[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: WAM Theatre Girls Ensemble Presents “Miss Labeled” May 11 in Lee

[Gail Burns]

April 26, 2016

Contact: Gail Burns, Marketing and Publicity Associate

www.wamtheatre.com

pr at wamtheatre.com; 518.243.9627

Girls Ensemble performance photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/sets/72157662351798771

Video of December 2015 Girls Ensemble performance

:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYsmHxYqEcI&feature=em-upload_owner


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WAM Theatre Inaugural Girls Ensemble Presents “Miss Labeled” May 11 in Lee

“We envision a world where young women aspire to become confident leaders
in their communities”

Lenox, MA [April 26, 2016] - The Inaugural Cohort of WAM Theatre’s Girls
Ensemble program will be presenting a public performance of their original
theatre piece, Miss Labeled, on Wednesday, May 11 at 7:30 pm at the
Spectrum Playhouse, 20 Franklin Street, in Lee, MA. Miss Labeled focuses on
the labels young girls feel they are given by society and their peers. It
explores issues such as bullying, domestic violence and school dress codes
and is suitable for ages 10 and up. The performance is free of charge and
open to the public.

Beginning in September, 2015, six young women ages 14-20, selected by
audition,  met on Saturday afternoons to create this new piece of devised
theatre under the leadership of WAM teaching artists Amy Brentano and Barby
Cardillo. Devised theatre is a collaborative process where the participants
use different theatre techniques to create original material around a
chosen starting point. Participants in this inaugural cohort hale from
Lenox, Lee, Dalton, North Adams, Pittsfield, and Richmond, Massachusetts.

At this performance the roles will be played by five area actresses: Iris
Courchaine, a Lee High School sophomore; Brittany Dorwin, a recent graduate
of McCann Technical School; School; Siena Gamberoni, an eighth-grader at
Richmond Consolidated School; Isabelle Lapierre, an eighth grader at St.
Agnes School in Dalton; and Claudia Maurino, a ninth-grader at Monument
Mountain Regional High.

“Devising original work from scratch with a group of young women who’ve
never worked together before is at once courageous and inspiring,” Brentano
explained. “Delving into the process not knowing the final outcome creates
a unique, delicious tension that results in unexpected discoveries and a
tight ensemble. Taking the show on tour has presented the opportunity for
the actors to continue developing the material as they receive information
from our talkbacks.”

“The girls engaged in impassioned discussions as they improvised scenes and
wrote monologues,” Cardillo said.  “Amy and I have had the pleasure to
guide and direct these girls as they created an exciting theatre piece that
includes music, dance, and text. This has been one of the best educational
theatre experiences I’ve ever had. I found it really inspiring.”

“I hope this show will encourage people to take a step back and reflect on
how gender stereotypes have affected their lives and to think about what
they can do to alter the labels we give to each other and ourselves every
day,” said Ensemble member Claudia Maurino.

The inaugural cohort, which included Dorwin, Lapierre, and Maurino, gave
their first public sharing of Miss Labled on December 11, 2015 at the
Elayne Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Company, followed by a school
tour  to Lenox Memorial High School, Richmond Consolidated  School, and
Hoosac Valley High School this spring. An excerpt will also be performed at
WAM’s Stars in the Orchards Benefit on July 14 at Hilltop Orchards in
Richmond, MA.

If you or a young woman of your acquaintance would like to be part of
future WAM Education programs, we will be offering summer and fall Girls
Ensemble Junior programs for ages 8-12 at IS183 Art School of the
Berkshires in Stockbridge, MA. Dates and costs will be announced soon.
Auditions for the 2017 Girls Ensemble Cohort will be held in December of
2016. Visit http://www.wamtheatre.com/wam-education/ for more information.

Seed funding for this program has been provided by multi-year grants from
the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Greylock Federal Credit Union, the
Dylandale Foundation, the Lenox Education Enrichment Fund, the
International Schools Theatre Association (ISTA) and Petricca Industries as
well as a grant from the Feigenbaum Foundation, Interprint and various
local cultural councils.

Additionally, the Girls Ensemble is an ISTA endorsed project. Based in the
United Kingdom, ISTA brings together young people, artists and teachers
from different countries in different settings to experience, create and
learn about theatre. ISTA produces over 50 international arts events each
year. WAM Theatre aims to bring our Girls Ensemble participants to an ISTA
event within the first five years of our after school program being
launched in 2015. www.ISTA.co.uk <http://www.ista.co.uk/>

AT A GLANCE

May 11, 2016

Miss Labeled

Created and Performed by The Inaugural WAM Girls Ensemble Cohort

Led by Teaching Artists Amy Brentano and Barby Cardillo

Featuring Iris Courchaine, Brittany Dorwin, Siena Gamberoni, Isabelle
Lapierre, and Claudia Maurino

Wednesday, May 11 at 7:30 pm

at the Spectrum Playhouse, 20 Franklin Street, Lee, MA

Miss Labeled runs about 40 minutes and is suitable for ages 10 and up.

The Girls Ensemble program, the school tour, and this performance are
presented free of charge thanks to the generous support of the Feigenbaum
Foundation,  Brabson Library and Education Foundation, Lenox Education
Enrichment Fund and other generous donors.

Miss Labeled focuses on the labels young girls feel they are given by
society and their peers. It explores issues such as bullying, domestic
violence and school dress codes.

The WAM Girls Ensemble is comprised of girls aged 13-20 selected by
audition from throughout Berkshire County. Under the leadership of WAM
teaching artists Barby Cardillo and Amy Brentano, the inaugural cohort of
girls devised this original show last fall. They used different theatre
techniques to create material around their chosen starting point, sharing
the girls’ own perspectives and stories as part of the process. A
successful performance at Shakespeare & Company's Bernstein Theatre in
December led to a spring tour of local schools and is now concluding with
this second public performance.

Cast and Creative Team:

ABOUT AMY BRENTANO

WAM Theatre: Debut as a teaching artist for WAM’s Girls’ Ensemble this
fall. Elsewhere: Film and theatre director at Berkshire Country Day School
for four years, teaches and directs theatre at Richmond Consolidated
School, Barrington Stage Company’s Playwright Mentoring Project, Berkshire
Theatre Group and the Southern Berkshire Regional School District. Training:
BFA/NYU Experimental Theatre Wing, Spalding Gray, Anne Bogart, Moshe
Feldenkrais. Et cetera: Co-artistic director for Red Earth Ensemble,
producing Director for Don Quijote Experimental Children’s Theatre at
Lincoln Square Theatre, National Shakespeare Co., performed with director
Moises Kaufman at Theatre for the New City, La MaMa ETC as an ensemble
member of Teatron.

ABOUT BARBY CARDILLO

(Teaching Artist and WAM Education Associate) is a professional performer
and teaching artist and also holds a BA in social work from MCLA. She came
to WAM in 2011 having been cast in the mainstage production of The Attic,
the Pearls and Three Fine Girls. Also for WAM, she has performed in the
Fresh Takes Series, The 24 Hour Theatre Project, the WordXWord Festival and
the 10X10 Arts Festival As a teaching artist, Barby has been creating and
directing drama workshops and productions in the Berkshires since 1992.
With Shakespeare and Company she has directed Shakespeare productions at
many area elementary, middle and high schools. She worked for  “Shakespeare
in the Courts” for six years directing productions with adjudicated youth
as a part of an alternative sentencing program. For 10 summers she was the
Director of the Theatre Program at Camp Hawthorne in Maine. She directed
kids 10-17 in a full -length production every summer. For 8 years, Ms.
Cardillo was the drama instructor at the Valleyhead School, a residential
treatment facility for girls aged 12-20 who have experienced severe
psychological trauma. Her work with the girls was part of a comprehensive
therapeutic arts program designed to heal through creative expression using
visual and performing arts. Barby has worked since 1999 with Community
Access to the Arts (CATA) an organization whose mission it is to celebrate
and nurture the creativity of people with disabilities through shared
experiences in the arts. She creates and implements workshops for adults
and teens with developmental disabilities in multiple settings throughout
the Berkshires. As an Artistic Mentor with the Barrington Stage Company,
Barby has lead groups of teens in creating theatre from their own stories
as part of the award winning Playwright Mentoring Project (PMP). Barby was
also the creator and teacher for the K.E.W.L (kids entertained while
learning) Beanz, high school improv troupes that she has taught at Drury
High, Pittsfield High, Taconic High and Hillcrest Educational Center. She
has been seen on stage in many varied roles with WAM Theatre, Aglet
Theatre, Berkshire Theatre Group, Shakespeare & Company, Berkshire Fringe
Festival, Mixed Company, Castle Hill Family Theatre and the Boston
Playwrights Theatre as well as being a founding member of the Royal
Berkshire Improv Troupe and a player with “The Majesters” an improv group
in West Springfield.

OUR SEASON SPONSORS

Our 2016 sponsors include the  Brabson Library & Educational Foundation,
Berkshire Magazine, Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing, Dylandale Foundation,
Feigenbaum Foundation, Greylock Federal Credit Union, International Schools
Theatre Association, Jon Gotterer DMD, Lenox Education Enrichment Fund,
 Massachusetts Cultural Council, MAXYMILLIAN Technologies, Nina Molin MD,
No. Six Depot Roastery and Café, The Sherman Investment Group-RBC Wealth
Management, Petricca Industries, Pittsfield Cooperative Bank, Regina
Burgio, Rouge Restaurant & Bistro, and A. von Schlegell & Co.

WAM Theatre is also supported in part by grants from the Lenox,
Alford-Egremont, Pittsfield Cultural Council, Cultural Council of Northern
Berkshires , Washington Cultural Council, Monterey Cultural Council,
Stockbridge Cultural Council, West Stockbridge Cultural Council, Richmond
Cultural Council – local agencies that are supported by the Massachusetts
Cultural Council, a state agency.

ABOUT WAM THEATRE

Based in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, WAM Theatre is Where Arts and
Activism Meet. The company was co-founded in 2010 by Canadian director,
actor, educator, and producer Kristen van Ginhoven. WAM’s vision is to
create opportunity for women and girls through the mission of theatre as
philanthropy.

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

Over the past six years, WAM Theatre has donated more than $21,000 to eight
nonprofit organizations and provided paid work to more than 175 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

# # #

-- 
Gail M. Burns

*Marketing + Publicity Associate*
www.WAMTheatre.com <http://www.wamtheatre.com/>
413-274-8122

*Our 7th Season:*Special  <http://www.wamtheatre.com/special/>| 24hr Project
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/2016-24-hour-theatre-project/> | Fresh Takes
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes-2016/> | Stars in the Orchard
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/stars-in-the-orchard-2016/> | Bakelite
Masterpiece <http://www.wamtheatre.com/the-bakelite-masterpiece/>

Make a donation now
<https://app.etapestry.com/onlineforms/WAMTheatreInc/donate.html> to WAM
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