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• Summer 2024 OLLI Term

  • Start
    Tuesday, June 25, 2024
  • End
    Friday, August 23, 2024
  • Location
    Online and In-Person

  Register

  OLLI at Berkshire Community College
  Summer 2024 Semester

  June 7 - August 23

  

  • Summer 2024 General Information 
  • See Course Schedule by Day
    
  • See Course Schedule by Course Type
  • See as Printable .pdf

  Expand your mind with OLLI at BCC's fascinating courses offered online via Zoom and/or in-person in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts. No tests, no grades, just learning for the love of learning.

  Our Summer Semester runs June 7 - August 23, 2024, and includes a mix of in-person, online, and hybrid (online and in-person) courses. All classes take place in Eastern Time.

  This summer we will be offering a single, more prolonged semester (11 weeks), inclusive of 4-11 week courses which will be scheduled and dispersed throughout this interval.
  
  We are making some changes to course fees, for the summer only, that will accommodate offering one registration for all summer courses (rather than two separate semesters in recent years). Some folks will experience a small increase, but most will pay the same or less than they did over two summer semesters in previous years.
  
  The course costs for Summer 2024 will be:
  1 course - $55
  2 courses –$100
  3 courses - $125
  4 or more courses - $150
  

  Each Flexpass counts as one course (6 sessions).

  Call the OLLI at BCC Office at 413.236.2190 (Mon-Fri, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Eastern) to register by phone with a credit card, or with any questions you may have.

  To sign up for courses, you need to be an OLLI at BCC member. (Not a member yet? Join here.) Not sure which classes you want to take? Sign up for one or more Flexpasses, which allow you to attend six individual class sessions of your choice within a semester, as long as the class is not full. Click here to learn more about Flexpasses.

  Note that our online courses are recorded, unless otherwise noted. If you cannot attend live, or if you miss a session or two, you can request a link to the recording and watch it at your convenience.

  Questions? Contact us at olli@berkshirecc.edu or 413.236.2190. We look forward to hearing from you!

  Two special course series available this Summer:

  • Join OLLI instructors and members as we explore the rich history of the 1920s during the spring and summer semesters. See berkshireolli.org/1920sProject2024 for more information on this series.
  • Online courses through Osher Online. This program is offered through the Osher National Resource Center (NRC) at Northwestern University. These classes are delivered by the Osher NRC via Zoom, with participants from all over the country. Note: Registration is separate from our summer courses.

  Show details
• Osher Online Summer 2024

  • Start
    Tuesday, July 09, 2024
  • End
    Friday, August 30, 2024
  • Location
    Online

  
  

  Osher Online is a program from the Osher National Resource Center (NRC) at Northwestern University.  These classes are delivered by the Osher NRC via Zoom, with participants from all over the country.

  OLLI at BCC is excited to be a part of this program. Space is limited! Register early.

  Osher Online classes are $60 each, and available to OLLI at BCC members only. 

  Each class has a limit of 15 students from each participating OLLI. Register by June 24 at 9 a.m.

  Osher Online classes are not recorded.

  After you register for Osher Online classes, you will receive a welcome email from the Osher NRC. This email will include an Osher Online username and password as well as a link to the Osher Online Website, through which you will access your classes.
  

  You will also have access to a pre-class orientation, where you'll get helpful information for accessing your class. There you'll find the class Zoom link, syllabus, discussion board and Customer Care contact information.

  Available Courses:
  

  Women Psychoanalysts: Stories and Theories (Tuesdays beginning 7/9 -  7:00 - 8:30 p.m.)
  Instructor: Oliva Espin

  The World's Fascination with the Automobile (Saturdays beginning 7/13 - 11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.)
  Instructor: Pandora Paul Sardon

  Class details can be found here.

  Show details
• Play Reading Shared Interest Group

  • Start
    Friday, July 12, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Friday, August 23, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    In-person and/or Online via Zoom

  
  

  OLLI at BCC members are invited to join OLLI's Shared Interest Group

  Play Reading Shared Interest Group

  Meets Twice a Month from 3:00 to 5:00 pm ET

  Free and open to all OLLI at BCC members 

  Do you love reading plays?  Our SIG gives participants a chance to read aloud and analyze scenes and characters from prize-winning plays.  We meet once or twice per month for two hours, usually on a Friday afternoon, so as not to conflict with other OLLI courses.  During the year we are open to suggestions as to which plays to read, while in the summer, when hopefully theatres will resume performances, we choose plays that we can both read and view.  We encourage our members to prepare and lead discussions on plays that interest them.  Thriving on group participation, we allow two sessions to cover each one.  Particular editions are selected that can be ordered online or through your local public library. We meet on Zoom, except in summer when we meet in-person or in a hybrid format (both in-person and Zoom). Please contact Alice Roth, Barbara Waldinger or Karel Fisher for more details or additional information about the Play Reading SIG. Schedule of Forthcoming Play Reading Events Summer Schedule We will be having some in-person meetings this summer.  These should be fun, social occasions!  All meetings are on Friday afternoons from 3:00 to 5:00 pm. June 7 & 21:  (Facilitator: Karel Fisher) Boeing, Boeing by Marc Camoletti.  This play is a French farce that was translated and adapted for English-speaking audiences in 1962.  Barrington Stage will be showing this play in July, with Julianne Boyd as director.  From Wikipedia: "The play is set in the 1960s, and centers on bachelor Bernard, who has a flat in Paris and three airline stewardesses all engaged to him without knowing about each other. Bernard's life gets bumpy, though, when his friend Robert comes to stay, and complications such as weather and a new, speedier Boeing jet disrupt his careful planning.  Soon, all three stewardesses are in the city simultaneously and catastrophe looms.”   Location:  Hybrid.  In-person at BCC Pittsfield , Room F102 (next to the OLLI office, near the auditorium).  Or attend via Zoom. July 12 & 26:  (Facilitator: Paula Kaplan-Reiss) Flight of the Monarch by Jim Frangione.  The play has its regional premiere in August at Shakespeare & Company’s Bernstein Theater, in a joint production with Great Barrington Public Theater.  The director is Judy Braha.  From the theater website:  "Two siblings, Sheila and Thomas, were both born and raised in a small, New England fishing village where they still live. This darkly comic play explores how siblings’ lives are intertwined, what we owe to the people who know and love us best, and how family members’ needs and desires may push the boundaries of what we can be expected to do for others.” Location:  In-person at a member’s home in Canaan, NY.  If you would like to attend, contact me for directions. Aug. 9 & 23:  (Facilitator: Alice Roth)  The Weir by Conor McPherson.  This play by Irish playwright Conor McPherson premiered in London in 1997 and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play.  It will be shown at Berkshire Theater Festival’s Unicorn Theater in late September and October, directed by Eric Hill.  Three men and a woman gather in a pub one evening in rural Ireland and entertain each other with ghost stories, but the mood takes an ever darker turn.  From the theater website: "The play unfolds as a tapestry of supernatural narratives interwoven with personal tragedies, showcasing the haunting power of storytelling that binds individuals together in unexpected ways. McPherson’s deft touch and the raw emotions brought forth by the characters create an unforgettable theatrical experience that lingers long after the curtain falls.” Location:  TBD Sept. 13 & 27:  (Facilitator: Rachel Brier) How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel.  Written by American playwright Paula Vogel, this play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1998.  According to Dramatists Play Service, the play is “a wildly funny, surprising and devastating tale of survival as seen through the lens of a troubling relationship between a young girl and an older man.  How I Learned to Drive is the story of a woman who learns the rules of the road and life from behind the wheel.” Vogel was inspired to write the play after reading Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. Location:  TBD Getting the Scripts We will be reading from the editions listed below.   Boeing Boeing by Marc Camoletti.  Samuel French acting edition, available from Concord Theatricals for $10.95 here.  This is the latest edition, translated by Beverley Cross and Francis Evans. Flight of the Monarch by Jim Frangione.  Jim Frangione is the artistic director of Great Barrington Public Theater.  Please email me if you plan on attending.  The Weir and Other Plays by Conor McPherson.  Theater Communications Group, 1999.  The paperback edition is available for $11.60 from Amazon here.   How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel.  Dramatists Play Service, Acting Edition.  Available for $14.00 here.

  Show details
• Paths Toward Purpose and Meaning Making

  • When
    Tuesday, July 16, 2024
  •  
    1:00 PM
  • Location
    In-person

  Register

  Paths Toward Purpose and Meaning Making
  Join local a panel of local clergy for conversation about how their traditions understand purpose and meaning, and how that does and does not inform their own spiritual journeys.
  

  Tuesday, July 16 at 1:00 p.m.

  In-person at Berkshire Community College

  Free and open to all. 

  Light refreshments following the program

  Panelists include:
  

  Rev. Sheila Sholes-Ross was ordained through American Baptist Churches and called as the 30th pastor of First Baptist Church of Pittsfield, Massachusetts, November 2013; historic as the church's first African-American female pastor.

  
  

  

  Born in Worcester, raised in the Midwest, and ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary in 2006, Rabbi David Weiner has served as the spiritual leader of Knesset Israel in Pittsfield for fifteen years. His areas of focus include interfaith pastoral care, classical biblical commentary (midrash), and adult and special needs education. He is a past president of the Pittsfield Area Council of Congregations.

  Jim Armstrong is a native of Pittsfield and a lifelong member of the Catholic church, and now a member of St. Joseph Church on North Street. He spent 39 years teaching, many years in local Catholic Schools. Jim has also served as a hospital chaplain at BMC.

  Moderated by Rev. Carol Allman-Morton, executive director of OLLI at BCC and Unitarian Universalist minister at the UU Meeting of South Berkshire in Housatonic, MA.
  

  Sponsored by Pittsfield Area Clergy Council and OLLI at Berkshire Community College

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• Contemporary Gender Roles SIG

  • Start
    Wednesday, July 17, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Wednesday, December 18, 2024
  • Schedule
    6 sessions
  • Location
    Online via Zoom

  
  

  This OLLI Contemporary Gender Roles Shared Interest Group was started by Deborah Caine to study and explore cultural changes in the roles of men and women in the family and in the workplace and the multiple changes in gender presentation and identity exemplified in the growth of the LGBTQ+ communities; changes not always easily understood by many.

  
  The group has grown over the last several years from three members to two dozen women and men who enjoy the lively monthly discussions on topics of urgent and current interest.

  
  Members volunteer to lead a discussion on a topic of their choice and/or invite an outside speaker and circulate articles from major newspapers, magazines and journals that are relevant to group interests.  

  
  The Contemporary Gender Roles group sponsored an OLLI course on the Equal Rights Amendment in 2018 which was well attended.

  
  We meet on Zoom at 2 pm on the third Wednesday of the month. 

  
  Check out the Contemporary Gender Roles SIG Padlet, for articles, videos, and pictures here!

  
  For more information about this SIG, please contact Ellen Croibier.
  

  
  

  Topics for 2024 Contemporary Gender Roles SIG

  Helen Hailes: “Gaslighting in Intimate Partner Violence” on January 17

  Leyn Burrows on self-defense for women vs. men on February 21

  Michael Wilcox: Topic TBD on March 20

  Berkshire Pride and the Elizabeth Freeman Center on April 17

  Chris Canning Wilson on the role of women in the Middle East on May 15

  Mal Wasserman with book review: Undaunted and/or The Exceptions on June 19

  Farrah Cukor, literary rep at United Talent Agency on July 17

  Linda Baxter will give a talk on midwifery on August 21

  Mary Hunt, PhD on feminist theology on September 18

  Chief Deanna Strout on women in criminal justice on October 16

  Farah Cherif D’Ouezzan on women in Morocco on November 20

  December 18 TBD

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• Gotta Reads: New York Times Best Seller Book Club

  • Start
    Thursday, July 18, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Thursday, December 19, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    6 sessions
  • Location
    Online via Zoom

  
  

  The Gotta Reads - NYT Best Sellers Book Club reads books from the NYT Best Seller List of the last couple of years. We look for books that are "discussion-worthy" and thought provoking.

  This group meets on the the third Thursday of each month at 4pm.

  Please click here to contact group leader Sheila McKenna for additional information & to join the email list.

  Here are the books we have selected so far for 2024:

  June: The Women by Kristen Hannah

  July: Long Island by Colm Toibin, his sequel to the book Brooklyn

  August: The Deepfake by Joan Cohen

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• Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat Presents "The Art of Diplomacy"

  • When
    Thursday, July 18, 2024
  •  
    7:30 PM
  • Location
    In-person at Knesset Israel, 16 Colt Rd and Livestream

  Register

  Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat
  Presents
  The Art of Diplomacy

  
  

  Thursday, July 18, 2024 at 7:30 p.m. ET

  In-person at Congregation Knesset Israel, Pittsfield and also via Live Stream.
  

  Free & open to all

  Join us for an insightful evening with Ambassador Stuart E. Eizenstat as he discusses topics from his new book, The Art of Diplomacy: How American Negotiators Reached Historic Agreements that Changed the World.
  

  In his book, Ambassador Eizenstat delves into America's most significant negotiations over the past fifty years, addressing conflicts such as the Middle East peace process, "The Troubles" in Northern Ireland, and lingering World War II issues. Drawing on his extensive experience as a former top White House aide, U.S. ambassador, and undersecretary of state, Eizenstat provides valuable insights into the use of American military force as a diplomatic instrument, with lessons applicable to contemporary conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

  As a leading figure in several historic negotiations and having personally interviewed over 125 U.S. and international leaders, Ambassador Eizenstat offers a comprehensive view of international diplomacy, highlighting the personalities, issues, and breakthroughs that have shaped the world today. Don't miss this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of American leadership in global negotiations.

  Books will be available for purchase at the event.

  This event is put on in cooperation with Knesset Israel and the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires.

     
  

   

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• Murder, Mystery & Mayhem: A Book Group

  • Start
    Monday, July 22, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Monday, December 23, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    6 sessions
  • Location
    Online via Zoom

  
  

  OLLI at BCC members are invited to join OLLI's Shared Interest Group

  Murder, Mystery & Mayhem: A Book Group

  for an online discussion 

  The Fourth Monday of Every Month

  from 1:30 to 3:00 pm Eastern

  Free and open to all OLLI at BCC members 

  OLLI's Murder, Mystery & Mayhem: A Book Group meets once a month, typically on the 4^th Monday at 1:30 pm. Everyone is welcome. We typically meet for no more than 1.5 hours. Historically, the meetings were at someone’s house. Since the pandemic, however, the gatherings have been Zoom-based.
  

  Books are selected one year in advance… and are not your typically hot present-day offerings. At the meetings, we discuss the chosen book, of course, but often we talk about other books we are reading, movies we have seen, serials we’ve watched/are watching on TV, etc.

  Please contact Bruce Cohen for additional information and to receive the Zoom link. 

  Murder, Mystery & Mayhem Book List 2024

  January           Mystic River                                             Dennis Lehane

  February         Ordinary Grace                                       William Kent Krueger

  March              Shutter Island                                          Dennis Lehane

  April                 Slow Horses                                             Mick Herron

  May                  Smiler with a Knife                                Nicolas Blake

  June                 The Dry                                                     Jane Harper

  July                  The Killer Inside Me                              Jim Thompson

  August             The Last Days of Ptolomy Gray         Walter Mosley

  September      The Long Call                                          Ann Cleeves

  October           The Plot                                                    Jean Hanff Korelitz

  November      The Talented Mr. Ripley                       Patricia Highsmith

  December      When Justice Sleeps                               Stacey Abrams

  Show details
• Climate Change Shared Interest Group

  • Start
    Wednesday, July 24, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Wednesday, November 27, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    5 sessions
  • Location
    Richmond, MA

  

  OLLI at BCC members are invited to join OLLI's

  Climate Change 

  Shared Interest Group 

  Free and open exclusively to OLLI at BCC members

  This OLLI Shared Interest Group (SIG) will study the effects on the Planet Earth caused by fossil fuel emissions by following the science and media news daily. The horrific effects of climate change are now apparent every day and affect all humanity wherever we live. Just watch the daily news in any media. The effects on State and Federal budgets of hurricanes, floods, and extreme heat are now becoming clear to everyone.

  The SIG will utilize the work of national organizations such as Third Act (founded recently by Bill McKibben, the famous environmentalist) and Elders Climate Action (among others). Both of these organizations have monthly newsletters and free webinars.

  As activists the OLLI Climate Change SIG will write letters and postcards to the media and politicians - all who have power to effect changes in National and international behavior. 

  The group will meet on the fourth Wednesday of the month and share information about all local and national efforts to fight the global warming caused by the fossil fuel industry. It will also share information, by e-mail, gleaned from other environmental organizations in Massachusetts and nationally. 

  Please contact Deborah Caine for more information about this SIG.
  

  Show details
• From Collage to Decoupage: Next Steps

  • When
    Thursday, July 25, 2024
  •  
    1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
  • Location
    BCC
  • Spaces left
    1

  Register

  From Collage to Decoupage:
  Next Steps

  Thursday, July 25
   1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
  at Berkshire Community College

  In-person only.

  

  
  

  In this workshop, we will go over the basic steps for creating unique waterproof ceramic tile coasters.

  This class will be good for those who have already attended the Decoupage Workshop and would like to add a “collage step“ to their coasters. First time attendees will be able to use collage on their tiles as well, or can focus on the basic design from colorful paper, which will be available. Feel free to bring paper/fabric from home to use.

  Additional decoupage project choices for second time attendees, as well as first timers, will include small porcelain plates for trinkets and jewelry, and luggage tags to make identifying your suitcase so much easier!
  

  Marsha Edell is a licensed clinical social worker, and a long time crafts person. A firm believer in the positive energy which connecting to one’s creativity brings, she is looking forward to helping people enjoy the process and the results.
  

  Cost: $25 for OLLI at BCC members,
             $30 for non-members

  Price includes materials cost.

  Sign up today!
  

  Register online or call 413.236.2190 (M-F 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.) to register by phone with a credit card.  
  

  Show details
• Member Meet-up at Tanglewood

  • When
    Sunday, July 28, 2024
  •  
    12:00 PM
  • Location
    Online

  Register

  
  

  OLLI at BCC Meet-up at Tanglewood
  (Ticket to Tanglewood not provided)
  

  Sunday, July 28 from 12:00 - start of concert.

  Gather with your OLLI friends and meet new friends on the lawn at Tanglewood. Guests are welcome!
  

  Look for the OLLI banner and balloons.  You can find us by going straight from the Main Gate past the Shed so that when you are standing and looking at the Shed, we will be to the right.
  

  Bring your own ticket, chair, snacks and drinks.
  (You can order Tanglewood Tickets through the BSO or purchase on site at the box office)

  Can't wait to see you there!

  Your friends on the OLLI Member Services Committee     

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• A Chester Duet with OLLI at BCC

  • When
    Thursday, August 08, 2024
  •  
    11:30 AM
  • Location
    Chester Theater
  • Spaces left
    7

  Register

  The OLLI at BCC Special Events Committee presents:
  

  A Chester Duet

  Thursday, August 8, 2024, 11:30 a.m.
  This program is in-person at Chester Railway Museum and Chester Theater Company in Chester, MA
  

  
  

  A Delicious Lunch plus
  a Great Afternoon of Theater  
  

  11:30 a.m. Lunch at the Chester Railway Museum
  A national historic landmark! OLLI chefs create a first class lunch for you! Dave Pierce, Director, tells tales of the station.  

  2:00 p.m. Chester Theater Company
  

  Big Big Sky
  

  Kinsea, East Yorkshire. Angie and Lauren are closing up the café for the winter, the birds have gone south and taken the tourists with them. The last visitor is Lauren’s dad, Dennis, stopping by for pastry and beans and another arrival- one that’s unforeseen and life-changing to them all.  BIG BIG SKY, a beautifully tender play by Tom Wells, explores nature’s influence on love, friendship and family-the belief that anyone who’s lost can be found, even in the remotest places!

  Director: James Warwick
  

  Cost: $70 for OLLI at BCC members
             $80 for guests/non-members
             $20 Lunch only with your own Chester Theater subscription

  Handicapped seating is available, be sure to note that when you register. Seating will be in order received.

  No refunds unless space is filled from a waiting list!

  Event Leader: Judy Keshner; Special Events Chair: Arline Breskin

  Register online or call 413.236.2190 (M-F 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.) to register by phone with a credit card.  
  

  Thank you to OLLI at BCC's Special Events Committee for organizing this and so many other great OLLI events!

  Show details
• Creative Nonfiction Writing SIG

  • Start
    Tuesday, August 13, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Tuesday, November 12, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    Online

  Register

  Creative Nonfiction Writing

  

  Shared Interest Group
  

  Meets the second Tuesday of the month at 

  9:30 a.m. Eastern

  Free and open exclusively to OLLI at BCC members

  Do you love to write and want to have a writers’ group to share and critique your work? If you do, consider joining our Creative Nonfiction SIG which meets monthly via Zoom. The format of our meetings will be flexible but will focus on each member sharing their work and receiving mindful critique from other group members.  At each meeting we will pick a leader for the next meeting. That leader will assign a prompt for the next meeting’s writings or writers may choose their own subject.

  What is creative nonfiction? It can be essay, memoir, personal narrative, travel writing, food writing, chronicle, fact-based essays, or biography. The commonality is that the writer uses literary techniques to tell the facts allowing the reader to understand the situations described in a fuller, more emotional way. As one writer — Melanie McGrath, whose book Silvertown, an account of her grandmother's life, describes her writing — the known facts of her stories are "the canvas on to which I have embroidered. Some of the facts have slipped through the holes—we no longer know them nor have any means of verifying them—and in these cases I have reimagined scenes or reconstructed events in a way I believe reflects the essence of the scene or the event in the minds and hearts of the people who lived through it. ... To my mind this literary tinkering does not alter the more profound truth of the story.”

  For more information, please contact Lana Bennett. 

  Show details
• OLLI Fall 2024 Open House

  • When
    Tuesday, August 13, 2024
  •  
    10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    In-person at BCC
  • Spaces left
    100

  Register

  
  

  You're invited to the OLLI at BCC
  Fall 2024 Open House
  

  Meet our Fall 2024 instructors and other OLLI members, take a tour of the BCC campus, and have some fun!
  

  Tuesday, August 13
  10:00 a.m.
  

  In-person at Berkshire Community College, Pittsfield. Signs and volunteers on campus will direct you from the parking lot to the meeting room.
  

  Free and open to the public.

  Whether you are brand new to the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Berkshire Community College or a seasoned member of our learning community, join us for the chance to meet other OLLI members, get to know the BCC campus better, and most importantly, chat with the instructors for upcoming courses and ask any questions you have before registering.

  You can also learn more about OLLI Shared Interest Groups (SIGs) and volunteer opportunities with OLLI at BCC.
  

  Onsite registration will be available.

  This event will not be recorded.
  

  No tests, no grades, just learning for the love of learning.

  Our Fall Term begins September 16 and continues through October.  Courses are a mix of in-person, online, and hybrid (online and in-person) with a number of different lengths and a variety of start dates. All classes take place in Eastern Time.
  

  The Fall Catalog will be available online in early August. Registration will open August 13 at 9 a.m.
  

  Contact us at olli@berkshirecc.edu or 413.236.2190 with any questions. OLLI at BCC offices are open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Eastern.

  We look forward to welcoming you!

  Show details
• A Conversation with: Jim Frangione and Judy Braha

  • When
    Wednesday, August 14, 2024
  •  
    1:00 PM
  • Location
    Zion Lutheran Church, 74 First Street, Pittsfield, MA

  Register

  OLLI at BCC Performing Arts Initiative Presents:

  A Conversation with:
  Jim Frangione and Judy Braha,
  Great Barrington Public Theater

  Wednesday, August 14, 2024 at 1 p.m.

  Free & open to all

  In-person at Zion Lutheran Church, 74 First Street, Pittsfield, MA.
  

  What does it take to develop a new play and bring it to life? We’ll ask Jim Frangione about his new play Flight of the Monarch. Judy Braha will be directing that play in its regional premiere at Shakespeare & Company in August. We’ll learn about the challenges of running a new theater – Great Barrington Public Theater, now in its fifth year. We’ll also hear about Berkshire Voices, an incubator for new plays.

  Jim Frangione is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Great Barrington Public Theater. He is passionate about the theater’s mission to develop and produce new plays with a focus on playwrights and theater artists living in and near the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.

  Jim has a decades-long career as a director, actor, and playwright.Recent directorial credits include the premieres of plays by Mark St. Germain (Dad and Public Speaking 101), the solo play, The Bard The Beat The Blues, by Will Lebow, and the east coast premiere of David Mamet’s play, The Christopher Boy's Communion.  Jim has written and produced several full-length plays, as well as a number of short plays. He is the author of two screenplays, Summer Cop (with Jonathan Shoemaker) and Good Haven.

  Judy Braha is the Associate Artistic Director of Great Barrington Public Theater. Judy Braha has been a director, actor, teacher and artist for social justice for over four decades. Long-time head of the M.F.A. Directing Program at Boston University’s School of Theater, her credits include theaters and universities throughout New England and beyond. 

  Her work for GBPT includes directing 2021’s hit Mr. Fullerton and 2022’s Things I Know to Be True.  This year she has directed Dog People and has been working with Anne Undeland on her newest show, Mozart’s Wife, The Lacrymosa. Judy also is a long-time member of the Society of Directors and Choreographers and a founding board member of Stage Source, a New England theater resource committed to connecting theaters, artists and their communities.

  Barbara Waldinger will introduce and interview Mr. Frangione and Ms. Braha. She is a theater teacher, director, reviewer, and co-founder of the OLLI at BCC Performing Arts Initiative.

  -------------

  This event is supported through the generous philanthropy of Nancy and Michael Vale, whose bequest established the Michael and Nancy Vale Performing Arts Program at OLLI at Berkshire Community College. This endowed fund supports theater-based OLLI programming.
  

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• OLLI's 30th Anniversary Celebration 2024

  • When
    Wednesday, September 04, 2024
  •  
    12:00 PM
  • Location
    Pittsfield Country Club, 639 South St, Pittsfield
  • Spaces left
    194

  Register

  
  

  You are invited to our
  

  OLLI at BCC
  30th Anniversary Celebration
  

  Join us as we celebrate and honor our extraordinary volunteers who have created BILL and OLLI at BCC!
  

  Celebrating 30 Years of Lifelong Learning in the Berkshires with BILL and OLLI at Berkshire Community College

  Wednesday, September 4
  12:00 noon
  

  Pittsfield Country Club
  639 South St, Pittsfield MA 01201

  Luncheon, live music and a program honoring many volunteers who have helped our program flourish!

  Click here to see our honorees.
  

  Tickets:
  $80 per person
  $70 for Honorees

  
  

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• Listening to Chamber Music SIG

  • Start
    Thursday, September 05, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Thursday, December 05, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    Online

  

  Attention Chamber Music Lovers!

  The Listening to Chamber Music SIG is for people who are interested in chamber music and who would enjoy learning about and listening to chamber music repertoire with other chamber music aficionados.

  Our meetings are currently held on Zoom at 4:00 p.m. Eastern on the first Thursday of every month.

  After our June 6 meeting, we will be taking a break for the summer (maybe meeting in -person at Tanglewood!) and resuming our Zoom meetings in the fall.

  At each meeting a member presents some Chamber Music they are interested in. Prior to the meeting, links to recordings of the selected pieces will be circulated so that we can all listen before the meeting. At the meeting, the presenting member will provide some program notes - and then we can each talk about our thoughts on the piece(s).

  Contact Harriet Wetstone if you would like the Zoom link or any additional information about this Listening to Chamber Music SIG.

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• Walking Tours: Indian Town, Stockbridge

  • Start
    Sunday, September 08, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Sunday, October 06, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    4 sessions
  • Location
    Stockbridge, MA
  • Spaces left
    100

  Register

  Walking Tours:
  Indian Town, Stockbridge, Mass.

  
  

  Four Sessions to Choose From!

  All tours are in person and onsite, rain or shine.

  Sunday, September 8, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
  Saturday, September 14, 1o:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
  Saturday, September 21, 1o:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
  Sunday, October 6, 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. 

  Indian Town was chartered in 1737 as a mission to the Mohican tribe to teach them English, about Christianity and about English agricultural practices. Recently, the Stockbridge-Munsee community in Wisconsin worked with Housatonic Heritage and other local partners to create a tour of the most important Mohican sites along the main street of Stockbridge. Trained by one of the creators of the walking tour, OLLI members will lead participants along Main Street to learn about the Mohicans, who lived in what is now Stockbridge for thousands of years, and aspects of their culture which are still present today. Stops include the Carriage Barn at the Mission House, the burial grounds and the site of the 2021 archeological dig for the Mohican meeting house.
  

  Please register in advance.

  This walk is approximately 1.5 mi. round trip and the sidewalks are accessible. Participants should be prepared to be walking and standing for about two hours.

  This walking tour has been developed by the Stockbridge-Munsee Community highlighting the years in which they lived in Stockbridge. Presented in partnership with Housatonic Heritage. The walking tours are free and open to the public. 

  For more information about the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, click here: https://www.nativeamericantrail.org/stockbridge-walking-tour/

  Register safely and securely online or call 413.236.2190 (M-F 9:00 am - 4:00 pm) to register by phone.

  
  

  
  

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• Exploring Ancestral Roots & Migrations Through Time & Place with Jennifer Browdy

  • When
    Monday, September 09, 2024
  •  
    10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
  • Location
    Zoom

  Register

  Exploring Ancestral Roots & Migrations Through Time & Place

  An online writing workshop led by Jennifer Browdy, PhD

  Monday, September 9, 2024
  10:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET
  Online via Zoom

  Workshop Cost:
  OLLI at BCC Members: $15
  Non-members: $20
  

  Explore your ancestral roots, family patterns of migration, and your own sense of being rooted or still in search of a place to call home in a lively 2-hour online memoir workshop, led by award-winning memoirist and veteran teacher Jennifer Browdy, PhD.

  Expertly crafted writing prompts will help you trace back through the generations to explore your ancestral connections to particular times and places, as well as the trajectories of your family’s migrations. 

  Moving towards the present, we’ll inquire into the places where you have felt most rooted, and your own patterns of migration, using these meditations on past experiences to reach for a more intentional rootedness in a nourishing landscape that you can call home.

   No prior memoir writing experience is necessary, just bring your writing implements and your curiosity about the past, present and future!

  Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D. is a professor of literature, writing and media arts at Bard College at Simon’s Rock and the online global Bard Open Society University Network, with a special focus on purposeful memoir and media arts for social and environmental justice.
  
  Her latest book, Purposeful Memoir as a Quest for a Thriving Future, was a 2022 Nautilus Gold Award winner and a 2022 Gold Award winner in the Independent Press Awards. Her writer’s guide, The Elemental Journey of Purposeful Memoir, won a 2017 Nautilus Silver Award. Her memoir, What I Forgot ...And Why I Remembered, was a finalist for the 2018 International Book Awards.
  
  Jennifer has presented at numerous conferences and has written for Yes! Magazine, Kosmos Journal, Deep Times Journal and many academic journals and volumes. She offers writing workshops online and in person, author coaching and manuscript review, and is the publisher of Green Fire Press.

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• Happy Needlers & Hookers: A Needlework Shared Interest Group

  • Start
    Monday, September 16, 2024
  •  
  • End
    Monday, December 16, 2024
  •  
  • Schedule
    7 sessions
  • Location
    Lenox, MA

  
  

  Happy Needlers & Hookers:
  A Needlework Shared Interest Group

  Meets the first and third Monday from 12:30pm-2pm in Lenox. 

  Monday meetings are paused for the summer due to construction at the venue. 

  Shared Interest Groups are free and exclusively for current OLLI at BCC members.

  The Happy Needlers & Hookers Needlework Group is a Shared Interest Group for people that like to knit, needlepoint, cross-stitch, crochet or enjoy any other needle-based craft.

  You can work on any project you wish. The camaraderie and time we spend together is what we find so enjoyable!
  

  All levels are welcome, from beginner to advanced.

  Please contact Sharon Walker or Carol Sabot for more information and to join the group. Let Carolyn know if you will be joining us so we have an idea of how many will be attending. 

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