Our wonderful restored Opera House  – Hubbard Hall –  is being re-imagined.

It has become a center for education and the arts; they have been bringing high school students from all over the area (and some Brooklyn artists) to Cambridge and offered scores of classes.

There are almost no locally produced or original theater being performed that we want to see.

Hubbard Hall seems to be doing what it needs to do, and I really hope it works,  but I miss it. There isn’t much there now for Maria or me.

We both love the theater very much, we’re not letting go of it, so we have started going to the Old Castle Theater in Bennington Vt. Old Castle shut down during the pandemic but is back with a roar.

The Williamstown and Dorset Theater companies have moved their performances outside this summer, and there’s not much we want to see there either.

The loss of contemporary local theater has been one of the most painful consequences of the pandemic.

But the Old Castle is back for sure. The performance lifted us up. You don’t see acting like that too often.

If this play we saw tonight has any significance, the theater has returned already. The acting was terrific, the setting perfect. It may be the most comfortable theater I can remember being in.

It is charming and real, and it fits us perfectly. Maria bought me tickets on my birthday – August 8 – the next play, “Shakespeare’s Will,” about Anne Hathaway, whose fate was to marry William Shakespeare.

We’ve bought tickets for all three summer performances.

We went to the Old Castle tonight for a two-person performance of Visiting Mr. Greene. It was wonderful, as good as any play I’ve seen anywhere in a long time. Good theater leaves; we just have to root it out and support it.

Maria and I are still talking about the play, an hour later. This was just what we missed.

A ticket costs $25 each,  and the shows are in a small restored and intimate theater in the heart of Bennington, Vt.

It almost feels as if we are all in one living room together; there is no bad seat there, and we usually park right in front of the main door.

We spotted a group of kids hanging out a street corner with two dogs and an open guitar for donations at intermission.

It used to be rare to see people begging on the street or living on a street; it is common now.

These kids seemed to be having great fun, and they’ve figured out the donation-pull of dogs.

I donated $5, asked if I could take their pictures, and they were delighted. They seemed like great and warm kids, and I love guerilla street music.

Old Castle is a regular part of our lives now; we are happy about it. The city is undergoing a smart downtown renaissance. It’s a super funky town.

Maria bought me a terrific lobster roll for dinner at a local ice cream stand,  of all places. The wheel keeps turning and turning.