New York Times

Now that she has stepped down as founding artistic director of Shakespeare & Company Tina Packer is finally able to focus on her own career as an actress. She has brought to fruition a project that has absorbed her for decades. Over three days she presented five acts totaling some 15 hours on stage with her partner Nigel Gore.

As the summer season of 2010 winds down it is time yet again to swing in the Wood. The a nnual Tanglewood Jazz Festival returns to Lenox for he last hurrah of summer on September 4 and 5. Get a groove on before heading back to school and work.

ICA/Boston Callithumpian Consort performs British composer Gavin Bryars's The Sinking of the Titanic. Audiences become passengers in a metaphor for our Post Crash Era.

As summer winds down it is exciting to anticipate the launch of the fall arts season. Our Boston correspondent and tipster is marking her calendar. Here are some suggestions and where to find them.

This eclectic concert at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield, on July 23, is an entertaining and introspective look at the songs that inspired Maureen McGovern before her Academy Award-winning hit “The Morning After.” Her repertoire includes selections of iconoclastic singer-songwriter material including “The Circle Game,” “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?” “The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress,” “Imagine,” “Fire and Rain” and many others.

A U.S. premiere from Thailand arrives at Jacob’s Pillow July 14-18 in the Doris Duke Theatre. In the full-length work Chui Chai (Transformation), internationally acclaimed performer and choreographer Pichet Klunchun entwines khon, a form of traditional Thai masked dance drama, with contemporary movement. Intricate costumes and masks and music by Sinnapa Sarasas create a world of ancient beauty and drama that Klunchun juxtaposes with elements of modernity

An all-star troupe of Shakespeare & Company talent comes together this summer for an unforgettable rendering of Shakespeare’s gripping Richard III. In the whirligig of its ambitious plots, the beauty of its language, and the chilling magnetism of its haunting central figure, Richard III has proved an irresistible lure for over 400 years. This indelible interpretation, featuring OBIE and L ucille L ortel Award-winning actor John Douglas Thompson (title role in Othello 2008 & 2009), was conceived by Artistic Director Tony Simotes and directed by Jonathan Croy with assistance from Malcolm Ingram. Richard III runs July 2 through September 5,

The second annual Boston Book Festival will take place on Oct. 16, 2010, in various locations around Copley Square. A complete rundown of scheduled events.

The work I am doing now has everything to do with those early interactions between my hands, my being, and the exterior world. My hands and thoughts have been the bridge between the worlds, even the fact that I still prefer to write on this white page with a soft lead pencil is evidence of the same basic tendency. Whenever I was sick, lying in bed with the Book of Knowledge encyclopedia spread about me, cutting paper into smaller pieces and stapling them together to make small books into which I would transcribe drawings of monkeys, etc. Hours spent happily reading or making art are still primary pleasures for me.

Lester Johnson, who died recently at 91, was one of the leading artists of the Figurative Expressionist movement which developed in the 1950s and early 1960s. Much of this activity occurred at the Sun Gallery in Provincetown as well as in New York. The two other primary artists were Jan Muller who died in 1958 and Bob Thompson who was 29 when he died in 1966. Although there was no direct connection Figurative Expressionism saw related developments in San Francisco and Chicago. The movement was pushed aside with the emergence of Pop art then reformulated as Rhino Horn from 1967 to 1978.

The genesis of Rosanne Cash’s new album The List dates back to a day in 1973 when Cash’s father, the incomparable Johnny Cash, discovered some gaps in her knowledge of American roots music. He spent the rest of the day making a list on a legal pad, and at the top he put “100 Essential Country Songs” handed it to her and said, “This is your education.” She will perform this material at the Colonial Theatre in Pittsfield on June 29.

The Fall/ Winter schedule for Shakespeare & Company will includeThe Real Inspector Hound , The Annual Fall Gala , As You L ike It , The Fall Festival of Shakespeare , The Santaland Diaries , The Mystery of Irma Vep , Shakespeare and the L anguage that Shaped a World , and rounding out the season , Hamlet (The Company’s New England Tour of Shakespeare) will come home for a limited run.

Jacob’s Pillow kicks off Festival 2010 on June 19 with the Season Opening Gala, the world-renowned dance organization’s biggest annual fundraising event. Following an exclusive Gala performance in the Ted Shawn Theatre and the presentation of the prestigious Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award to choreographer and director Bill T. Jones, guests are treated to dinner and dancing to live music. This evening is widely celebrated as a signature summer event in the Berkshires and attracts a multitude of dance lovers, celebrities, government dignitaries, and visitors from around the world every year.

Mahler is an unseen but fully-present character in Mengelberg and Mahler. He is Mengelberg’s cherished friend, his inspiration, his conscience, and ultimately his spiritual salvation. Mahler’s musicâ€"parts of his 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th Symphonies, plus "Wenn dein Mütterlein" from the Kindertotenliederâ€"is a full partner in this production. These musical portions do much more than set the scene: they are essential to Mengelberg’s understanding of his own life.

Some months ago we asked former artistic director, Tina Packer, if Shakespeare & Company is out of the woods? She was guarderdly sanguine. Now the new artistic director, Tony Simotes, has managed to pay down a high interest short term loan, settle a construction law suit and restructure the debt. The prospects look far better comining into a full season.

Producers Tony Ponturo and Fran Kirmser announced that LOMBARDI, a new American play from Academy Award-winning playwright Eric Simonson, directed by Tony Award nominee Thomas Kail, will preview at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Mass. July 22-28, before moving to the Circle in the Square Theatre on Broadway this fall (previews begin September 23, opening night is October 21). Starring Dan Lauria and Judith Light, LOMBARDI is based on the best-selling biography When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Maraniss.

The Huntington Theatre Company’s 29th Season will include two world premieres directed by Huntington Artistic Director Peter DuBois, an American classic, two Shakespeare plays in repertory, a three-play festival from a breakout writer, and the 2009 winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

The launch of the Fourth of July arts season in the Berkshires will be like an explosion in a fireworks factory. There has never been a greater offering of superb and diverse performances. While three days of James Taylor and Carole King at Tanglewood sold out ages ago there are many other top options. Mass MoCA is going head to head with Tanglewood on Friday night. It has Richie Havens vs. The Pops. Barrington Stage and Williamstown Theatre Festival will duke it out with dueling Sondheim musicals. There is a ton of stuff at Shakespeare & Company including the opening of John Douglas Thompson in Richard III. Jacobs Pillow and Berkshire Theatre Festival are in the mix. We offer a complete rundown.

Theater Breaking Through Barriers, the Off-Broadway company known for its productions that integrate able-bodied actors with artists with disabilities, presents the world premiere of Kate Moira Ryan's Bass for Picasso -- a new play about five New Yorkers, including a physically disabled food writer, whose secrets are exposed during a memorable dinner party at Theatre Row's Kirk Theatre 410 West 42nd Street though May 23. Ike Schambelan directs.

It seems that some visitors to the Marina Abramovic retrospective, which features nude performance artists, have not been well behaved. Vigilant security guards have ejected individuals caught groping the models. But we were surprised to find the exhibition, one of the most provocative in decades, curiously unarousing. Nude bodies? Endurance? Pain? Ho hum.

Welcoming our newest correspondent Barbara Brilliant. She will provide us with her selections of monthly theatre in Boston. We are invited to join her in celebrating the 125th season of the Boston Pops.

Neil Berg�s widely acclaimed 100 Years of Broadway, a musical revue of Broadway�s most celebrated shows features a dazzling cast of five Broadway stars accompanied by an all-star New York band is coming to The Colonial Theatre on May 1st for one performance at 8PM. The Colonial Theatre production, along with musical director and pianist Neil Berg, will feature Rita Harvey (Christine Daee, Phantom of the Opera), Craig Schulman (Jean Valjean, Les Mis�rables), Carter Calvert (Grizabella, CATS), Danny Zolli (Jesus, Jesus Christ Superstar) and Robert DuSold (Harry Bright, Mamma Mia!)

Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA) will celebrate its 111th Commencement exercises on Saturday, May 22, 2010, beginning at 11 a.m., in the Amsler Campus Center Gymnasium.Anita F. Hill, Attorney and Brandeis University Professor of Law, Public Policy, and Women's Studies, will deliver the keynote address. Among others honored with by Berkshire based and internationally renowned artist Stephen Hannock.

The Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, August 2-17, will be a Farewell Celebration Season for Music Director Chantal Juillet who founded the program in 1991 and who will mark her final season in that role in 2010. Over the past two decades, the renowned violinist has built the program into a highly acclaimed, innovative showcase for chamber music repertoire performed by renowned and emerging classical artists.

Ceramic sculptures or slightly imperfectly formed and nearly luminescent table ware are both created by Mary Anne Davis. She has studied and worked with the medium since the 1980s and has exhibited nationally and internationally.