Also tonight, another audience participation performance is happening at Gallery 51 on Main Street in North Adams. The college gallery is  hosting an open rehearsal for Creatures of Habitat, an experimental physical-poetry ensemble and audience members are invited participate by bringing in a battery or solar-powered light. Why? We don’t know – if you go, tell us about it.

You can also catch Korean percussion music for free tonight at Williams College’s Goodrich Hall at 7:30 or guitar great Leo Kottke at the Clark at 8 for $28. Guitarist Eliot Fisk is at the Mahaiwe at 8 for $30.

On Sunday, Main Street Stage in North Adams is reading Shakespeare’s “Twelvth Night” at 1.

Dads and their little girls can dance the night away at the annual Father-Daughter Dance in North Adams on Sunday night from 6 to 9.  The annual event benefits the COTY Youth Center and is held at St. Anthony’s Parish Center.

It may seem odd to recognize a spinster on a weekend of love, but Susan B. Anthony blazed a trail of independence for women – far more precious and enduring than flowers or candy. Send some love to the suffragist by stopping at her birthplace this Sunday to celebrate her 189th birthday. The historic home on East Road in Adams will be open from 11:30 to 2:30.

The Mahaiwe comes through with a screening of classic rom-com “When Harry Met Sally” on Saturday night. Yes, we’ve seen it a thousand times but who can resist a winsome Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal at his comic best. Plus, chocolates! (And that restaurant scene!)

P.S. Mahaiwe says flash your tickets at alliumfor a 20 percent discount. Dinner and a movie, the perfect Valentine date.

If you were there, tell us about it!

What can you do with lots of stuff? Create like crazy for five days!

That’s the inspiration behind MCLA Gallery 51′s latest exhibit, “Woodshed II: The Next Hundred Hours” in North Adams. (It’s a sequel to the first “Woodshed” two years ago.)

Some 40 artists took the idea of collage to inspired heights that range from video, to textile, to acrylic, to stuffed animals (REAL stuffed animals).

New gallery manager Ven Voisey said some of the artists “are using cast off stuff from our culture … and there’s a lot of it.”

The artists brought mostly their own materials – from little boxes to truckloads – to the Main Street gallery and its “annex” a couple of storefronts over. Then began a marathon of art making that began on a Friday and ended on Inaugaration Day with an artists’ reception.

Throughout that time, the galleries were open so visitors could watch the progress. Voisey, who also curated the show, added his own audio collage of sounds picked up during the artmaking process.

Local artist Daniel O’Connor, better known as Danny O and mastermind of the two “Woodsheds,” took the collage inspiration even further toward the concept of using old elements to create new. He and his buddies took some 50 old canvass paintings donated by Sanford & Kid and proceeded to repaint them – or embellish what was already there. Ominous flying saucers hovering over bucolic settings is a favorite theme.

“People start with nothing and end with something,” said Jonathon Secor, director of special programs at MCLA. “And you get this quality of work. It’s really amazing.”

Among the professional artists this time are three MCLA students whose work made the grade.

Visitors should flip through the artists’ statements available in a three-ring binder at the gallery to get a sense of what the creators were thinking.

Sean O’Brien of Freeport, Maine, spent hours ripping little bits of Saran Wrap to press between polarizing glass to create a delicately-hued image on a light box.  “The colors don’t really exist,” he said, rather the material is a prism reflecting light along wavebands.

Like its ephemeral color, piece’s beauty is a matter of perspective, particularly once you read O’Brien’s statement about a loved one with cancer.  “Blastoma” is the “horrifying image of a tumor spreading through the brain.”

Arts management student Craig Perras was taken with all of it. “It’s like an experiment in fun.”

“Woodshed” is on view at Gallery 51, 51 Main St., in North Adams through Feb. 22.

There are apparently plenty of aspiring playwrights in the are because the nonproft theater was deluged with 60 scripts! The best are being produced over the past two weekends.

There’s still Friday and Saturday, Jan. 30 and 31, to catch a rising writer at the North Adams theater. You never know, you might be watching the novice efforts of a future Tony winner.

Click here to reserve a seat online or call 413-663-3240. Tickets are $10.

There’s some music happenings this weekend, too.

Cultural Pittsfield sent us a heads up on this bash. We’ll let them describe it:

“When worlds collide: don’t miss the Zeitgeist-sponsored dance party at Pittsfield’s iconic Debbie Wong’s Chinese Restaurant – you heard right! DJ Jerrid Coty sez: ‘OK, I know it’s a strange venue but it should be pretty sweet.’ Enjoy fearsome Scorpion Bowls, plus free egg rolls with every drink!”How could we say it better than that? The dancin’  starts Saturday, Jan. 31, from 8 to midnight at the 315 Dalton Ave. restaurant.  Admission is $8. Can we get goldfingers with that?

For more events happening around Pittsfield, click here.

On Saturday, listen to free recitals at the Berkshire Music School at 1 p.m. at Taft Recital Hall, 30 Wendell Ave., Pittsfield and five local groups will be making music at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Williamstown at 7 p.m.

Catch something at the first annual Jim Lambert Fishing Derby on Pontoosuc Lake from 8 to 1 on Saturday.

Then Sunday, head to Berkshire Community College for the annual Not Your Average Dog Show. If you haven’t already registered your pooch, registration is $15 at the door.

It’s too late to get in for the “Pleasures of Paris” at the Clark Art on Saturday night (iBerkshires will tell you all about it), but you can spend a snowy Sunday afternoon at the opening of “Toulouse-Lautrec and Paris.”

The exhibit runs through April 26 and celebrates the Clark’s extensive collection of the artist’s work, exploring the themes and sites that inspired him and his contemporaries. Organizers say it provides  “a vibrant picture of Paris at the end of the 19th century. “

Oooh-lala! Plus admission to the world-class museum is free right now!

A few more things are happening around the area: Check iBerkshires’ calendar for more events.

Not sure what to do? Don’t worry, the Come Again Players will lead the way. They’ve got plenty of experience – they’ve been acting out this film every week for the past five years at Towers Theater in  South Hadley.

Robert Adam, one of the group’s three directors and owner of the two-screen movie house,  said the cast of friends got together one Halloween to do it for fun “and never stopped.” The labor of love is funded through admission prices so the cast can buy new props and costumes. As for props, there’s a list of suggestions here and proper etiquette for their use, but Images has some restrictions. Rice is a no-no, said manager Janet Curran,  and so’s water pistols, confetti and lighters.  Newspapers, noisemakers, gloves, hats and toilet paper are OK.

Hot dogs and prunes? Mmmm, no, she said. In other words, bring fun stuff but be respectful of the newly renovated theater.

Adam said participants should also be prepared to be “devirginized,” a ritual at every showing for two lucky first-timers. It’s fun, he assured us, so don’t be too scared. The cost is $10, or $5 for Williams students with ID.  The film starts at midnight but the troupe will entertain the audience with some  skits to warm them up. With the frigid cold that’s descended on the Berkshires, they’ll need some warming up.

If you can’t make it to midnight, stop by the Spring Street theater for an open house beginning at 5:30 to check out the new lobby and theater, and an exhibit of local artists “In the Flesh.” You can also catch the first film in the Queer Film Festival, “The Edge of Heaven,” at 8 p.m.

“I sketch there a lot, because I enjoy getting out of my studio and seeing people,” Wickstrom wrote us. “So many of the interiors displayed are actually done from ‘on location.’”

Wickstrom’s been living in North Adams for about two years and has a studio at the Beaver Mill, which appears to be one of his inspirations. “I love the place – it’s an old mill with huge windows; very industrial. Make you want to set up and paint it.”

His works at the Cup & Saucer include light studies of the mill that was once a bustling part of the old Sprague Electric Co. He’s also got sketches of North Adams, such as the mill housing near Natural Bridge and the Victorians around the library.

Wickstrom has two careers, as a painter and a children’s book illustrator. He’s latest book was “Lester Fizz, Bubblegum Artist.” Oh, and he’s a dog walker, too.

“I’ve really enjoying being a part of this place. The artist co-op gallery this summer was a great experience for me, as it allowed me to meet so many local artists and local people I might not have met.”

Check out Wickstrom’s work at his favorite coffee haunt daily through Jan. 31, from 7 to 3.

It was a great idea – but took hours of work.  Sometimes we were wrapping up only minutes from when something good was about to start. The holidays, with few public events, gave us a breather to think of different way to present information.

So, we’re trying a new format.  Instead of a list every week, we’ll try to spotlight activities, events and people as we hear about them. And don’t forget, you can always check the community and cultural calendars on iBerkshires‘ home page. There’s always lots of free and not-so-free things to do around the county.

You can also help us out by commenting on the posts or sending information on cool things happening around the region. iBerkshires is designed with community participation in mind, so send along those ideas and photos and links, and we’ll spread them along.

You can post here  or e-mail info@iberkshires.com