[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: WAM Theatre Concludes 5th Anniversary Season

[Gail Burns]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Gail Burns, Marketing and Publicity Associate

*www.wamtheatre.com <http://www.wamtheatre.com/>*

*pr at wamtheatre.com <pr at wamtheatre.com>*; *518.243.9627 <518.243.9627>*

Press Photos can be found at:

*https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/sets/72157648698789976/>*


 *WAM Theatre Concludes 5th Anniversary Season with Sold Out Run of **In
Darfur*
* $5,005 Donation to Housemothers at South African Orphanage*


 LEE, MA — After a full season of events to celebrate their fifth
anniversary season, WAM Theatre successfully concluded the year with a sold
out production and their largest gift presentation yet to a beneficiary.


In keeping with WAM Theatre’s double philanthropic mission, a gift
presentation was made following the closing performance to the beneficiary
of the sold out New England premiere production of *In Darfur* by Winter
Miller, the thirteen housemothers at the Mother of Peace Orphanage in
Illovo, South Africa. Susie Weekes, the Berkshire connection to the
Orphanage, received a gift of $5005 following the closing performance on
November 16.


These 13 housemothers have made many personal sacrifices to care for 84
children who have been orphaned, abused, or impacted by HIV/AIDs.
Significantly, most of the housemothers plan to use this donation to invest
in education for themselves and members of their families. For more
information, please visit:
*http://www.wamtheatre.com/fall-production-2014/meet-the-housemothers-of-mother-of-peace-illovo/
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/fall-production-2014/meet-the-housemothers-of-mother-of-peace-illovo/>*


*http://www.motherofpeace.org.za/illovo_home.html
<http://www.motherofpeace.org.za/illovo_home.html>*

*In Darfur* opened on November 1 to critical accolade and enthusiastic
audience response, both at the performances and on social media. Audience
members called it “*a powerful, involving, intense, moving, uplifting
experience.”* As well as a *“ profound experience of the strength, courage,
resilience of the human spirit, simultaneously life challenging and life
affirming.”*


 J. Peter Bergman of the Berkshire Edge called *In Darfur*
*“…a power punch of a play realized with a mighty imagination and a clarity
of vision. This is great theater...with its direct simplicity and emotional
stoppers. This sort of work makes me proud to live in The Berkshires where
wonderful talent abounds." *


 Jeffrey Borak of the Berkshire Eagle wrote, *"In Darfur," particularly in
this production, is at its best when it is at its most personal. There are
moments of raw, unsettling, visceral power."*


 Selling out every single performance, including two added matinees, the
performances were complemented by an art exhibit featuring work by
award-winning photojournalists John Stanmeyer and Ron Haviv, work from
local artists featured in the current Paper Dresses exhibit, curated by
PRESS Gallery Chief Melanie Mowinski and a more in-depth look at the 13
women who were the beneficiaries of the production.


 Plus each performance was followed by a post-show conversation, moderated
and curated by WAM Theatre’s Kimberly Ciola, and featuring a number of
experts including playwright Winter Miller, professors Denise Ellis,
Charles Jones, and Jennifer Browdy, international aid activist Brenda
Oppermann, and recently released terror hostage Theo Padnos, whose article
detailing his 22 months of captivity was the cover story in the New York
Times Magazine during the show's run.


“As we are about to say goodbye to WAM's fifth anniversary year, I could
not feel more proud of our accomplishments and more inspired to continue to
use theatre to benefit women and girls. During *In Darfur, *when I was in
the room with our audience, our actors, our team and post show guest for
that performance, I was filled, for the first time in my professional life,
with really feeling and knowing the power of theatre. Thank you to our
community for being so supportive of our efforts. I'm extremely proud of
the impact WAM Theatre has made in our first five years.”


Mother of Peace Orphanage is WAM Theatre’s seventh beneficiary, raising the
total amount of funds donated since launching WAM Theatre in 2010 to over
$15,500. WAM Theatre’s other beneficiaries include Rites of Passage and
Empowerment Program for Girls (ROPE), 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. This is in addition to providing paid contract work to over
100 theatre professionals it’s first five years.


The New England premiere of *In Darfur*, written by Winter Miller and
directed by Kristen van Ginhoven, ran from October 30 through November 16
at the Berry Family Studio in the Elayne P. Bernstein Center at Shakespeare
& Company's Kemble Street campus in Lenox, MA.


*2014 Season- The Fifth Anniversary Season*

The 2014 season for WAM began with another sold out event: *Motherhood Out
Loud* presented in March as part of the Berkshire Festival of Women
Writers.


Two-time Tony nominee Jayne Atkinson *(Criminal Minds, House of Cards)*
directed a benefit production of *Motherhood Out Loud* at Berkshire Theatre
Group’s Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge on March 28th and 29th as part of
the Berkshire Festival of Women Writers. Proceeds from the production,
co-produced by Atkinson and Susan Rose, benefitted WAM Theatre and the
Berkshire Festival of Women Writers.


The cast featured Jane Kaczmarek *(Malcolm in the Middle* and the upcoming
FOX sitcom *HERE’S Your Damn Family)*, Michel Gill *(House of Cards)*.
After successful productions across the country, including an off-Broadway
run at Primary Stages in New York City, this was its Berkshire premiere.


In April, WAM Theatre was invited to present a staged reading of
*Everywoman*, a comedy about catastrophe, presented at the UAlbany,
SUNY Performing
Arts Center in Albany, NY. Directed by Sara Katzoff, artistic director of
the Berkshire Fringe, and written by Carolyn Yalkut, who teaches drama,
film and literature at the University of Albany, the reading was held on April
3.


>From April through September, WAM Theatre presented *Fresh Takes*, a new
series of play readings held in the gallery at No. Six Depot Roastery and
Café in West Stockbridge on Sunday afternoons at 3 p.m. *Fresh Takes*, curated
by WAM Theatre Artistic Associate Kelly Galvin, gave a stage to new and
reimagined works that tell women's stories. Featuring local professional
actors and directors, the readings explored the work of provocative
contemporary and classical voices. The inaugural 2014 series included *Blue
Stockings* by Jessica Swale (April 13); *Measure for Measure* by William
Shakespeare (May 18); *How the World Began* by Catherine Trieschmann (June
22); *Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England* by Madeleine George
(Aug.17); and *Waxworks* by Trina Davies (Sept. 21). The 2015 Fresh Takes
series will be announced in the new year.


In August, WAM Theatre held its Fifth Anniversary Celebration and Summer
Benefit with *Change Makers *at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great
Barrington. *Change Makers* was hosted by Pulitzer prize winning playwright
Marsha Norman and WAMC Producer Sarah LaDuke and featured a lively panel
discussion around creating positive change through the arts. Panelists
included author and actor Jessica Blank, playwright Winter Miller,
photographer John Stanmeyer and filmmaker Cynthia Wade.


 The year ended with audiences raving about WAM Theatre’s acclaimed
sold-out New England premiere of *In Darfur*.


WAM Theatre also continued the Education Outreach program, launched in
2013, at Girls Inc. in Pittsfield, taught by WAM Theatre teaching artist
Barby Cardillo.


In 2015, thanks to multi-year grants from the Massachusetts Cultural
Council, Greylock Federal Credit Union, the Dylandale Foundation, the
International Schools Theatre Association and Petricca Industries, WAM
Theatre will expand their after school Education Outreach to include more
girls from across Berkshire County. This expanded program will focus on
working with the participants on creating original works of theatre around
issues of importance in their lives.


Established in 2010, WAM Theatre has emerged as a bold voice on 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. “*Until WAM
began doing these charity givebacks in the Berkshires it was rare for a
theatre company to actually embrace local social programs as a matter of
their core mission…WAM has created a new paradigm” *(Berkshire On Stage and
Screen)


*About WAM Theatre*

Based in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, WAM 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 $15,500 to
seven nonprofit organizations that help women and girls, and provided paid
work to more than 125 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 TakesPlay Reading Series at Six Depot Roastery and Café in West
Stockbridge. For more information, visit *www.WAMTheatre.com
<http://www.WAMTheatre.com/>*


* <http://www.WAMTheatre.com/>*

# # #


-- 
Gail M. Burns

*Marketing + Publicity Associate*
WAM Theatre
413-458-4246
gail at WAMTheatre.com
WAMTheatre.com <http://www.wamtheatre.com>

Celebrating our Fifth Season!

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