Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas, in association with Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, is presenting Dial M for Murder as a warmup to their annual Summer Chills programming.  Based on the original play by Frederick Knott that inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder, the current version has been updated by Jeffrey Hatcher.

Kaija Saariaho's last opera leaves a lasting impression. An ominous score supports a nerve-wracking story told in two time frames. A teenage shooter in Finland murders a number of his schoolmates. Ten years on, the perpetrator's brother is marrying a bride from Romania who does not know the connection. However, the waitress at the wedding reception dinner, whose daughter was a victim, recognizes the groom.

In Marjorie Kaye's recent body of work, isolating shapes are inherent in her paintings, examining and delving further into their nature. She finds limitless potential in particular intuitive algorithms, with an infinite number of patterns that can be determined from the visual arrangement of mathematical suggestions. In this new series, space is broken down as it emerges from the center.

Seventy five years ago the artists Weldon Kees and Fritz Bultman organized the summer long event Forum '49. In weekly lectures and panels the issues of the day were debated from the fine arts and architectures to jazz, literature, psychoanalysis the face off of Paris vs New York and the threat of Stalinism. The exhibits were staged in a popup space in protest over the conservative programming of the Provincetown Art Association. The dissent moved to New York and a petition against the Met signed by the Irascibles including P'town artists.

The A. R.T. season will begin in September with a production of Romeo and Juliet, directed by Terrie and Bradley Bloom Artistic Director Diane Paulus and choreographed by two-time Olivier Award winner Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (Jagged Little Pill; Beyoncé at the 2017 Grammy Awards and APESHIT; Madonna’s Celebration tour). This powerhouse duo reunites for the first time since their Tony Award-winning collaboration Jagged Little Pill, staging a bold new production of Shakespeare’s iconic love story.

A winning production of "Skintight" is onstage at Island City Stage in South Florida. The play is a mind exercising meditation on family, history, beauty, the nature of love, the power of attraction, our society’s obsession with youth, and how we teach our young that exterior appearances matter the most.

It is ironic — but understandable — that 50 years ago only a handful of people experienced what has become one of the iconic happenings of 20th century art.

“This major initiative will strengthen our community bonds and rekindle a deep appreciation for the heritage that defines Pittsfield and the Berkshires. Through these enhancements, we aim to create a dynamic cultural hub that celebrates our past and inspires future generations.” said Kimberley Bush Tomio, Berkshire Museum’s Executive Director.

In the vast tapestry of Daoist thought, the mirror emerges as a potent symbol, not for vanity, but for cultivating a state of unclouded perception. Unlike a typical mirror, the ideal Daoist mirror reflects only what is truly present – the here and now, unfiltered by desires or judgments.

"Trying" is a historical drama covering the last year in the life of Judge Francis Biddle, former U.S. Attorney General under FDR. The play recounts the sometimes-testy relationship between Biddle and his secretary. Palm Beach Dramaworks' production closes out the professional, nonprofit company's 2023-24 season.

This summer, the MIT List Visual Arts Center will present Jeremy Couillard’s first solo museum exhibition. Trained as a painter, Couillard is self-taught as a coder and digital artist. His projects exist as playable games, web projects, and video installations—often spanning multiple forms simultaneously.

Jane Hudson is one of the most prolific and widely exhibited artists in the Berkshires. What makes it engaging is that the work is always evolving. The latest iteration is serene, reductive, geometric and abstract. The simplicity is ever more compelling. She seems to be making her way through modernism at warp speed.

Middle school principal Sister Aloysius possesses unerring certitude concerning her faith. Father Flynn's appearances and actions trigger the nun's belief that he has had inappropriate contact with young boys. Her unproven allegations prove damaging.

It is a high-energy, feel-good romp about people reconciling with their past and gaining acceptance for who they are.

Tamino falls in love with Pamina's picture and runs the gauntlet in order to meet and marry her. His sidekick Papageno also seeks marriage but lacks the courage to confront the challenges before him. Both will succeed, but one more than the other.

A Complicated Woman has elements that need rethinking. For one, almost the entire first act takes place in 1928; when act two begins, we are in the late 1950s-60s. The jump seems too extreme and not clearly defined.

Upon Henry Lehman's immigration to the U.S., he peddles textiles in Alabama. The result of the ingenuity of Henry and later family members is one of the great investment banking firms in the country. Long after the family has exited, the firm's failure represents one of the signal episodes in the financial collapse of 2008.

In the spirit of the centennial of Surrealism Rafael Mahdavi has created a mural on an exterior wall. "The wall for the mural is part of a friend’s house on the Cycladic Island of Paros. I spend my summers there. I first met Frank at my first solo painting show in NYC at the Tibor de Nagy Gallery in 1973. Frank and I stayed in touch, he liked my work. Last year he commissioned the mural. Seven by seven meters."

An American Soldier, an opera by Huang Ruo and David Henry Wang, has been developing for a decade. The 2024 version is co-commissioned by PAC NYC and Boston Lyric Opera. Audiences at the new Perelman Performing Arts Center in lower Manhattan, are the beneficiaries of deep thought and a moving musical response to a seemingly uncomplicated subject: the wish of a young man, born in the USA of Asian immigrants, to be considered ‘American.’

English nightclub entertainer Sally Bowles lives on the edges of society in the hedonism of Berlin during the Weimar years. Aspiring novelist Cliff Bradshaw alights from America and becomes both Sally's lover and her mark. This dark musical also explores the rise of Naziism through a young convert and the relationship of an elderly couple, one of whom is Jewish.

Our Surreality Lives: Michelle Wiley, 2020 to 2021 and Astrid Hiemer, 2023 to 2024, at the Eclipse Mill Gallery, 243 Union Street, North Adams from June 7 to July 7. Opening Celebration, Friday, June 7, 6-8 pm. The gallery will be open from Thursdays to Sundays, noon to 6 pm . See how we celebrate Surrealism and DADA at 100!              

Serpentine and The Royal Parks  announce the unveiling of a new large-scale sculpture by Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929, Matsumoto, Japan; lives and works in Tokyo, Japan). Located by the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens, Pumpkin (2024) will be staged from 9 July to 3 November 2024.

Over and over again, in the Pulitzer-nominated play Here There are Blueberries, now playing at the New York Theatre Workshop in co-production with Tectonic Theater Project, we see photos of the commandants of the Auschwitz facility where the final solution was executed. They are comfortable, laughing together, being rewarded for work well done (gassing people) and in lounge chairs at a spa retreat on the property in Poland. 

Mark Morrisroe, who died at 30, was the most innovative of the artists shown as the Boston School at the ICA in an exhibition curated by Lea Gangitano. Since his premature death his reputation has continued to grow. This is his fifth solo with Clamp Gallery. His work has been acquired by numerous museums.

To hear great singers in the Officer's Room of the Park Avenue Armory is a special privilege. One of the largest rooms in the Armory, today it feels like a salon room in an elegant apartment. A lost world is very present for the audience up close and personal. The cherished tenor, Matthew Polenzani, a regular star at the Metropolitan Opera, gives us his special textures and dynamics.