Celebrating its 30th season, Shakespeare & Company brings its first national tour of "Hamlet" to The Fine Arts Center Concert Hall on Wednesday, October 8 at 7:30 pm. This emotionally charged production features Jason Asprey as the brooding Danish prince torn between moral integrity and vengeance, and Tina Packer, the company's founder and artistic director (and Asprey's mother), portraying Queen Gertrude.

Directed by Eleanor Holdridge, the equity cast for this production also features Packer's husband and Asprey's stepfather, Dennis Krausnick, as Polonius, and Nigel Gore as Claudius. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Asprey said acting opposite his parents helped him draw on a complicated family dynamic to explore tensions in Hamlet's own personal life. This production is the first time all three actors have appeared together on stage.

British-born Packer founded the company in 1978, aiming to create a theater company merging the best aspects of British and American actors. Based in the culturally rich Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts, Shakespeare & Company aspires to create a theater framed in the classical ideals of harmony, balance and inquiry - the same ones that guided the Elizabethans in their performances. With 150 artists, the company performs Shakespeare's canon, generating opportunities for collaboration between actors, directors and designers of all races, nationalities and backgrounds. Shakespeare & Company provides original, in-depth classical training and performance methods; offers educational programs that inspire a new generation of students and scholars to discover the resonance of Shakespeare's truths in the everyday world; and demonstrates the influence that classical theater can have within a community.

Tickets are available at the door for this performance.

A pre-performance lecture by Professor Arthur Kinney will be held in the University Gallery from 6:45 - 7:15 pm.

Additionally, the Renaissance Center is hosting a Hamlet Film Series. For more information, check out the Renaissance Center website.

October 4th, on a sunny Saturday, the Amherst Energy Task Force sponsored a Renewable Energy Fair on the town common. The Fine Arts Center was there, promoting the "Green" aspects of our Art for a Change project, and giving away our reusable tote bags and our safe-plastic, biodegradable water bottles. Along with many area businesses that embrace energy conservation and stand ready to promote the use of renewable energy, the FAC is trying to play a role by reducing our carbon footprint wherever possible, particularly in our publications, many of which are now FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified. FSC certification assures that the paper used in a publication is made from trees that are sustainably harvested, that no bleach is used in the production of the paper, and that the printing process employs soy- or vegetable-based inks. The "reduce, reuse, recycle" model of consumption has made a significant difference in how many of us organize our personal lives; the Fine Arts Center is positioning itself as an organization with an exemplary focus on the use of natural resources.

On Thursday, October 9, the Fine Arts Center and the Cape Verdean Student Association present the sultry, honeyed voice of Lura, one of the most captivating artists in the world music genre.

Originally born in Portugal to parents from the Cape Verde Islands off the coast of West Africa, Lura draws on the islands' pungent blend of trade route cultures that have created a unique musical tradition embracing French Afro-pop, Brazilian rhythms and earthy, traditional African music. Just as Mariza has breathed new life into Fado as a contemporary heir to Amalia Rodrigues, so Lura does to this Cape Verdean music first made famous by Cesaria Evora. Lura brings to her music a street-wise, urban sensuality infused with the passionate roots of Africa. Riding on the tide of Cape Verde's rediscovery of its African roots, she has the star quality to bring this music to a wider audience. She mixes the familiar Morna style with the little-known rhythms of Funana and Batuque: styles brought to the fore by a talented new generation of composers such as Tcheka and Pantera. It is the music of women from the remote interior of Cape Verde, now infused with jazz and Brazilian influences.

Lura's performance is being sponsored by Bank of America, The Rainbow Times, The River 93.9 FM, WGBY TV 57, and the UMass Office for Student Affairs and Campus Life.

Tickets are available through the Fine Arts Center Box Office at 545-2511 or 1-800-999-UMAS, or buy online now!.

"Gently crooning lullabies one moment, exulting in buoyant dance rhythms the next, Lura made plain why listeners around the world consider her heir to Cesaria Évora." - Chicago Tribune

Presented in partnership with the Friends of Khen Rinpoche, The Yoga Sanctuary, Northampton, and the Tibetan community and the members of the WMASS Tibetan Association The Fine Arts Center Asian Arts and Culture Program is hosting Healing in Tibetan Buddhism as part of a special outreach activity. This three-day seminar from Friday through Sunday, October 24-26, will be held at the Yoga Sanctuary, 3rd Floor of Thorne's Market, Northampton. Revered Buddhist teacher Khen Rinpoche Geshe Lobsang Tsetan and Buddhist professor and scholar David Gardiner will address the central role of compassion in Buddhist practice, developing an altruistic mind in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition and will provide an overview on healing in Buddhist philosophy. Topics covered will be: White Tara Long Life Blessing & Practice, the Practice of Exchange of Self and Others & Offerings in Deity Yoga Practice, and the Medicine Buddha Blessing and Practice. These powerful sessions will teach participants the skills needed to begin or further their meditation practice and to de-stress while promoting a state of harmony for themselves and others. Open to all regardless of prior initiation or practice, the four stand-alone workshops can be taken individually or in any combination. More information about each workshop can be found at:www.fineartscenter.com/asian

Tickets: $20 per session; Five College students and Seniors: $10 per session
Tickets: Day of the event: $25 & $12

Call Fine Arts Center Box Office 413-545-2511 or 1-800-999-UMAS. Or buy online now!.