Will Call #1 — Jim Shaw at MASS MoCA

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We are thrilled to be “Entertaining Doubts” here on this, the first episode of “Will Call.” This podcast is a production of the Greylock Glass, and is a media collaboration with the Greylock Independent.

We spoke with Hannah Pivo of MASSMoca about the exhibit opening March 28 entitled “Entertaining Doubts,” featuring the work of Jim Shaw. Hannah assisted with the installation and describes the collection as massive in terms of scope as well as sheer size.

Shaw’s work is, by turns, completely absurd and arrestingly real. Whether depicting the impotence of familiar hero figures or splaying wide the reality of environmental degradation, Shaw commands us to re-examine the fantastic and the mundane through new lenses—lenses available, perhaps, by mail order through the seedy back pages of a tattered, forgotten 20th Century action comic.

We welcome and introduce Tela Zasloff, editor and founder of the Greylock Independent. She announces a new feature of her newspaper and website, “GailSez,” a contributed column by Gail Burns of WAM Theatre. Tela and I admit that mostly we’re just winging this content collaboration. How can we figure out what we want out of this show if we don’t try it all?

Finally, I bring up some events that will occur in Bennington, Vermont, this weekend. From the Greylock region, this postcard perfect New England town is actually a significantly shorter drive than much of the Berkshires. With so many truly thrilling arts opportunities north of the border, we can’t see any reason not to include our comrades-in-arts!

MARCH 28, 2015

L’Ensemble presents: A Beethoven Bash
Saturday March 28 • 7:30pm

A BEETHOVEN BASH presented by L’Ensemble, Not Your Ordinary Chamber Group, in Residence at Oldcastle Theatre. With Artistic Director and Soprano Ida Faiella; Pianist Charles Abramovic,  Violinist Dale Stuckenbruck and Cellist Jesse Levy.

MARCH 29, 2015

Bread and Puppet Theatre: “Fire”
March 29, at 2 and 7 p.m

Bennington College will be hosting two special performances by Bread and Puppet Theater at Oldcastle Theatre Company. The performance that launched Bread and Puppet Theater to international prominence, “Fire,” was first performed in 1966 in response to the Vietnam war and has now been re-imagined to reflect on the Israeli-Palestine conflict with haunting visuals and storytelling that evokes the “quality of prayer.” Show are March 29, at 2 and 7 p.m. Tickets are $5 for Bennington College and SVC students, faculty, and staff and $12 for the general public. Reservations can be made through the Bennington College Bookstore or by calling Student Life at 802-440-4330. This show contains mature subject matter.

Thanks so much to FreeSFX for the use of the stock audio of an orchestra tuning up. Check out their offerings at http://www.freesfx.co.uk

Thanks also to Karen Savage, who donated her time and voice to LibriVox, the Free Audiobook collection. The sampled public domain audio is from Beatrice’s monologue in Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4, Scene 1.