[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: WAM Theatre Announces Fall Main Stage Production

[Gail Burns]

May 4, 2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Gail Burns, Marketing and Publicity Associate

www.wamtheatre.com <http://www.wamtheatre.com/#_blank>

pr at wamtheatre.com; 518.243.9627

Press Photos can be found at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/sets/72157649914703614/

 WAM Theatre announces fall mainstage production: Holy Laughter by
Catherine Trieschmann


“I joined the Episcopal church so I wouldn’t have to evangelize.”


LENOX, MA (May 4, 2015) – As WAM Theatre prepares for its second Fresh
Takes play reading of the season, artistic director Kristen van Ginhoven
has announced that this year’s fall production will be the first
developmental workshop production of Holy Laughter by Catherine
Trieschmann, directed by Megan Sandberg-Zakian.


“We did a reading of Catherine’s play How the World Began as part of our
2014 Fresh Takes series, and it was very well received,” van Ginhoven
explained. “Earlier this year I attended the New Play Summit at the Denver
Center for the Performing Arts (DCPA). There I saw the first staged reading
of her new play, Holy Laughter, which the DCPA had commissioned.  I knew
the heartfelt story, witty humor and zany characters would be a terrific
follow-up to last year's gripping hit of In Darfur. I am thrilled that
Catherine has granted us the rights to do the first developmental workshop
production this fall.”


WAM Theatre is also excited to announce that Megan Sandberg-Zakian will
direct this production. “Megan directed our sold out Fresh Takes
reading of Seven
Homeless Mammoths Wander New England last year and is a busy director
working all over the States, often on new work. Her imaginative aesthetic
and dedication to social justice are a perfect fit for WAM. We are
delighted she will be joining us in the Berkshires this fall to direct this
production.”


In Holy Laughter, an Episcopal priest finds that the reality of leading a
church is radically and hilariously different than what she learned in
seminary. As she wrestles with church finances, eccentric parishioners,
changing sexual mores and her own doubting human heart, Abigail struggles
to make peace with the realities of contemporary church life. Hymns,
liturgical dance and a wicked tongue lift Trieschmann's antic portrait of a
small, struggling congregation to comic heights.


In keeping with WAM Theatre’s double philanthropic mission, the beneficiary
of this production will receive 25% of the box office proceeds. This year’s
beneficiary, WAM’s eighth in total, will be announced at WAM’s July 15
benefit event, Stars in the Orchard, taking place at Hilltop Orchards in
Richmond, MA.

In WAM’s first five years, over $15,500 has been donated to a mix of local
and global organizations working to benefit women and girls, including
the Mother
of Peace Orphanage in Illovo South Africa and the Berkshire based Rite of
Passage and Empowerment for Girls program. A sneak peak of the play will
also be presented at the July 15 benefit event. More information about the
benefit can be found at www.WAMTheatre.com.

WAM Theatre’s production of Holy Laughter is scheduled for October
29-November 22, on the St. Germain Stage at Barrington Stage Company’s
Sydelle and Lee Blatt Performing Arts Center, 36 Linden Street, Pittsfield,
MA.  The opening performance will be Sunday, November 1 at 2pm. Tickets are
$15-$40 and will go on sale in July. See www.WAMTheatre.com
<http://www.wamtheatre.com> for more information.

Auditions are for Holy Laughter will be held Saturday, June 6 and Sunday,
June 7 from noon-6pm, at the WAM Theatre offices, 45 Walker Street, Lenox,
MA. There are roles for three women and two men.  Rehearsals will begin on
October 6. Professional Equity and non-Equity actors of all ages and
ethnicities are encouraged to audition. For complete audition information
visit www.WAMTheatre.com/holylaughterauditioninfo.

Sponsors for this production include: Greylock Federal Credit Union
(Producer Sponsor); Garden Gables Inn; Berkshire Magazine (Partner
Sponsors); Custom Business Solutions, Interprint (Leader Sponsors); Adams
Community Bank; Rogovoy Report (Patron Sponsor); RB Designs; Nina Molin MD;
 Jon Gotterer DMD (Supporter Sponsors).

Additional WAM 2015 Sponsors include: Brabson Library & Educational
Foundation, Dylandale Foundation, Feigenbaum Foundation, International
Schools Theatre Association, Massachusetts Cultural Council and Petricca
Industries (Education Programming). WAM Theatre is also supported in part
by grants from the Lee, Lenox, Hinsdale-Peru, Monterey, Northern Berkshire,
Richmond, Washington, Windsor Cultural Councils, local agencies that are
supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.


About the Playwright: Catherine Trieschmann

WAM Theatre: Debut. Plays: crooked, How the World Began, Hot Georgia Sunday,
The Most Deserving, OZ 2.5. Film:Angel's Crest, Magnolia Pictures. Other:
Her work has been produced Off-Broadway at the Women’s Project, the Bush
Theatre (London), Out of Joint at the Arcola Theatre (London), South Coast
Repertory, the Denver Center for the Performing Arts’ Theatre Company,
Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, American Theater Company, Florida Stage,
Actors Theater of Louisville, the New Theater (Sydney) and the Edinburgh
Fringe Festival, among others. She has received commissions from South
Coast Repertory, Manhattan Theatre Club, and the DCPA Theatre Company.
Awards: L. Arnold Weissberger Award, Edgerton New Play Award, Otis Guernsey
New Voices Award from the William Inge Theater Festival. Online: Columnist
on parenting and playwriting at
http://howlround.com/authors/catherine-trieschmann. Et Cetera: Originally
from Athens, GA, Ms. Trieschmann now resides in a small town in Western
Kansas.

About the Director: Megan Sandberg-Zakian

WAM Theatre: Fresh Takes reading series 2014. Elsewhere: Megan
Sandberg-Zakian is a theater-maker based in Somerville, MA. Favorite recent
projects include: Measure for Measure (Actors Shakespeare Project), a
site-specific staged reading of Our Town at Cambridge’s Mt. Auburn Cemetery
(Underground Railway Theater), the Boston premiere of Tarell McCraney's The
Brother Sister Plays at Company One (IRNE Award: Best Production; IRNE
nominee: Best Director; Elliot Norton Nominee: Outstanding Production), and
the Northeast premiere of Lydia Diamond’s Harriet Jacobs at Underground
Railway Theater (Elliot Norton Nominee: Best New Play; IRNE Nominee: Best
Ensemble, Best Actress). Megan has previously served as the Associate
Artistic Director of Underground Railway Theater (Cambridge, MA), the
Providence Black Repertory Company (RI), and The 52nd Street Project (NYC).
Upcoming: It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play (Merrimack Repertory
Theatre, Dec 2015), The Convert (Underground Railway Theater, Feb 2015).
Training and Awards: Megan is a recipient of the TCG Future Leaders grant,
a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and holds an MFA in
Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. Online: www.megansz.com


<http://www.megansz.com/>

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 to create professional theatrical events for everyone, with a
focus on women theatre artists and/or stories of women and girls.

WAM Theatre also has a philanthropic mission, inspired by the book Half the
Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas
Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, and donates a portion of the proceeds from its
theatrical events to organizations that benefit women and girls.

Over the past five years, WAM Theatre has donated more than $15,000 to
seven nonprofit organizations and provided paid work to more than 100
theatre artists. In addition to the main stage productions and special
events, WAM Theatre’s activities include a comprehensive educational
outreach program and the Fresh Takes Play Reading Series. For more
information, visit www.WAMTheatre.com <http://www.wamtheatre.com/>

###
-- 
Gail M. Burns

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

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

*Thank you for your support!*
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