[Capdist-announce] PR: Marsha Norman/Sarah LaDuke replace Jayne Atkinson as host of WAM Theatre's August 24 Change Makers Benefit

[Kristen van Ginhoven]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kristen van Ginhoven, Artistic Director, WAM Theatre
www.wamtheatre.com
kristen at wamtheatre.com; 518 243 9627
Press Photos can be found at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/sets/72157633357363354


*Stop the Presses! Marsha Norman and Sarah LaDuke to Co-Host *
*WAM Theatre’s August 24 Change Makers Event*

*Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and WAMC Roundtable producer step in as
Jayne Atkinson flies off to the Emmy Awards.  *

LEE, MA (8/13/14) – WAM (Women’s Action Movement) Theatre’s annual benefit
just got even more exciting. Artistic director Kristen van Ginhoven is
pleased to announce that legendary playwright *Marsha Norman* and WAMC
Northeast Public Radio producer *Sarah LaDuke* will co-host Change Makers,
WAM Theatre’s fifth season celebration and benefit at The Mahaiwe
Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington on August 24 at 7 pm. This
dynamic duo takes the place of actor Jayne Atkinson, who needed to bow out
to attend the Emmy Awards In Los Angeles.

Says Atkinson, “When I agreed to host the benefit, I didn’t realize I would
be invited to attend the Emmy Awards. After some quick thinking, a flurry
of phone calls and emails, and a lot of nail-biting, Pulitzer Prize-winner
Marsha Norman and beloved radio personality and producer Sarah LaDuke have
stepped in, enabling WAM Theatre to go on with the show, without missing a
beat. I’m delighted with how it all worked out and look forward to hosting
another WAM event in the future because Kristen van Ginhoven and WAM
provide the Berkshires with a dynamic opportunity to support women's voices
and themes not only artistically but also philanthropically, and the shows
are wonderful! It's all right here in our own backyard. How lucky we are to
be here with WAM Theatre at the beginning of an amazing journey!"

Van Ginhoven says she is honored to have such high-caliber women in media
as co-hosts of Change Makers, a multifaceted event that includes a panel
discussion with award-winning artist/activists working to effect positive
change; a sneak peek at WAM Theatre’s fall production, In Darfur; and an
onstage reception for top-level ticketholders.

Norman gained celebrity as the author of ’night Mother, which won the 1983
Pulitzer Prize, Blackburn Prize, Hull-Warriner, and Drama Desk Award, and
was adapted into a film. She won 1991 Tony and Drama Desk awards for her
book for the Broadway musical The Secret Garden, and another Tony
nomination for The Color Purple, a musical that had a three-year run on
Broadway. She was most recently represented on by Broadway the musical The
Bridges of Madison County, which debuted last summer at Williamstown
Theatre Festival; a national tour of the show is slated for the fall of
2015. Norman has won a Peabody Award for her writing for the HBO series In
Treatment. Her latest play, The War on Women, is a commission from the UN
and concerns trafficking and violence toward women worldwide. Norman is
co-chair of the Playwriting Department of the Juilliard School and a
co-founder of the Lilly Awards, started in spring 2010 as a way to honor
the work of women in the American theatre.

LaDuke grew up in Saranac Lake, NY, where she worked part time at Pendragon
Theatre (mostly behind the scenes) throughout high school and college. She
has worked at WAMC, Northeast Public Radio since May 2006, primarily as
producer for The Book Show and The Roundtable. Her love of theatre is
familiar to public radio listeners, as is her dulcet voice, thanks to her
occasional on-air interviews with actors, playwrights, filmmakers,
musicians, and dancers including Carol Burnett, John Patrick Shanley,
Lin-Manuel Miranda, Philip Glass, and Jeff Tweedy.

“The work that WAM has done over the past five seasons is inspiring and
humbling,” says LaDuke. “I am honored to have been asked to co-host this
event – an event I would be interested in attending in any capacity. I
can’t wait to learn what the panelists have to say about effecting positive
change through the arts – a frequent topic of focus on WAMC and on The
Roundtable - and one of personal import as well.”

WAM Theatre’s fifth season celebration and benefit has turned into quite
the jet-set affair. While Atkinson is flying out to the Emmy Awards, Norman
will be jetting in, arriving at JFK airport around noon and heading
straight up to Great Barrington and onto the Mahaiwe stage.

“It’s so exciting that Marsha and Sarah have gone above and beyond to be
here for Change Makers and support WAM Theatre,” says van Ginhoven. “I am
overwhelmed by the fierce commitment of all the panelists in this important
benefit event, which will raise valuable funds for our fall production.”

*The August 24 Change Makers panel features four exceptional
artist/activists:*

Filmmaker *Cynthia Wade* has won more than 45 awards worldwide for her
work, including Monday’s at Racine, Selfie, and her 2008
Academy-Award-winning documentary Freeheld, which is being adapted into a
major feature film with Wade as producer.

Playwright *Winter Miller* is a founding member of the Obie-recognized
collective 13 Playwrights and the author of In Darfur, which was inspired
by what Miller saw as Nicholas Kristof’s researcher at the start of the
genocide in Darfur in 2004. WAM Theatre recently announced that In Darfur
is its 2014 fall production.

Author and actor *Jessica Blank* co-wrote The Exonerated (with Erik
Jensen), based on interviews with wrongly convicted death row inmates,
which won multiple prestigious theater awards, and followed up with the
drama Aftermath, based on interviews with Iraqi civilian refugees.

Longtime National Geographic photographer *John Stanmeyer* has been
recognized with every major honor for photojournalism, including the Robert
Capa, NPPA, National Magazine, and World Press awards.

Van Ginhoven will engage the panelists in a discussion of art as a means to
address social justice and human rights. The panelists will share their
perspectives on the role of artist as activist and share stories of the
challenges they have faced while taking on daunting issues at home and
across the world. In addition to this dynamic discussion, Change Makers
will also include a sneak peek of In Darfur; the announcement of the
beneficiary of this year’s philanthropic donation; and an onstage reception
for top-level ticket holders.

Says van Ginhoven, “As an organization dedicated to creating positive
change through theatre, I couldn’t be more excited to showcase these
extraordinary artists striving to make the world a better place. With the
addition of Sarah LaDuke and Marsha Norman, we know this will be a
meaningful and inspirational event. This important discussion will pave the
way perfectly for our fall production of In Darfur, which, as Oskar Eustis
of New York’s Public Theater notes, is a theatrical offering that is also a
call to arms.”

Tickets to Change Makers, a panel discussion and benefit celebration of WAM
Theatre’s fifth season, can be purchased in person or by calling the
Mahaiwe box office at 413.528.0100 or at www.mahaiwe.org

*Quick Facts*

*Change Makers*, WAM Theatre’s fifth season celebration, benefit, and panel
discussion on creating positive change through the arts, hosted by Marsha
Norman and Sarah LaDuke.

*Date & Time*
Sunday, August 24 at 7 pm

*Location*
The Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center, 14 Castle Street, Great Barrington, MA

*Ticket prices*
Premium seating:
Gold: $125; includes post-show reception with the artist/panelists on the
Mahaiwe stage.
Silver: $75; includes $25 donation to WAM Theatre’s education program.
Reserved seating: $50
Tickets can be purchased online at www.mahaiwe.org, in person or by calling
the box office at 413.528.0100.

Lead sponsors
Berkshire Magazine; Cohen Kinne Valicenti & Cook, Attorneys; Greylock
Federal Credit Union; Gogel & Gogel Law Firm

*Additional sponsors*
Blue Q; Canyon Ranch; Cohen + White Associates; John Gotterer, DMD; Nina
Molin, MD; Lenox Village Integrative Pharmacy; Rogovoy Report; Rookwood
Inn; Rouge Restaurant & Bistro. Fifth season events also partially
supported by the Alford-Egremont, Pittsfield, Otis and Stockbridge Cultural
Councils.

*Fall production*
WAM Theatre’s production of In Darfur, scheduled for October 30-November
16, will be the play’s New England premiere. It will be presented at the
Berry Family Studio (Studio 3) in the Elayne P. Bernstein Center at
Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, MA. Tickets will go on sale September 1 on
the Shakespeare & Company website: www.tickets.shakespeare.org.


*About WAM Theatre*
Based in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, WAM (Women’s Action Movement)
Theatre was co-founded in 2010 by Canadian director, actor, educator, and
producer Kristen van Ginhoven, who was inspired to take action by the book
Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by
Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. 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.

Over the past five years, WAM Theatre has donated more than $10,500 to six
nonprofit organizations that help women and girls, and provided paid work
to more than 100 theatre artists. In its fifth year, artistic director van
Ginhoven has expanded WAM Theatre’s activities to include more performances
in various venues, including educational outreach and the new Fresh Takes
Play Reading Series at Six Depot Roastery and Café in West Stockbridge. For
more information, visit www.WAMTheatre.com

# #  # # #

Kristen van Ginhoven
*Artistic Director*
WAM Theatre
518-243-9627

Celebrating our Fifth Season!

Check out the newly redesigned website: www.WAMTheatre.com
<http://www.wamtheatre.com>

Up Next:
August 18/*Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England*- Fresh Takes Play
Reading Series <http://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes/>
August 24/*Changes Makers- *Five Year Celebration Benefit Event
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/summer-benefit-2014/>

Click here <http://www.wamtheatre.com/donate/> to make a secure donation to
WAM Theatre

*Thank you for your support!*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://capdisttheater.org/pipermail/capdist-announce/attachments/20140813/2cd0d62c/attachment.html>