can ' t think of a more important event since the birth of Christ than the birth of the United States. Its founding is sort of smothered in the barnacles of sentimentality. It’ s really important that you tell the whole story because of what ' s going on now. Of course, part of the reason why it ' s so inaccessible to us is that there ' s no photographs, there ' s no newsreels, and so what we get and inherit are paintings and people in powdered wigs and stockings and breaches. We don ' t understand the dynamics of women, and we don ' t understand the dynamics of free and enslaved Black people and, of course, Native people and all those who are involved in this unbelievably dramatic story. One of the more amazing feats is this trek across the Berkshires that Henry Knox does. Our task was finding reenactors, finding the sleds, finding the oxen, giving this impressionistic sense of what it must have been like— it gives all the reenactments a little bit of documentary newsreel flavor. If
you combine that with paintings and drawings and maps and voices— not just a third person narrator but literally hundreds of voices read by the finest actors in our country and Britain and elsewhere— you can really make this story come alive and begin to remind people that it may seem distant to us in the past, but it is as topical as today ' s headlines.
Stanmeyer: How was the Knox Trail segment done?
Burns: I’ ve worked with the same cinematographer for more than 50 years, Buddy Squires. He was wrangling the oxen, wrangling the sleds, getting a sense of what it was like, making sure there was snow on the ground and having people in period dress walk a little bit of the way so that we can combine it with the paintings of the men hauling the cannon at various stops. There ' s a famous stop at Westfield where nobody in Westfield had
George Washington by Charles Willson Peale, ca. 1779 – 81.( Metropolitan Museum of Art)
A DRIVE TO THE SKY
A DRIVE TO THE SKY
An unforgettable scenic drive to the summit of the highest peak in the Taconic Range
JUNE 27 – 28 at The Colonial Theatre
( 413) 997-4444 BerkshireTheatreGroup. org
JUNE 30 – JULY 26 at The Unicorn Theatre The Larry Vaber Stage
A Theatrical Concert Experience featuring: Beyond The Wall and Mike Wartella written by Roger Waters adapted by Tor Krautter directed by Greg Santos
JULY 24 – AUGUST 17 at The Colonial Theatre
Berkshire Theatre Group presents The Berkeley Repertory Theatre Production of
written and performed by Ari’ el Stachel directed by Tony Taccone
World Premiere AUGUST 7 – 30 at The Unicorn Theatre The Larry Vaber Stage
MOUNT EQUINOX SKYLINE DRIVE 42 Skyline Drive | Arlington, VT 05250
Memorial Day Weekend to October 31 · 9 AM to 5 PM daily
equinoxmountain. com by Agatha Christie directed by Gerry McIntyre
111 South Street • Pittsfield, MA 6 East Street • Stockbridge, MA
written and performed by Renée Taylor directed by Elaine May
Holiday August July 2025 2023 BERKSHIRE MAGAZINE // 93