Maggie McRae, the Dewey Hall Manager, is an Alexander Technique Teacher, musician, dance caller, and event organizer based in Egremont, MA. She grew up on a small farm near Sanford, NC and attended Brevard College, where she got her BA in Music. After completing her degree, Maggie lived in Trondheim, Norway, working as an au pair and learning Norwegian fiddle tunes and traditional dances. Upon her return to the US, Maggie moved to the Boston area to become an Alexander Technique Teacher. She completed her 3 year Alexander Technique Teacher certification program in December 2017 and moved to the Berkshires. Maggie is currently a member of the Lenox Contra Committee and an organizer of TapRoot Sessions, a traditional music and dance series, which is a collaboration with Beth Carlson. Maggie also works part time at Blue Rider Stables. As the manager of Dewey Hall, Maggie looks forward to continuing to bring new life, energy, and activity into Dewey Hall with the help of the local community!
Michael Siktberg (Rentals Manager) moved to Sheffield in 2020 with his wife Ruby (and their three cats!). Before that he spent 20 years in New York City, where he worked as a musician and actor. Besides having performed for theatres all across the country, Michael is a popular children’s entertainer and pre school music teacher. He is a graduate of the American Music and Dramatic Academy and a member of the Actors Equity Association. Michael is thrilled to be joining the team at Dewey Memorial Hall, and relishes in the endless possibilities for bringing music, art, fellowship, and love to Sheffield and the greater Berkshire community.
Melanie Willins is from the Boston area and earned her M.Ed in Educational Psychology from the University of Virginia, after completing her undergraduate studies in Education and Human Development from the University of Maryland. She came out to the Berkshires in the fall of 2022 to enjoy being grounded in nature. Melanie enjoys working in the hospitality and events industry, with a specific interest in music festival production. Locally, Melanie has worked at Race Brook Lodge, runs Girls Science Clubs for Flying Cloud Institute, and participates as a tutor for the Literacy Network. She leads child and family programming throughout the Berkshires focused on mindfulness, music, yoga, and art. Her business, Melanie Poppins Consulting, provides support to parents and organizations when there are behavioral challenges. She is grateful to be part of the Dewey Hall team, as she enjoys cultivating events to bring the community together.
Amy is Berkshire born and bred, with roots in Pittsfield and a heart that now beats in Ashley Falls. Though Berkshire blood runs through her veins, Amy’s spirit is far from tied down, mostly due to her love for language, culture, and adventure. A Spanish teacher by trade, she spent six years teaching in the public schools before earning her MA from Middlebury College. She then packed her bags and moved to Madrid, where she taught English at a pharmaceutical university—gaining international insight and a healthy dose of tapas—before returning to the U.S. Upon return, fate stepped in: she re-met the love of her life (and thus married), resumed teaching, and bought her home. After twenty years in the public schools, Amy founded her own language business, Polyglot Prose, where she is teaching, translating and interpreting. Now, Amy is happily settled in the southern Berkshires with her husband, two sons, and two dogs, sharing her passion for language and becoming more and more woven into the fabric of a community that has been there for her all along.
Patricia Strauch (Bookkeeper) was born and raised in Allendale, NJ. Patty and her singer-songwriter husband, Bruce Mandel, (proud “crazy-cat-parents” to Wolfie and BB), now reside at the top of a mountain in Otis, where their closest neighbors are the herons, moose, and beavers that frequent their pond, along with the occasional visit from a bald eagle. After retiring from a corporate legal career at Merck, Patty became involved in many of the region’s extensive music and other cultural venues; as a performer, organizer, and volunteer. She now enjoys using her organizational skills to assist nonprofits with streamlining office and financial procedures, both as the Treasurer at her church, and as the Bookkeeper at Dewey Memorial Hall. Patty is proud to be a member of the team at Dewey Hall working together to promote “good and kindly feelings”.
Ruby Littman (Volunteer Coordinator) graduated from Mount Holyoke with a BA in English & French Literature, briefly attended the Culinary Institute of America, and has worked in the energy commodities industry for 19 years. She also completed the Atlantic Acting School Conservatory program in 2016. Born in Brooklyn, NY, she spent several years in Switzerland and many more in NYC before moving to the Berkshires, which is the best decision she has made yet. In her free time she fosters kittens for Berkshire Humane Society; acts, sings, and dances when opportunities arise; sits on the board of the Sheffield Farmers Market, rides her horse Luna, and enjoys relaxing at home in Sheffield with her wonderful husband and their three cats.
Robbi Hartt earned her MA (English) from Georgetown University. She served as founding director (in 2000) of the Horizons Program at Greens Farms Academy in Westport, CT and subsequently built a 20-year career there as an English teacher and Writing Center director. After coming to the Berkshires for many years, she and her husband moved to New Marlborough full time in 2019, renovating a 1795 farmhouse to create a respite for families dealing with pediatric cancer. She writes regularly for The Berkshire Edge/Out & About, The B, and New Marlborough’s 5 Village News. After being introduced to Dewey Hall through a Business Monday spotlight, she became enamored with its mission of promoting “good and kindly feelings” and began working as a consultant to raise sponsorship funds.
Beth Carlson is a partner in Silo Media, a design firm specializing in graphics, website and video production. She is a founding board member of the W. E. B. Du Bois Center for Freedom and Democracy. She is currently the campaign manager for Farmsteads for Farmers, working with Berkshire Community Land Trust. She co-produced TapRoot Sessions, a traditional music series at Dewey Hall for several years and was a co-producer of the Oldtone Roots Music Festival. As a community activist, Beth was a key player in the effort to save the historic Searles School in Great Barrington. A natural and inspired organizer, she has produced a myriad of events, including Construct’s Warm up the Winter, many Dewey Hall events, as well as many community fundraisers.
Brian Healey is a senior corporate attorney at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP in New York City. He has considerable experience working with nonprofits, in both legal and volunteer capacities, in Washington, DC (American Trial Lawyers Association) and New York City (NYS Trial Lawyers Association, Friends in Deed, Visual AIDS). Brian resides in Ashley Falls with his partner Lee and their two beagles, Henry and Billy. He is the President of the Ashley Falls Village Improvement Society and is a dedicated gardener, jam maker and visual artist. His photographs and artwork have been exhibited in galleries and shows in New York City and Hudson, NY. Brian is honored to be a member of the Board and looks forward to strengthening his ties to the community though Dewey Hall.
Evelyn Battaglia is a journalist with over two decades of experience in lifestyle publishing, notably as an editor at Martha Stewart Omnimedia, where she contributed to various magazines and helped produce many bestselling books. Since leaving the company in 2015 to move to the Berkshires full-time, she has curated four additional books for Martha and published by Harper Collins—including The Martha Manual: How to do (Almost) Everything, Martha Stewart's Organizing, and Martha Stewart's Gardening Handbook (due out March 2025). Among other freelance roles, Evelyn is a Special Projects Editor for The Berkshire Edge's Business Monday section and Out & About Magazine. Previous experience includes practicing copyright law in NYC and serving as a congressional communications/fundraising coordinator in Washington, D.C. An avid home gardener and cook (and co-author of Home Sausage Making by Storey Publishing), she also relishes taking daily hikes with her energetic German Shorthaired Pointer.
Fred Frayer has a B.A. in Music from Colby College and a Masters in Arts Administration from Drexel University. He spent eight years working for major nonprofits in Philadelphia including the Walnut Street Theatre and the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. He recently retired from Verizon where he had been a computer programmer/analyst since 1990. Fred is an avid acoustic musician, playing mandolin, fiddle, banjo, and guitar. He played in local Philadelphia area bands over the past 35 years, and his latest group, Auld String Theory, released a CD on Amazon in 2016. In 2020, Fred moved to Great Barrington with his wife Heidi.
Maria Nation is a screenwriter with over 40 movies to her credit. A native of Malibu, she has lived on the East coast since 1984 and moved to her 1811 farmhouse in Ashley Falls in 1996. When not at her computer writing, she is outdoors gardening (her gardens have been published in many books and magazines), hanging with her dogs, horses, mini-donkeys, hiking with her partner John Halbreich, or in her kitchen baking sourdough breads and cooking for friends. She is an Advisory Board Member of the Berkshire International Film Festival and, in the past, she was a Trustee of the Berkshire Botanical Garden, on the Sheffield Planning Board, and a publicist/consultant to Berkshire Grown, Monterey Masonry, Irish Water Spaniel Club of America, etc. A committed homebody, she did ride a Berber stallion across the Sahara desert in Morocco three years ago and, with that bragging right, she never has to leave Sheffield again.
Wenonah Webster is the principal and creative director of her family’s business, Webster Landscape. Before joining Webster, Wenonah had her own landscape design business in Columbia county for 15 years. Prior to focusing on landscape design she spent 20 years working closely with first Pamela Read Hardcastle and then Ariella Chezar producing large weddings and events locally and abroad. She appeared on Martha Stewart in 2005 demonstrating how to build terrariums after Martha saw her terrariums in an installation in Hudson, NY. Wenonah returned to the area full time in 2011, making the Berkshires her permanent home to raise a family. Since moving back to Sheffield and taking over the family business she has been inspired, as a business owner, to be an active member of the community.
