THROUGHOUT THE 1920s and 1930s, Edna St. Vincent Millay’s poems sold in the thousands, and public readings across the country were quickly sold out. From 1925 until her death in 1950, she lived at Steepletop, a 700-acre homestead and farm at the upper end of East Hill Road in Austerlitz.

Since her death, biographies, critical studies, and collections of her letters and poetry have heightened awareness of her literary work. This month Daniel Mark Epstein, one of her most recent biographers, has released nearly all of her known diary entries, previously available only at the Library of Congress.

Millay’s diaries, originally written in multiple notebooks, open doors for a more complete appreciation of her life and poetry. In “Rapture and Melancholy: The Diaries of Edna St. Vincent Millay” (Yale University Press, $35), Epstein brings into public view Millay’s private activities, personal impressions, and literary thoughts. Read more…

The whole world is a movie palace

GHENT—The whole world—or any room in your home—is a movie theater these days, thanks to virtual screening rooms. The Crandell Theatre and TSL present regular screenings, and “Ella the Ungovernable” makes its international debut.

In stay-at-home cinema this week, the Crandell presents the coming-of-age drama “Fourteen,” the stranger-than-fiction documentary “The Painter and the Thief,” the Georgian romance “And Then We Danced,” plus a holdover of “Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint.”

Watch the trailers and buy a virtual ticket through the links offered on the Crandell’s website, crandelltheatre.org, with 50% of the box office benefitting the continued operations of the Crandell Theatre. Read more…

The Crandell Theatre marquee. Photo contributed

Crandell sets stay-at-home cinema

CHATHAM—This week in stay-at-home cinema, the Crandell Theatre presents a portrait of an abstract art pioneer in “Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint,” holdovers of last week’s “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” and the French comedy “On a Magical Night,” plus a new selection of Crandell’s Kanopy favorites.

Purchase a virtual ticket through the links offered on the Crandell website, crandelltheatre.org, with 50% of the box office benefitting the continued operations of the Crandell Theatre.

The Crandell appreciates viewers’ continued patience with the technical hurdles the Virtual Screening Room may have presented in their homes. “This is new for all of us, and we understand your frustrations.” Refer to distribution partners’ technical support links (on each of the film pages) for any problems that might arise.

Claverack summer concerts canceled

CLAVERACK – The Claverack Republican Club has cancelled the 2020 Summer Concert Series due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Summer Concert Series has been a staple of the Claverack community for the past nine years, offering free concerts by local bands Thursday nights in July and August at the Claverack Town Park. Read more…