SHARON — Hard to imagine that such a thing could be possible, but The Sharon Playhouse managed to underscore the “fun” in “fundraising” with its YouthStage event, one night only, on Friday, Dec. 6.
Guiding the evening held in the Bok theater space was YouthStage Associate Artistic Director Michael Baldwin, who serves a dual role as Education Director. He skillfully presented the fundraising theme while demonstrating the depth of the playhouse’s education program by showcasing the young talent being trained in the performance arts.
Energetic performances were delivered by a talented company of YouthStage performers singing and dancing their way through three Broadway numbers, all three inviting the audience to draw closer to the Sharon Playhouse education program. The final piece from “Oliver” invited the audience to “consider yourself one of us.”
Another highlight of the evening was a fun staged reading of a short play, “Young at Heart,” written by Baldwin and performed by a talented cast of 14 supporting the story of four youngsters and four oldsters, the former enduring school detention and the latter being senior community inhabitants roped into assisting the visiting youngsters with a senior center activity. The outcome is heartwarming and uplifting.
Buoyed by a sell-out audience, the event became a celebration of the program, the impressive young talent, both combining to serve the regional community. That community sense united the audience of all ages, where the adults could appreciate the theater’s education programming and what it contributes to the development of participating children, and the children in the audience could see their own possibilities.
A staged play reading of “Young at Heart” was a feature of the fundraising event at The Sharon Playhouse on Friday, Dec. 6.Leila Hawken
This was a community that anyone would want to be a member of, and that would welcome everyone warmly. The education program offers five programs for all ages, of which YouthStage is one.
Recounting his own history with Sharon Playhouse, Baldwin said that he had first discovered the Sharon Playhouse at the young age of ten, a connection that has now lasted 30 years.
“It was the place where I could be myself; I could be me,” Baldwin said. Judging from the audience enthusiasm at the event, the “me” that Baldwin has contributed has meant the world to the development of the theater’s education program.
Proceeds from the evening’s fundraiser paid for the purchase of the new risers in use within the Bok theater space.
The playhouse began to grow the education program in 2020, and over the past four years it has grown, Baldwin said. In 2024, the education program attracted 148 young people, and in 2025, programs are expected to attract 165.
“The heart of our community,” was how Baldwin described the playhouse’s place in Sharon.
Going on to a most entertaining presentation of budget numbers, Baldwin said that ticket sales cover one-third of the theater’s operating costs. As an example, Baldwin said, the cost for electrical service currently totals $33,126, and the year is not yet over.
New program in 2025
A new program being introduced in 2025 is LaunchPad, a pre-professional training program for youth 15 to 20 years of age, Baldwin said. Entrance will be by audition. There will be no fee to participate, and participants will receive a $250 stipend. Participants will rehearse and perform in a “flashy” musical to be directed by Baldwin in August. The musical will be announced in January.
Contemporary chamber musicians, HUB, performing at The Clark.
MASS MoCA is known for its 20th-century holdings spread throughout a sprawling complex of industrial brick buildings. Installations by Sol LeWitt and James Turrell have permanent homes there. Just down the road in Williamstown, the Clark features masterworks by Winslow Homer, Frederic Remington, John Singer Sargent and Claude Monet.
But what visitors might not immediately associate with those established names is how deeply both institutions invest in art happening right now.
On Saturday afternoon, a panel of young artists discussed their relationships with art, identity and technology as part of MASS MoCA’s “Technologies of Relation” exhibition, which opened that evening. The artists represented a broad range of cultural backgrounds, drawing on ancestry while exploring the future of art and technology.
The work itself ran the gamut: wax relief paintings, stained glass, interactive video and sculptural installations. One immersive piece automated the traditional Armenian practice of reading fortunes from coffee grounds. Particularly striking were Roopa Vasudevan’s hand-drawn QR codes and Taeyoon Choi’s large-scale weavings of binary code.
Opening the same night was Zora J. Murff’s “RACE/HUSTLE.” Through photographs, paintings and installations, Murff explores the wide-ranging and sometimes violent implications of being Black in America today. Each piece — whether confronting the rise of white supremacy or examining stereotypes imposed on Black communities — carries razor-sharp visual commentary designed to unsettle.
Pelenakeke Brown’s “Reverb” (detail) at Mass MoCA. D.H. Callahan
On Sunday, the Clark continued the contemporary thread. A small exhibition of work by Raffaella della Olga, titled “Typescript,” features intricate patterns created using a typewriter on varied paper surfaces. The effect seems almost impossible until viewers watch a video of della Olga loading her typewriter with 140-grit sandpaper and typing in a hypnotic rhythm. Though the typewriter is considered obsolete technology, she continues to find new applications for it, completing some of the works in recent months.
Next door in the Clark auditorium, HUB New Music performed works written specifically for its unusual instrumentation: violin, cello, clarinet and flute. While that combination may not stand out to casual listeners, relatively little classical repertoire exists for it. The ensemble regularly commissions composers to expand the possibilities.
The results were striking. From the opening notes of Francisco del Pino’s “Passacaglia,” the quartet’s command and layered repetition pulled unexpected emotion from the audience.
After three pieces came the world premiere of Daniel Wohl’s “Mirage,” a roughly 25-minute work accompanied by digital blips, static and electronic textures evoking radio transmissions and UFO lore. Hearing four virtuoso musicians extract entirely new sounds from traditional instruments echoed the weekend’s larger theme: old tools made new again.
Like della Olga’s typewriter, Vasudevan’s QR codes or Murff’s charged imagery, the performances demonstrated that contemporary art often grows from familiar materials — reimagined.
The old masters will always draw visitors to these institutions. But when living artists command equal attention, this quiet corner of the Berkshires feels less like the middle of nowhere and more like a creative epicenter.
D.H. Callahan is a voice actor, creative director and trail steward. He lives with his artist wife in West Cornwall, Connecticut.
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Ash Baldwin, senior administrative assistant at the North East Community Center, launched the weekly Craft Collective in July 2025.
“I’m the type of person who struggles to stay focused on projects,” said Ash Baldwin, NECC’s senior administrative assistant, who came up with the idea last summer. “I realized I work better when I’m with other people and when I have a dedicated time and space.”
The idea took shape after Baldwin found herself racing to finish a crocheted baby blanket for her sister’s baby shower.
Participants have already brought a range of projects to the group, from sewing and mending to creative repurposing – including one crafter who transformed an old shower curtain into kitchen valence curtains.
“The goal is really community and connection,” Baldwin said. “People can meet other crafters, swap tips, give feedback on projects – maybe even make a friend.”
Ash Baldwin displays a crocheted blanket.Photo by Aly Morrissey
Crafting, Baldwin said, offers a kind of mental reset. “It’s peaceful,” she said. “It quiets my mind and lets me focus on one thing at a time.”
Like many crafters, Baldwin admits to having yarn and unfinished projects scattered around her home, and says she tends to make gifts for others more than items for herself.
Though Baldwin has been crocheting since 2022, creativity has always been part of her life. Her mother sews, her grandmother crocheted, and she grew up surrounded by creative projects. Baldwin joked that her grandmother once “fully kidnapped” her American Girl doll to make custom clothes for it. She also describes herself as a longtime “band kid,” saying creative arts were woven into her childhood.
When she’s not organizing the Craft Collective, Baldwin works behind the scenes at NECC, handling administrative and fiscal operations, including service tracking for programs such as the food pantry.
The Craft Collective is held every Tuesday at 6 p.m. at 51 S Center St., Millerton. There is no cost to participate. For questions or to donate crafting supplies, contact Ash Baldwin at ash@neccmillerton.org or (518) 789-4259 ext. 132.
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