[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: WAM Theatre Announces Casting for Fresh Takes Reading of “Grand Concourse”

[Gail Burns]

August 30, 2016

Contact: Gail Burns, Marketing and Publicity Associate

www.wamtheatre.com

pr at wamtheatre.com; 518.243.9627

Press Photos can be found at:

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

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WAM Theatre Announces Casting for Fresh Takes Reading of “Grand Concourse”

Lenox, MA [August 30, 2016] - WAM Theatre is pleased to announce the cast
for the last of their 2016 Fresh Takes Play Reading Series, Grand Concourse
by Heidi Schreck, directed by Sheila Siragusa. The reading will take place on
Sunday, September 11 at 3 pm at No. Six Depot Roastery and Café, 6 Depot
Street in West Stockbridge, MA.

Called to a life of service, Shelley is the devoted manager of a Bronx soup
kitchen, but lately her heart’s not in it. Enter Emma: an idealistic but
confused young volunteer, whose recklessness pushes Shelley to the breaking
point. With keen humor and startling compassion, Schreck’s play navigates
the mystery of faith, the limits of forgiveness, and the pursuit of
happiness. WAM Theatre is pleased to share a play which was a nominee for
the 2015 Lucille Lortel Award and a finalist for the 2015 Susan Smith
Blackburn Prize.

The cast includes Thomas Brazzle (Merchant of Venice, Two Gentlemen of
Verona; Shakespeare & Company), Maconnia Chesser (The Revolutionists,
Marianne Angelle) as Shelley, Maizy Scarpa (Fresh Takes: The Tall Girls; 24
Hour Theatre Project, playwright) as Emma, and Walton Wilson (Shakespeare &
Company; Berkshire Theatre Group) as Frog. Wilson is making his WAM Theatre
debuts. For detailed information on the cast go to:
http://www.wamtheatre.com/grand-concourse/

“I'm  excited to participate in the staging of this play at a time in which
discourse around one’s ability to ‘do good” in our world is increasingly
complex,” Siragusa explained. “In Grand Concourse, Schreck brilliantly
upends our assumptions while treating us to deep characterization and
beautifully penned dialogue.”

Since 2014 the Fresh Takes series has been introducing Berkshire audiences
to ground-breaking works by established women playwrights, focusing on
relevant, provocative, uplifting plays that encourage dialogue and deal
with current and controversial issues in artful ways. The 2016 Fresh Takes
season is sponsored by No. Six Depot and Kristin and James Hatt.

About the Playwright: Heidi Schreck

WAM Theatre: Debut. Plays: Her first play Creature was produced in New York
in by New Georges and Page 73 in a well-received production directed by
Leigh Silverman; her second There Are No More Big Secrets, directed by Kip
Fagan, premiered at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, and was a New York
Magazine and Time Out New York’s Critic’s pick. Most recently, The Long
Wharf produced her dark recession-era comedy, The Consultant, which was
developed at Playwrights and also directed by Fagan. Et Cetera:  A former
Page 73 Playwriting Fellow and Sundance artist, Heidi is currently working
on commissions for South Coast Repertory Theatre, Manhattan Theatre
Club/Sloan Foundation, and True Love Productions. Grand Concourse marks her
return to Playwrights Horizons after appearing as an actor in Annie
Baker’s Circle
Mirror Transformation (Theatre World Award) in 2010. She is also a two-time
Obie Award-winning actor and has also performed extensively at theaters
such as The Public (Shakespeare in the Park), Manhattan Theatre Club,
Two-Headed Calf, The Foundry, Clubbed Thumb, The Women’s Project, The
Roundabout, Williamstown, Berkeley Rep and Center Theatre Group. On
television, Heidi has appeared on The Good Wife, SVU, and Showtime’s Nurse
Jackie, where she has also worked as a writer. Heidi is Playwrights
Horizons’ first Tow Foundation playwright in residence.

About the Director: Sheila Siragusa

WAM Theatre: Debut. Elsewhere: Is co-founder and director of The August
Company, directing first folio Shakespeare with Taming of the Shrew, King
Lear, Much Ado About Nothing,Twelfth Night and As You Like It.  Other
credits with August Company: OnWords: Gone, OnWords: Chekhov and
Santacide Chester
Theatre Company:  Mercy of a Storm, Memory House, Blackbird, An Iliad and
the New England premiere of Marilyn Campbell and Curt Columbus’s adaptation
of Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. Abingdon Theatre Company: Personals.
New Century Theatre: Sunset Limited and The How and the Why. She worked on
Harley Erdman and Eric Sawyer’s original opera The Garden of Martyrs and
directed Opera: On the Air at the University of Massachusetts. Sheila is a
founding member of the KO Festival of Performance, at which she acted,
directed, wrote and composed in several productions. Awards: Received the
Social Justice Theatre award from The Kennedy Center for her original
play Water,
a movement/theatre piece about privatization of natural resources.

AT A GLANCE

Fresh Takes Play Reading Series

Curated by WAM Theatre’s Artistic Associate Molly Clancy and hosted by No.
Six Depot Roastery and Café on 6 Depot Street in West Stockbridge, MA, on
select Sundays at 3 pm.

The 2016 Fresh Takes series is sponsored by No. Six Depot Roastery and Café
and Kristin and James Hatt.

There are only 30 tickets available per reading. Tickets are $20, which
includes a post-show conversation and the opportunity to meet the cast and
director. Refreshments will be available for purchase at the Café. For
tickets and more information visit:

http://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes-2016/

September 11, 2016

Grand Concourse

by Heidi Schreck

directed by Sheila Siragusa

OUR SEASON SPONSORS

WAM Theatre is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support
from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National
Endowment for the Humanities. Our 2016 sponsors include the Adams Community
Bank, Brabson Library & Educational Foundation, Berkshire Magazine,
Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing, Canyon Ranch, Custom Business Solution,
Dylandale Foundation, Feigenbaum Foundation, Garden Gables, Greylock
Federal Credit Union, Guido's Fresh Marketplace, International Schools
Theatre Association, Interprint, Dr. Jay Wise, DDS & Dr. Casey Jones, DMD,
 Jon Gotterer DMD, Keator Group, LLC, Lee Bank, Lenox Education Enrichment
Fund, Massachusetts Cultural Council, MAXYMILLIAN Technologies, Nina Molin
MD, No. Six Depot Roastery and Café, Petricca Industries, Pittsfield
Cooperative Bank, RB Design Co., The Rookwood Inn, Rouge Restaurant &
Bistro, Toole Insurance, A. von Schlegell & Co., The Sherman Investment
Group-RBC Wealth Management, and Zabian's Fine Jewelers.

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
Theatre!
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