The Theater and a Museum

“I love the theater” Jon said as we headed through the doors to our seats in the  third play we’d be seeing this summer.  We decided to spend another night in Williamstown MA, in our now favorite motel,  after seeing the play Artney Jackson at the Williamstown Theater Festival.

Jon doesn’t use the word “love” lightly.

I’m always saying I love stuff,  like ice cream, Indian food, certain books, and going away overnight to a cheap motel.  But I could tell how much it meant to Jon to be going to the theater to see a good play.  I could hear it in his voice.  And it made me love being there with him all the more.

Artney Jackson turned out to be  a really good play.  My favorite this season.

The best way I knew to describe it is that it was like reading a book I couldn’t put down and got to know and appreciate,  all the characters, which were all very real and complex.

I told Jon that if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t even think of going to the theater.  And then I though how if is wasn’t for me, Jon probably wouldn’t be going to Museums.

And that was the essence of our weekend.  The theater on Saturday and MASS MOCA on Sunday.

MASS MOCA is a contemporary art museum in an old factory in North Adams MA.

Every time we go there, there’s more gallery space and more art to see.  The old factory is huge and the museum is forever expanding.   The first time I went there over 10 years ago, there were about 6 galleries.  Now we didn’t even get to see them all.  We could have easily gotten lost wandering the long brick corridors with giant windows and metal stairways.

There’s one huge gallery at MASS MOCA and I’m always interested to see how the current artist will fill the space.

This time it was Lyz Glynn’s installation called  The Archaeology of Another Possible Future.  I took the video of me walking through a part of  the installation because I was intrigued by the sounds  made by walking on the metal walkways.

Looking down at Jon in the Glynn Installation
Three paintings by Shara Hughes

I couldn’t get enough of Shara Hughes’ paintings.  Jon and I sat on a bench looking at them.  I was drawn to the way she uses paint, her colors, shapes and they way the paintings shift space.

We’re fortunate that we have good theater and art so close to us.  And without the crowds and expense of going to a big city.  It’s easy to get into the habit of staying home on the weekends.   But it’s so important to feed our creative souls.

We have tickets to two more plays and I’m looking into seeing a dance performance at Jacob’s Pillow.  That’s something I’ve been wanting to do for years. I’m not familiar with dance, I haven’t seen a lot of it.  But after seeing so much good art in so many different forms this weekend, now, I’m inspired to see  some contemporary dance too.

 

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