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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE</span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Press images available at </span><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/sets/72157635251271398/"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">http://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/
</span></a><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Contacts: </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Kimberly Rawson, Publicist, (413) 445-4467; </span><a href="mailto:karawson@gmail.com"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">karawson@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Kelly Galvin, Assistant to the Artistic Director, (518) 243-9627;
</span><a href="mailto:kelly@wamtheatre.com"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">kelly@wamtheatre.com</span></a><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><b><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">WAM
Theatre ends year with sold out houses and $3,400 donation to <i>Emilie</i> beneficiary</span></b><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><u><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">2013
season brings successful collaborations and educational outreach for WAM </span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"><span style="text-decoration:none"> </span></span></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">PITTSFIELD, Mass. (December 2, 2013) — WAM Theatre made a
gift presentation of $3,400 to the Rites of Passage and Empowerment Program for
Girls (ROPE) following the sold-out closing performance of <i>Emilie: La Marquise du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight</i> by Lauren
Gunderson on Sunday, November 24 at 2pm.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Over 800 people enjoyed the
performance, which led to three sold out houses and WAM Theatre’s largest donation
yet to a beneficiary. ROPE is WAM’s sixth beneficiary, having donated funds from
previous productions to Shout Out Loud Productions, Berkshire United Way’s Teen
Pregnancy Prevention Initiative, Edna’s Hospital in Somaliland, The Women’s
Fund of Western Massachusetts and Women for Women International. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">The $3,400 gift presentation to ROPE, a
skills based program for young women in Berkshire County with a particular
focus on young women of color, will fully fund the Northeast college tour taken
by ROPE participants at the culmination of their program. ROPE was founded and
is run by Pittsfield community leader Shirley Edgerton. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-repeat:initial initial"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">WAM’s production of <i>Emilie</i>
opened on Nov. 9 to critical accolade and enthusiastic audience response, both
at the performances and on social media.</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span><i><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Emilie</span></i><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">is</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">“totally entertaining ...
stunningly beautiful … and brilliantly staged,” says</span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:rgb(64,64,64)">Berkshire On Stage and
Screen.</span><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-repeat:initial initial"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Jeffrey Borak of The Berkshire Eagle praised it as “….highly
imaginative…highly theatrical…”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-repeat:initial initial"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">“It is wonderful, wonderful – did I say wonderful? ... This play
is extraordinary, a must see,” says Richard DiMaggio of Did You Weekend?</span><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-repeat:initial initial"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-repeat:initial initial"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">“<i>Emilie</i> is a
fascinating play for those whose interests go deeper than the fluff so often
served up today. For characters who have depth, feeling and intelligence,
there’s no better evening of theatre that I can think of,” note Gail M. Burns
and Larry Murray of Berkshire On Stage and Screen in a joint review. </span><span style="font-family:Arial"></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">The Northeast regional premiere of “Emilie: La Marquise Du
Châtelet Defends Her Life Tonight”, written by Lauren Gunderson and directed by
Kristen van Ginhoven, ran from Nov. 7 through 24 at the St. Germain Stage in the Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing
Arts Center, 36 Linden St., Pittsfield. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">2013
Season</span></b></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">The 2013 season for WAM began in February with “10x10on10”, a
collaboration with Alchemy Initiative and the “One Billion Rising Dance Party”,
a collaboration with various community organizations including the Elizabeth
Freeman Center and HAVEN, both part of the 10x10 Festival in Pittsfield. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">March brought the “Half the Sky” Film Screening and Panel,
as part of the Berkshire Festival of Writers, co-presented with Sisters for
Peace at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">May showcased the 3<sup>rd</sup> Annual 24hr
Berkshire/Capital Region 24hr Project, co-produced with the Mop & Bucket
Improv Theatre Company and hosted by Proctor’s Theatre in Schenectady. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Summer brought WAM Theatre’s first benefit evening,
“Claiming Her Place”, hosted by Jayne Atkinson at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts
Center in Great Barrington. A celebrity panel, featuring Lauren Ambrose,
Michael Gill, Marin Mazzie, Linus Roache and Debra Jo Rupp, discussed the
challenges women face in the entertainment industry.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">The year ended with audiences raving about WAM Theatre’s critically
acclaimed Northeast regional premiere of <i>Emilie</i>,
calling it ‘"everything I want in a theatre experience.”</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">WAM Theatre also launched an Education Outreach program in
2013 that included two projects: an afterschool theatre project at Girls Inc.
in Pittsfield and an educational outreach program related to their production
of <i>Emilie</i> that included five
participating organizations, BART Charter School, Flying Cloud Institute, Girls Inc., Multicultural BRIDGE and ROPE, and brought nearly 100 underserved audience members into the theatre.</span></p>
<span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">“We are extremely delighted by the success of our 2013
season”, said Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven. “Sincere thanks go to all
who support our work and made it possible for us to have such an impact this
year. We are excited to launch into our five-year anniversary season next
year!” </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">Established in 2009, WAM Theatre is a
comparative newcomer to the area’s performing arts scene. Under the artistic
direction of van Ginhoven, the company has rapidly become a strong community
presence through its mission to create theatre for everyone that benefits women
and girls. “In a relatively short time, WAM has sent shockwaves throughout the
Berkshire theatre community,” notes Berkshire Fine Arts in a recent review. WAM
Theatre has been hailed for its “superb casts, equal of any we see at the four
major theaters in the summer” (Berkshire On Stage and Screen) and its unique dual
mission: “Two birds, one stone; theatre for cause, cause for theatre” (Did You
Weekend?). </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><b><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">About
WAM Theatre</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">WAM (Women’s Action Movement) Theatre
is based in the Berkshires of Massachusetts and the Capital Region of New York
State. Inspired by the book “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity
for Women Worldwide” by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, WAM Theatre was
founded in 2010 by professional theatre artists Kristen van Ginhoven and Leigh
Strimbeck. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">WAM Theatre’s philanthropic mission is
two-fold: first, to create theatrical events for everyone, with a focus on
women theatre artists and/or stories of women and girls; and second, to donate
a portion of the proceeds from those events to organizations that benefit women
and girls. Since 2010, WAM Theatre has donated more than $10,500<a name="_GoBack"></a> to its beneficiaries. For more information, see </span><a href="http://www.WAMTheatre.com"><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman';color:windowtext">www.WAMTheatre.com</span></a><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'">.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman'"> </span></b></p><div><div dir="ltr">Kristen van Ginhoven<br>Artistic Director, WAM Theatre<div>518-243-9627<br><a href="http://www.wamtheatre.com" target="_blank">www.WAMTheatre.com</a><br>
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/WAMTheatre" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/WAMTheatre</a></div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.wamtheatre.com/emilie-the-marquise-du-chatelet-defends-her-life-tonight/" target="_blank"><i>Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight</i> playing November 7-24</a><br>
<br><a href="http://www.wamtheatre.com/donate/" target="_blank">Click here</a> to make a secure donation to WAM Theatre<br><i>Thanks for your support!</i><div><br></div></div></div></div>
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