Cultural Pittsfield: Beaconmania!!
Tonight! Free Block Party celebrating the new Beacon Cinema
Berkshire Bank is rolling out the red carpet AND sponsoring a FREE block party on the first block of North Street in downtown Pittsfield tonight, Thursday, Nov. 19, to celebrate the new Beacon Cinema on North Street. The cinema features six fully digital, state-of-the-art theaters in a beautifully renovated historic building. The block party begins at 8 until 11:30 p.m. with live music and dance outdoors, trivia and costume contests, hot chocolate and cookies, and surprises! Help us welcome the Beacon Cinema to Pittsfield! |
| Click here for more details on tonight's Beacon Cinema Block Party! |
Trivia and Costume Contests with GREAT Prizes!
WBRK's Sherman Baldwin and Cheryl Tripp-Cleveland will be MCing tonight's outdoor Block Party in front of the Beacon Cinema and Berkshire Bank is sponsoring the trivia and costume contests. Prizes include $500 for first prize, $300 for second place, and $100 for third place in the Bella and Edward look-a-like contest!
Outdoor Block Party Schedule 8 p.m. DJ & announcements 8:30 Thriller dancers! 8:45 Werewolves of Pittsfield perform 9:15 Trivia contest round one! 9:30 Jenna May 9:45 Rhythm B-Boys breakdancers 10:15 Bella & Edward Costume Contest 10:30 Trivia Contest Round 2 10:45 Werewolves of Pittsfield |
| Click here to bone up on Twilight trivia for tonight...! |
Music from the Werewolves of Pittsfield & Jenna May
Local band the Werewolves of Pittsfield will perform live on the cty's outdoor stage tonight in front of the Beacon Cinema along with local singer-songwriter Jenna May. The Werewolves of Pittsfield include members of the local alt-folk group Over the Mountain and frequently play Rebel Sound Records. Rock out! Plus video projections and serving of Bloody Mess, a special Jae's Spice concoction!
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| Click here to listen to the Werewolves of Pittsfield! |
Dance Performances by the Rhythm B-Boys & the Thriller Dancers!
The Rhythms B-Boys (and girls) are a group of terrific high school age (mostly) breakdancers who practice and teach at the Rhythms Dance Center in Lenox. A huge hit at this year's 3rd.Thursdays, they'll be dancing tonight outdoors at the block party.
Also performing are the Thriller dancers from this year's Pittsfield Halloween Parade, who were such a hit they landed on the front page of the Eagle. They're students from downtown Pittsfield's Cantarella School of Dance. |
| Click here for a video of the B-Boys performing at 3rd.Thursdays this summer. |
Friday 11am: The Official Ribbon Cutting!
At 11 a.m. on Friday, Nov. 20, the public is invited for the official ribbon-cutting and opening of the Beacon Cinema, organized by Downtown Inc. the organization that has led the Beacon Cinema's development for the past decade! Come help celebrate and then be first in line to get your tickets for one of the many screenings there this weekend!
Beacon Cinema Ribbon Cutting | Friday, November 20 | 11am | Beacon Cinema | 57 North Street | FREE |
| Click here to visit the Beacon Cinema's website, see what's playing, and sign up for free email updates! |
And don't forget the movies: New Moon of course...!
If you didn't get tickets in time for tonight's midnight screening of New Moon, the much anticipated sequel to the blockbuster hit Twilight, don't worry. It will be playing through the weekend and beyond beginning tomorrow. In the second installment of Stephenie Meyer's phenomenally successful Twilight series, the romance between mortal and vampire soars to a new level as Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) delves deeper into the mysteries of the supernatural world she yearns to become part of, only to find herself in greater peril than ever before. Werewolves and vampires and teenagers, oh my! PG-13.
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| Click here for the official New Moon movie website and a preview! |
And A Christmas Carol in REAL 3-D!
The Beacon Cinema is the only theatre in Berkshire County to have 3-D equipped theatres! Don't miss Disney's amazing 3-D remake of A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey. A multi-sensory animated thrill ride re-envisioned by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Robert Zemeckis, it captures the fantastical essence of the classic Dickens tale. Ebenezer Scrooge (Jim Carrey) begins the Christmas holiday with his usual miserly contempt, barking at his faithful clerk (Gary Oldman) and his cheery nephew (Colin Firth). But when the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come take him on an eye-opening journey revealing truths Old Scrooge is reluctant to face, he must open his heart to undo years of ill will before it's too late. PG.
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| Click here for "A Christmas Carol's" Web site. |
Plus The Yes Men Fix the World & Paris
The Beacon Cinema's movie schedule kicks off with both an indie and a foreign film. The Yes Men are a group of pranksters who combine political activism, performance art, and the love of a good prank in the name of demanding that the private sector take responsibility for the damage it has done to the world and its people. The Yes Men Fix The World is their second feature-length documentary, and won the Audience Prize at this year's Berkshire international Film Festival. Paris is a French valentine to their beloved city that the New York Times described as "Poignant...Purely entertaining. Paris spreads out before you like a sumptous outdoor banquet." They are not rated & rated R, respectively.
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| Click here for the VERY amusing "Yes Men Fix the World" Web site! |
And animated features: Planet 51 & Fantastic Mr. Fox!
Opening Friday, Planet 51 is a galactic sized animated alien adventure comedy revolving around American astronaut Captain Charles 'Chuck' Baker, who lands on Planet 51 thinking he's the first person to step foot on it. To his surprise, he finds that this planet is inhabited by little green people who are happily living in a white picket fence world reminiscent of a cheerfully innocent 1950s America, and whose only fear is that it will be overrun by alien invaders...like Chuck!
And don't miss The Royal Tenenbaums director Wes Anderson's stop-action animated feature, Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the Roald Dahl story! It's opening on Wednesday, November 25, just in time for Thanksgiving weekend! Both PG. |
| Click here to visit "Planet 51's" online home! |
Plus The Blind Side: based on a true story
Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw and Oscar-winner Kathy Bates star in The Blind Side, the remarkable true story of All-American football star Michael Oher. A homeless African-American youngster from a single parent home, Oher (Quinton Aaron) is taken in by the Touhys, a well-to-do white family who help him fulfill his potential on and off the football field.
At the same time, Oher's presence in the Touhys' lives leads them to some insightful self-discoveries of their own. Living in his new environment, the teen faces a completely different set of challenges to overcome. PG-13. |
| Click here for showtimes for all of the movies playing beginning Friday at the Beacon Cinema! |
