HUDSON – Saturday, June 11, the Hudson Opera House opened its doors to “Warren Street,” an exhibition in which some 33 artists, many with local connections, take as their inspiration Hudson’s main shopping and dining street.

Richard Roth, the exhibition’s curator, said he was inspired by a body of work created by photographer Lynn Davis, who photographed every building on Warren Street in 1994 to document the city’s eclectic mix of architectural styles. From pyramids and other forms of architecture, to icebergs, Ms. Davis, a contemporary and friend of the late Robert Mapplethorpe, tackles large scale subjects with vigor and iconic style. Visitors to “Warren Street,” will get to see her 314-foot-long work in its entirety. Read more…

The Fantasticks/Ghent Playhouse

IT IS INDEED AN ODD production of “The Fantasticks” in which the actor playing the Mute delivers the most consistently able and interesting performance. In this case it is Lindsey Sikora who, throughout the evening, simply does and is — her lovely, serene face registering fantastical worlds without the person within having any need to judge or shine.

Yes, the show has some other compelling moments and attributes, including pianist Paul Leyden’s knowing theater-energy in the overture; the beauty of Michael Meier’s voice and person as Matt (The Boy); the way the young couple never acknowledges the irony embedded in the playwright’s flowery language; the excruciatingly effective scenes of the boy’s torture; and the hilarious dying and delightful goofiness of Paul Murphy, as Mortimer, the Man Who Dies. Read more…

Becoming Frederick Douglass/ Walking the dog Theater/Space 360, Hudson

A HANDSOME BLACK MAN steps behind the lectern and begins to speak with perfect diction, rolling out his rich baritone in a formal, carefully crafted manner.

Twenty-tenners are accustomed to it. We have merely to attend a college class or turn on our television sets to find smart, educated blacks doing the business of the nation. We take it for granted.

But, in the mid-nineteenth century, how astonishing, electric, and thrilling it must have been to hear Frederick Douglass tell his story, advocate for abolition of slavery, even make the case for equality for women! He dared castigate Christians for their slave-holding hypocrisy. He dared face white-supremacist contempt, hatred, greed, and willingness to whip his kind to a bloody pulp or string him up by a short rope. He dared display his intellect before ignorant masses convinced that he could not possibly have any. Read more…