BASIC Berkshires

An Evening with Heather Headley
2026-07-31 20:00 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA, 01230
Tony and Grammy Award winner Heather Headley considers her multi-faceted career a blessing. She was born and spent most of her childhood on the beautiful Caribbean island of Trinidad. The family moved to the United States in the early ‘90s where Heather’s love for the arts continued.
In 1997 Heather won the role of Nala in the original Broadway cast of the Elton John and Tim Rice’s hit Tony winning musical “The Lion King.” While still in “The Lion King,” Heather was asked to audition for the title role in the writing duo’s next Broadway venture together, “Elton John and Tim Rice’s Aida.” Her portrayal of the Nubian princess, Aida, won her the praise of critics and the prestigious Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical. In addition to other awards, she also received the coveted Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical. That year she was listed as one of “People Magazine’s” 50 Most Beautiful People and “Essence Magazine’s” 30 Women To Watch. In 2012 Heather made a triumphant return to the stage, starring in “The Bodyguard” in London’s West End, where she gained the critics praise and a new fan base overseas.
Heather continued her musical success on the pop charts with her 2002 debut album on RCA Records, “This Is Who I Am” which featured productions by several top-flight producers. Two songs, “He Is” and the album track “I Wish I Wasn’t,” both emerged as Top 5 R&B and Dance chart hits. Heather earned numerous accolades for “This Is Who I Am,” including Grammy Award nominations for Best New Artist and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. Heather returned in January 2006 with “In My Mind,” her long-awaited second solo album. The opening title tune single became Heather’s first number one hit, topping the Dance and R&B charts.
In 2009 Heather released “Audience of One” for which she won the Grammy Award for the Best Contemporary R&B Gospel Album. In 2012 she released “Only One In The World,” an album that featured songs that Heather wrote as well as some of her favorite covers. To the audience’s and critics’ delight, Heather made her return to Broadway in 2016 starring in the Tony Award-winning “The Color Purple,” in the role of Shug Avery. In 2018, Heather had a recurring role on “Chicago Med” playing the formidable Gwen Garrett. In 2021 Heather won the critics’ praise for her role of the Witch in the New York City Center’s production of “Into The Woods.” Heather can currently be seen as a series regular on the Netflix series “Sweet Magnolias.”

Shakespeare & Company Presents: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Directed by Ariel Bock
2026-08-13 19:00 - 2026-08-30 22:00 | Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA, 01240
Shakespeare & Company Presents: Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Directed by Ariel Bock

August 13-30 at 2 pm and 7 pm at the Tina Packer Playhouse

Hamlet is Shakespeare’s most searching play—a gripping story of grief, conscience, and the cost of action. Haunted by his father’s ghost, a young prince must navigate a world of secrets, power, and betrayal, where nothing is as it appears. By turns thrilling, darkly funny, and deeply human, this August production brings Shakespeare’s language to life with clarity, physicality, and immediacy.

Tickets are $40-$99 and on sale now shakespeare.org, or by calling the Box Office at 413.637.3353
Free Youth Tickets are sponsored by the Harvey and Virginia Kimmel Family Fund of the Philadelphia Foundation. Learn more at shakespeare.org.

Shakespeare & Company Presents: Midsummer Dreamers, Created by Kirsten Peacock and Nick Nudler
2026-09-01 19:00 - 2026-09-03 21:00 | Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA, 01240
Shakespeare & Company Presents: Midsummer Dreamers, Created by Kirsten Peacock and Nick Nudler of Cosmic Mirth

September 1-3 at 7 pm at the Tina Packer Playhouse

Two lovers fall asleep angry—and wake inside a rare vision, challenging them to confront each other and themselves.
Blending the poetry of A Midsummer Night’s Dream with physical theater, aerial performance, and rambunctious comedy, Midsummer Dreamers reimagines Shakespeare’s classic as a surreal, seductive journey through a couple’s subconscious. Performed by just two actors, this 90-minute whirlwind explores love, resentment, reconciliation, and the mysterious forces that shape our inner worlds.
Tickets are $35 for Adults; $22 for Ages 13-22; $15 for Ages 3-12, and on sale now at shakespeare.org, or by calling the Box Office at 413.637.3353

Content Advisory: This production includes strobe lights, suggestive content, and brief staged violence.

Shakespeare & Company Presents: The Norwegians by C. Denby Swanson, Directed by James Warwick
2026-09-04 19:00 - 2026-10-04 21:00 | Shakespeare & Company, 70 Kemble Street, Lenox, MA, 01240
September 4-October 4th at 2 pm and 7 pm at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre

Set in a Minnesota bar where heartbreak is served alongside beer, The Norwegians is a sharp, surprising dark comedy about love gone wrong—and the lengths we go to set things right. Betty and Olive, two women reeling from romantic betrayal, hatch an unlikely plan: hiring a pair of Norwegian hitmen to deal with the men who wronged them.
Enter Tor and Gus, professional killers who turn out to be unfailingly polite, disarmingly gentle, and almost aggressively nice. As the women’s simmering rage collides with the hitmen’s courteous manners, the play finds humor in the contrast between Midwestern civility and the brutal business at hand.
With witty dialogue and a clever premise, The Norwegians explores the culture of America’s “flyover country,” where kindness runs deep—even in the most unexpected professions. At once dark, funny, and oddly tender, the play examines love, revenge, and cultural identity, reminding us that people are rarely what we expect and that even the politest among us may be capable of surprising extremes.
Tickets are $30-$88 and on sale now at shakespeare.org, or by calling the Box Office at 413.637.3353
