Thursday
May 17
COMMUNITY
BIKEfest
River Walk hosted by Hoosic River Revival, starting at Mass MoCA parking lot, 9:30 to 10:45 a.m.; bike documentary film night, bike salon and local biking panel discussion, unique bikes on display, 6:30 to 9 p.m. Mass MoCA, North Adams. Free. tinyurl.com/bikefest2012
Third Thursdays
Free outdoor street festival, 5 to 8 p.m. "Celebrating Youth," performers from the Youth Alive Step Dance and Drum Line to the young musicians of Berkshire Rocks. North Street closed to vehicle traffic from West Street to Linden Street. (413) 499-9348, discoverpittsfield.com
Friday
May 18
COMMUNITY
Congregation Beth Israel
Activists, educators, and spiritual leaders Rabbi Everett Gendler and Mary Gendler present "Teaching Shalom (Peace) in the Shadow of Tibet," 7 p.m. 53 Lois St., North Adams. (413) 663-5830, www.cbiweb.org.
MUSIC
Mass MoCA
Work-in-progress showing of Paola Prestini's new multimedia opera, "Oceanic Verses," 8 p.m. Set against the backdrop of the Mediterranean Sea, Oceanic Verses is about people who flee and people who stay, people who sail to escape and people who sail to arrive. North Adams.
OUTDOORS
Mass Audubon
Bird walk at Canoe
THEATER
BCC Players
"The Producers," 8 p.m. Koussevitzky Arts Center, Boland Theatre, Pittsfield.
Ghent Playhouse
"The Madwoman of Chaillot," 8 p.m. Jean Giraudoux's final masterpiece, about cafés and oil wells, flower girls and prospectors -- a juggler, a street singer, a quack, a sewer man, a deaf girl, a busboy, a dishwasher -- two love stories, young and old. Ghent, N.Y.
Saturday
May 19
ART
Clark Art Institute
"Camille Claudel," 2 p.m. Free film series examines the challenges female artists face. Williamstown.
COMMUNITY
Dancing in the street
Second annual Zumba® for a Cure, 4 to 5:30 p.m. North side of Main Street closes for an hour and a half of dancing. All proceeds benefit the Northern Berkshire Relay for Life, and all are welcome. North Adams. (413) 663-0225.
Little Red Craft Fair/Tag Sale
Family-friendly event with shopping, food, entertainment for kids, including Bowey the Clown. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., 32 New Ashford Road, Williamstown. Information: Sarah Currie, (413) 464-6335, http://lrsh.org/news-and-events. Free.
Triform Silent Auction
Auction and wine reception to benefit Triform student scholarships, 6 to 8 p.m. at Art Omi Visitor's Center, 1405 County Road 22, Ghent, N.Y. www.Biddingforgood.com/Triform.
DANCE
Lenox Contradance
Live music by Anadama: Amelia Mason fiddle, Emily Troll accordion, Bethany Waickman guitar. Caller Rebecca Lay. 8 to11:30 p.m. Lenox Community Center, 65 Walker St., (413) 528-4007, www.lenoxcontradance.org.
HISTORY
Berkshire Botanical Garden
"Build a cob oven" hands-on workshop, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Learn the ancient art of making cob, a versatile and long-lasting building material made of local clay, sand, and straw. Stockbridge.
Hancock Shaker Village
Shaker Sustainable Gardening Workship with Bill Mangiardi, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pittsfield.
Norman Rockwell's Main Street
Follow the path of Norman Rockwell's life and art in downtown Stockbridge, the artist's home town from 1953 to 1978. Explore the sites that inspired Rockwell's art in a springtime stroll Main Street from 1 to 3 p.m. Meet outside Stockbridge Library, Route 102, Stockbridge.
Williamstown History Museum
"Exceedingly Good Land: 271 Years of Williamstown Landscape," 11 a.m., talk with Professor Henry Art from Williams College, who rejuvenated Hopkins Forest as a research site. Williamstown.
OUTDOORS
Berkshire Botanical Garden
"Essentials of Spring Garden Maintenance" field study, 10 a.m. to noon. What to do and when as the garden unfolds in spring. "Mad for Lilacs," talk, demonstration and sale, 1 to 3 p.m. Learn why your lilac doesn't bloom and when it should be pruned through a bit of botany, history, personal opinion, and hands-on horticulture. Stockbridge.
Project Native
Seed-ball-making workshop at Mud Day at Muddy Brook Elementary School Great Barrington. (413) 274-3433.
Seedling swap
Storey Publishing and Hoosac Harvest, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Storey Publishing on the Mass MoCA campus. Share extra seedlings with new and experienced gardeners alike. The organizers invite gardeners to start extra flats of seedlings to bring to the event to exchange. Peat pots and soil will be available to transplant seedlings. Short demonstrations on container gardening and composting. 87 Marshall St., North Adams. (413) 346-3371.
Trade Secrets
Bunny Williams' annual benefit for Women's Support Services for domestic violence celebrates 12th annual garden weekend. Antique and rare plant sale from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at LionRock Farm in Sharon, Conn. Presentation by Marina Marchese, owner of Red Bee Honey. (860) 364-1080, www.tradesecretsct.com.
Where the Wild Things Are
Foraging walk: Aimee Gelinas at Tyringham Cobble in Tyringham, 9 to 11 a.m. Learn about edible and medicinal wild plants and mushrooms, nature and ecology plus culinary and medicinal benefits of wild plants and cooking with wild foods. All walks in alignment with sustainable wild harvesting practices, led by expert foragers. www.berkshirefarmandtable.com.
MUSIC
Berkshire Music School
Recital from the Studio of Kathleen McDonald, voice, 3 p.m. Free. Pittsfield.
Close Encounters with Music
The Daedalus Quartet, all-Viennese program, 6 p.m.: Schubert's Quartettsatz, Alban Berg's Opus 3, Sehr Langsam and Mäige Viertel, and the "Razumovsky," Beethoven's Opus 59 No. 1. Min-Young Kim, violin; Matilda Kaul, violin; Jessica Thompson, viola; and Thomas Kraines, cello. Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, Great Barrington. (800) 843-0778, www.cewm.org.
THEATER
BCC Players
"The Producers," 8 p.m. Koussevitzky Arts Center, Boland Theatre, Pittsfield.
Ghent Playhouse
"The Madwoman of Chaillot," 8 p.m. Jean Giraudoux's final masterpiece, about cafés and oil wells, flower girls and prospectors -- a juggler, a street singer, a quack, a sewer man, a deaf girl, a busboy, a dishwasher -- two love stories, young and old. Ghent, N.Y.
WRITING
Bard College at Simon's Rock
United States Poet Laureate Philip Levine will deliver this year's commencement address at Bard College at Simon's Rock, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The author of 20 collections of poetry, Levine is known as an elder statesman of contemporary American poetry and the voice of ordinary people. Alford Road, Great Barrington, (413) 528-7443, www.simons-rock.edu.
Sunday
May 20
COMMUNITY
BIKEfest
Family Bike Rodeo, with bike challenge course, helmet and bike safety checks, contests with prizes, bike parade, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Mass MoCA (Rain date: May 20); talk on history of the bicycle for kids and adults, Western Gateway Heritage State Park Museum, 3:30 p.m. North Adams. tinyurl.com/bikefest2012.
FILM
Berkshire Museum
Screening of ‘La Fille Mal Gardée' from the Royal Ballet in London, 7 p.m. Story of Lise, her suitor Colas, and Lise's larger-than-life mother, who tries to marry her off to the simpleton son of a rich neighbor. Pittsfield.
HISTORY
Berkshire Botanical Garden
"Build a cob oven" hands-on workshop, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Learn the ancient art of making cob, a versatile and long-lasting building material made of local clay, sand, and straw. Stockbridge.
MUSIC
Eagles Big Band
Free concert at the Adams Public Library, 3 p.m. Music of the big band era. Route 8, Adams.
Jazz Vespers
Ike Strum Jazz Ensemble of New York, 5 p.m. Sturm's original music draws on the traditions of Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonious Monk. Trinity Episcopal Church, 88 Walker St., Lenox. www.trinitylenox.org.
Shape-note Singing
Sing in this this "full-body, shout-it-out singing" style with a group of local residents. Orientation to style at 1 p.m., singing until 4 p.m. Singers, learners and listeners all welcome, come and go as you please. Songbooks provided, snacks to share. Free. Chapel of the Church on the Hill, 55 Main St., Lenox.
Triform Bell Choir concert
10th Anniversary the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Woodwind Quintet and New York Soprano Adele Wilson, 2 p.m., Triform Phoenix Center, 20 Triform Road, Hudson, N.Y.
OUTDOORS
Guthrie Center
12th Annual "Arlo Guthrie's Historic Garbage Trail" Walk to Massacree -- to fight Huntington's Disease. Registration begins at 8:30 a.m. at the center ; walk begins at 10 a.m. Great Barrington, www.freewebs.com/hdwalk.
Mass Audubon
Berkshire Summit Hike -- Alander Mountain, 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary, Lenox.
Taconic Hiking Club
Long Trail / Appalachian Trail, Shrewsberry, Vt. Upper Cold River Road to Route 103, 5.4 miles. rjhydorn@lycos.com, (413) 283-6056.
Trade Secrets
Annual benefit for Women's Support Services for domestic violence celebrates 12th annual garden weekend. Garden tour includes signature garden of founder Bunny Williams. Jack Hyland's and Larry Wente's eco-friendly, 41-acre futuristic estate, the Hyland/Wente garden; Linden Hill Farm and Hawk Hill Farm. (860) 364-1080, www.tradesecretsct.com
Where the Wild Things Are
Foraging walk: John Wheeler at South Mountain DCR in Pittsfield, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Learn about edible and medicinal wild plants and mushrooms, nature and ecology plus culinary and medicinal benefits of wild plants and cooking with wild foods. All walks in alignment with sustainable wild harvesting practices, led by expert foragers. www.berkshirefarmandtable.com.
THEATER
BCC Players
"The Producers," 8 p.m. Koussevitzky Arts Center, Boland Theatre, Pittsfield.
Ghent Playhouse
"The Madwoman of Chaillot," 2 p.m. Jean Giraudoux's final masterpiece, about cafés and oil wells, flower girls and prospectors -- a juggler, a street singer, a quack, a sewer man, a deaf girl, a busboy, a dishwasher -- two love stories, young and old. Ghent, N.Y.
WRITING
Bloomsday
Leading up to Bloomsday celebration on June 16, weekly readings of chapters from James Joyce's "Ulysses," 7:30 p.m., to read and discuss the book and the event. Williamstown. Details on Facebook at "Bloomsday in Williamstown" and email at BloomsdayinWilliamstown@gmail.com.
Monday
May 21
Tuesday
May 22
MUSIC
Colonial Theatre
Dark Star Orchestra re-creates Grateful Dead, 7:30 p.m. Pittsfield.
Wednesday
May 23
OUTDOORS
Sandisfield 250th summer
Bob's Way Hike with Amanda L'Etoile, Berkshire Natural Resources Council, 2 p.m. Bring snacks and water. Wear appropriate footwear. www.sandisfield.info
Taconic Hiking Club
Alan Devoe Bird Sanctuary, Old Chatham, N.Y. Spring wildflowers and migrating birds. 3 miles of wooded trails; not much elevation and easily paced. (413) 766-4170.
THEATER
Barrington Stage Company
"Lungs," 7:30 p.m., Stage 2, Pittsfield.
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