museum will be open to the public forFREE on Friday! There will be no charge for you to enjoy and explore the Museum, which offers an array of exhibitions ranging from fine art to natural science to history, as well as an aquarium and the interactiveFeigenbaum Hall of Innovation. No tickets or reservations are necessary.

Friday, August 10 | 10am-5pm | Berkshire Museum | 39 South Street | 413-443-7171 | FREE

Friday: The Grey Divas & Hawaiin Luau

EPOCH Assisted Living at Melbourne hosts a performance by the Grey Divas, as part of aHawaiian Luau. The Grey Divas are a lively duo that performs for seniors throughout the Berkshires. Guests and residents are encouraged to don Hawaiian attire. This event and performance is free and open to the public, but an RSVP is requested at 413-499-1992.

Friday, August 10 | 3pm | EPOCH Assisted Living | 140 Melbourne Road | 413-499-1992 | FREE

Friday On Wheels: Classic Car & Music Show

The 5th-annual Friday on Wheels: Classic Carand Music Show lands in downtown Pittsifeld this weekend! Enjoy live music, dine at downtown restaurants and check out hundreds of classic cars. North Street will be closed to traffic from Park Square to Columbus Ave. during show hours. This event is FREE and open to the public.

Friday, August 10 | 4pm-8pm | Upstreet Cultural District | North Street | FREE

Friday: Open Mic at The Marketplace Café

The Marketplace Cafe presents its monthly Young Artists Open Mic night, hosted by Katherine Winston. The Marketplace hosts open mic nights each month, inviting any and all local talent to flaunt their performing skills in its intimate environment for many to listen to and enjoy. For performers 21 years old and younger.

Friday, August 10 | 6:30pm–8:30pm | The Marketplace Cafe | 53 North St. | 413-358-4777

Friday-Saturday: LAST CHANCE to see The North Pool

Barrington Stage Company presents the East Coast premiere of Rajiv Joseph's The North Pool,directed by Giovanna Sardelli. The North Pool is about a high school vice principal and a transfer student from the Middle East. A riveting cat-and-mouse thriller, truth shifts constantly as tensions rise and secrets are revealed. "A tour-de-force” – VARIETY.  The show contains mature language.Click HERE for more details, including performance times.

Friday-Saturday, August 10-11 | Friday 7:30pm, Saturday 4pm & 8pm | 36 Linden Street | Sydelle & Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center | 413-236-8888 | $15-$39

Friday-Sunday: LAST CHANCE to see Beauty & the Beast on Stage!

Barrington Stage Company's Youth Theatre performs Beauty & the Beast at the Berkshire Museum. Based on Disney's Academy Award-winning animated feature, the stage version features favorite film songs and new ones, too. You'll be transported to the heart of French provincial life as you follow the tale of Belle and the Beast in a story of love, courage and transformation.

Friday-Sunday, August 10-12 | Friday & Saturday 7pm; Saturday & Sunday 2pm | Berkshire Museum | 39 South Street | 413-236-8888 | $15 adults, $10 youth 18 and younger

Friday+: Melville's Women at Arrowhead

Performed by VOICES Theatre Company, Sally Filkins' original play Melville's Women is based on the life and works of Herman Melville. The second play in The Melville Trilogy, Melville's Women is presented in part by Berkshire Historical Society; performed at Herman Melville's Pittsfield farm, Arrowhead, in the rooms where the Melville family actually lived, worked and wrote. It explores the entangled relationship between Herman Melville's family of women and his books.

Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday through Sept. 1 | 7:30pm | Arrowhead Museum | 780 Holmes Road | 413-442-1793  | $25

Friday-Sunday: We Are Women: A Bernstein Cabaret

The Colonial Theatre presents We are Women: A Bernstein Cabaret, a musical that features the works of Leonard Bernstein. It is a story about a mother and daughter navigating the tricky terrain of their love lives; learning along the way to accept themselves and delight in the love of others. Narrated by Jamie Bernstein, conceived by her and Michael Barrett, We Are Women features an all-Broadway cast performing such Bernstein hits as On the Town, Candide and West Side Story. This evening of humor, heart and memorable melody brings the glorious sounds of Leonard Bernstein back to his beloved Berkshires.

Friday-Sunday, August 10-12 | Friday & Saturday 8pm, Sunday 2pm | The Colonial Theatre | 111 South Street | 413-997-4444 | $20-$40

Friday & Saturday: Quentin Earl Darrington at Mr. Finn's Cabaret

From the Tony Award nominated revival of Ragtime, Barrington Stage Company brings you Quentin Earl Darrington for an inspired evening of song. The performance marks Darrington's solo concert debut in the Berkshires and includes unstoppable selections from the Broadway, pop, jazz, gospel and great American songbooks, as well as original works by new composers. Passion, perspective, promise, and power all frame what guarantees to be a night to remember!

Friday & Saturday, August 10-11 | Friday 9:30pm, Saturday 10pm | Sydelle & Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center | 36 Linden Street | $15

Saturday: The Robbins-Zust Marionettes! 

The Robbins-Zust Marionettes continue its summer lineup of fabled and family-fun puppet shows each week at the The Marketplace Cafe. For over 40 years, Robbins-Zust Marionettes have been delighting audiences with their intricate puppets and clever performances. This week, Robbins-Zust depicts the classic fairytale Sleeping Beauty!

Saturday, August 11 | 11am | The Marketplace Cafe | 53 North Street | 413-358-4777 | FREE

Saturday: China Trade & Moby Dick

Head to Arrowhead on Saturday, when noted Herman Melville scholar Dr. Donna Ferrantello will speak on what the China Trade has to do with Moby-Dick? Another creative Call Me Melvilleevent, celebrating Melville's life and writings in the Berkshires all summer long! For more information, visit www.callmemelville.org.

Saturday, August 11 | 11am | Arrowhead Museum | 780 Holmes Road | 413-442-1793 | FREE

Saturday: BerkChique Pop-Up Shop Grand Opening

BerkChique carries the most original clothing of any shop county-wide, with sterling and gemstone jewelry, collectibles & antiques! A used clothing and accessories pop-up shop, proceeds from BerkChique support local arts organizations. Shop opens at 12pm. A reception will be held from 4pm-7pm. Learn more from the Rural Intelligence by clicking HERE.

Saturday, August 11 | 12pm open, 4pm reception | 31 South Street | 413-442-6063

Saturday: Mr. Mic's Open Mic Night at BCC

The Berkshire Community College Performing Arts PARTBEATS hosts an open mic night in the cafeteria. Mr. Mic is looking for people who can perform comedy, poetry, prose, dance and dramatic readings as well as instrumental performances. Walk-in performers are welcome but preregistration is preferred. Contact Chad Tarves atchadtarvesmusic@aim.com for more information or to sign-up. All proceeds go towards upgrading audio equipment, instruments and scholarships for performing arts students.

Saturday, August 11 | 7pm-10pm | Berkshire Community College | 1350 West Street | 413-236-1660 | $3, performers FREE

Sunday: Berkshire Residency Exchange Farewell Open House

Sunday is your last chance to visit IS183's Berkshire Residency Exchange artists Noor Al Suwaidi,Bembol de la Cruz and Dina Noto in their pop-up studio before they close up shop and bid farewell to Pittsfield. See the work they've completed and hear a tale or two about their four week adventure in the Berkshires, including the premiere screening of their collaborative experimental animation project!

Sunday, August 12 | 4pm-7pm | CompuWorks | 1 Fenn Street | 413-298-5252, ext. 104

Sunday: Shaker Jewish Fusion Concert!

Hancock Shaker Village and Congregation Knesset Israel invite you to enjoy a rafter-raising, Shaker-Jewish fusion concert, starring clarinet virtuoso Paul Green and his Neshoma Klezmer Ensemble. Green is an extraordinary clarinetist equally at home in classical, jazz and Klezmer music, combining the intellectual rigor of a former law professor with the heart and passion of the consummate musician. 

Sunday, August 12 | 7:30pm | Hancock Shaker Village | 1843 West Street | 413-443-0188 | $36

Monday: Hysteria at the Little Cinema

The Little Cinema presents Hysteria, as part of its regular series of independent and popular film screenings inside the Berkshire Museum. Hysteria, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Hugh Dancy, is a romantic comedy about the invention of the vibrator in Victorian England. Click HERE to watch a trailer of Hysteria.

Monday, August 13 | 2pm | Berkshire Museum | 39 South Street | 413-443-7171 | $5

Barrington Stage Company presents The Real Thing, a staged reading of Tom Stoppard's award-winning play on love, art and reality The Real Thing,in participation with the 2012 WordXWord Festival. Stoppard's two-time Tony Award-winner (Best Play, 1984; Best Play Revival, 2000), The Real Thing is an intellectually and emotionally engaging backstage comedy centering on Henry, an articulate and romantically idealistic playwright whose second wife is trying to merge worthy political causes with her art as an actress.

Monday, August 13 | 7pm | Boyd-Quinson Mainstage | 30 Union Street | 413-236-8888 | $10-$15

Tuesday & Wednesday: Special Performances at the Berkshire Athenaeum

Two special performances are brought to you by Friends of the Berkshire Athenaeum this week. this On Tuesday, Mary Jo Maichack presents: Stories and Music of Sleep, Dreams, & Starry Nights.No registration required. Wednesday, Garden Critters is tailored to enjoying craft activities for kids.All children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult 18 years or older at all times. Registration is required

Tuesday & Wednesday, August 14-15 | 1pm | Berkshire Athenaeum | 1 Wendell Avenue |FREE

Tuesday: PechaKucha in the Berkshires

Berkshire Museum hosts the third installment of the only PechaKucha Night, featuring a series of presentations, each consisting of 20 slides shown for 20 seconds, totaling 6 minutes, 40 seconds of talking time. This month, PechaKucha Pittsfield is held in conjunction with the 4th annual WordXWord Festival, celebrating all things written, spoken, and sung. The first two PechaKucha nights yielded presentations on music, film, architecture, and even a hilarious improv session. Click HERE for videos from previous PechaKucha nights.

Tuesday, August 14 | 7pm | Berkshire Museum | 39 South Street | 413-443-7171 | $5, refreshments  included

Wednesday: Maggie Mailer Talk at Ferrin Gallery

Wednesday, August 15 | 7pm-8pm | Ferrin Gallery | 437 North Street | 413-442-1622

Wednesday: Live on the Lake with The Greylock Band

Bring a chair or blanket and enjoy live music by The Greylock Band at beautiful Burbank Park onOnota Lake. Brought to you by Live 95.9 andGreylock Federal Credit Union, Live on the Lake is intended to be a family friendly, alcohol free event. (Possession and consumption of alcohol in City Parks is prohibited by park regulation).

Wednesday, August 15 | 6pm-8pm | Burbank Park | Onota Lake | FREE

Wednesday: Froio Center Big Band Concert

The backyard of the Ralph J. Froio Senior Centeris host to the Big Band Concert series, where Wednesday features the Fresh Fields Band. They're a newly–named band with old-name familiarity. Froio concert veterans will have no trouble recognizing, and appreciating many of the musicians. The Fresh Fields Band cultivates a broad musical landscape, and harvests a bumper crop of classics from the fertile realms of swing, pop and jazz. All are invited. Rain or shine. Kick back on our back porch!

Wedneday, August 15 | 6:30pm | Froio Senior Center Parking Lot | 330 North St. | 413-499-9346   | FREE

The Black Suits at Barrington Stage Company

A new rock musical from the Musical Theatre Labhits Barrington Stage Company called The Black Suits, about dreams, blood, Pop Tarts, records, drug runs, blue hair and the transformative coolness of rock and roll music. A high school garage band on suburban Long Island trying to win the St. Anne's Battle of the Bands. Preview performances are Thursday & Friday, August 16-17.

Thursday-Sunday, August 16-September 2 | dates & times vary | Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center | 36 Linden Street | 413-236-8888 | $15-$39
 

Segway & B.A. Dario at Chameleons

Local favorites Segway and B.A. Dario are set to blow the roof off of Chameleons Nightclub with great live music. Segway is a four-piece rage-in-a-can, hailing from the Northeast; a band that has created a reputation for all-out dance-bauchery. B.A. Dario produces a high-energy rock sound with electronic overtones. Their intricate guitar riffs and elaborate changes give them an electric sound that is sure to get the crowd moving! For ages 18 and up. Click HERE to listen to both bands.

Thursday, August 16 | 9pm | Chameleons Nightclub | 1350 East Street | 413-499-2582 | 21 and over $5, 18 and over $8

Thursday: 3rd.Thursdays Celebrates the Power of Words!

Often underrated and underappreciated, the power of words is the focus of this month's 3rd.Thursday featuring performances from the fourth-annual WordXWord Festival, the Call Me Melville festivals and the kickoff of the newly designated Upstreet Cultural District! There is so much to do this Thursday—from great live music by local groups The Interlopers and Nostalgia to the Brooklyn band Call Me Ishmael— More details coming your way next week! Word up!

Thursday, July 19 | 5pm-8pm | Upstreet Pittsfield | 413-499-9348 | FREE