[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: WAM Theatre Announces Beneficiaries for Fall Mainstage Production

[Gail Burns]

July 20, 2016

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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/

WAM Theatre Announces Beneficiaries  for Fall Mainstage Production

Tickets now on sale

LENOX, MA (July 20, 2016) – Thunderstorms rumbled through Richmond in the
afternoon, but by 6:30 pm it was a picture perfect Berkshire evening on
Thursday, July 14. Jugglers and a brass band welcomed the supporters of WAM
Theatre as they packed the bucolic grounds of Hilltop Orchards in Richmond
to celebrate and support the company’s seventh season at the company’s
successful Stars in the Orchards Benefit Night. The full house was in a
great mood enjoying the tasty hors d’oeuvres catered by the Orchards and
wine made on site at Furnace Winery, amid the vibrant musical stylings of
the Expandable Brass Band. WAM’s inaugural 2016 Girls Ensemble cohort
performed excerpts from their popular new work Miss Labeled, which toured
local schools this spring. Live and silent auctions added to the fun and
the event, produced by Gwendolyn Tunnicliffe, WAM Theatre’s new
Philanthropy and Outreach Coordinator,  raised more than $18,500 for WAM’s
Education programs and the company’s upcoming fall play The Bakelite
Masterpiece by Kate Cayley.

But the highlight of the evening was the opportunity to get a sneak peek at
scenes from The Bakelite Masterpiece, co-produced with the Berkshire
Theatre Group, performed by actors Corinna May and Jim Frangione, Co-
Artistic Director of the Berkshire Playwright’s Lab, filling in for his
friend David Adkins, who will be playing the role in the fall but was
unavailable to read at the WAM benefit. Gala participants also learned the
identity of the charities that will benefit from the production. In keeping
with their double philanthropic mission, WAM Theatre will be donating 25%
of the box office proceeds from The Bakelite Masterpiece to their ninth
beneficiary, the Berkshire Immigrant Center and Suzi Banks Baum.

As WAM Artistic Director, Kristen van Ginhoven, said at the benefit, “In
searching for our 2016 beneficiaries, I looked at The Bakelite Masterpiece
from my personal perspective as the daughter of Dutch immigrants directing
a play about a painting and a country working to rebuild after conflict.
And so the Board and I selected Suzi Banks Baum for her project empowering
women artists in Armenia, and the Berkshire Immigrant Center for their work
helping women and their families navigate a path to a new life with
permanent residence and safety in the United States.”

The company also announced the winners of the inaugural WAMily Awards. So
many people and organizations are incredibly generous advocates of WAM
Theatre, and this year the company has created a way to publicly recognize
a few of them annually with these awards. The 2016 honorees are Vicki
Bonnington, Bruce Garlow, and Greylock Federal Credit Union, all of whom
were in attendance to receive their awards and the gratitude of the
assembled crowd.

About the Berkshire Immigrant Center (BIC)

The mission of the Berkshire Immigrant Center (BIC) is to welcome new
immigrants and refugees and to provide them with the tools and services
needed to integrate into the fabric of their new community.  BIC serves 800
immigrants and their families each year. Each year hundreds of thousands of
immigrants seek assistance across the US with humanitarian based
immigration law. These are mostly women and children and what they all have
in common is that they are seeking refuge and protection from violence they
have experienced abroad or even here in the US at the hands of an abuser.
Unfortunately BIC is not funded to assist these clients; they are often
among the most vulnerable and regardless of whether an attorney is involved
or not- often require the most help and are unable to compensate the Center
for our services. They are dedicated to continue helping these women and
their families navigate a path to permanent residence and safety in the US.
WAM’s donation will make it possible for the Berkshire Immigrant Center to
provide this much needed help to these women and their families.

http://berkshireic.com/

About Suzi Banks Baum

Suzi Banks Baum is a writer, artist, actor, teacher, and community
organizer. She is editor and publisher of An Anthology of Babes: 36 Women
Give Motherhood a Voice. She lives in Great Barrington and produces Out of
the Mouths of Babes: An Evening of Mothers Reading to Others for the
Berkshire Festival of Women Writers. In March of 2016, Suzi visited Gyumri,
Armenia interviewing women artists through affiliation with National
Geographic photographer, John Stanmeyer and 4Plus, an Armenian organization
of female documentary photographers. During her visit, Suzi learned that
the cultural expectations of women form a restrictive structure within
which they struggle to include art making in their lives. Giving these
women voice, telling their stories, and empowering them to begin to tell
theirs is essential to enhancing the quality of Armenian women’s lives.
Suzi’s project is blossoming into a residency in Gyumri in October 2016 to
continue interviewing women, and leading a multidisciplinary workshop to
gather stories and teach the artists the ancient practice of book
building.  WAM’s
donation will help make this trip and compensation for the female artists
possible.

http://www.suzibanksbaum.com/

The Bakelite Masterpiece tickets now on sale

Tickets for The Bakelite Masterpiece are now on sale on the WAM website. The
end of World War II. Holland is in chaos. The artist Han van Meegeren is
arrested. His crime? Selling a long-lost painting by the Dutch Master
Johannes Vermeer to Hermann Goering, Nazi leader. His defense? It was a
perfect forgery painted by him. His proof? In front of his prosecutor (art
historian and resistance fighter) Geert Piller, he must paint another
flawless Vermeer to save his life. A play that debates beauty, faith,
memory and the reconstruction of a country. The cast features Corinna May
and David Adkins.

Performances are scheduled for September 29-October 23 on the Larry Vaber
Stage at the Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre, 6 East Street,
Stockbridge, MA. The opening performance will be Sunday, October 1 at 7 pm.
Tickets are $15-$40. See www.wamtheatre.com/the-bakelite-masterpiece/ for
more information.

Tickets are being sold through the Berkshire Theatre Group (BTG) box office
and can be purchased in three easy ways: by calling the BSC box office at
413-997-4444, going in person during box office hours, or buying online
through the BSC ticketing page.


Quick Facts

The Bakelite Masterpiece

by Kate Cayley

American Premiere

Co-produced by the Berkshire Theatre Group and WAM Theatre

September 29–October 23, $15–$40

Larry Vaber Stage in the Unicorn Theatre

6 East Street, Stockbridge, MA

Ticket info: www.WAMTheatre.com

Cast

David Adkins as Han van Meergeren

Corinna May as Geert Piller

Creative Team

Director: Kristen van Ginhoven

Set Design: Juliana von Haubrich

Costume Design: Deborah Brothers

Lighting Design: Lily Fossner

Sound Design: Brad Berridge

About the Playwright: Kate Cayley

KATE CAYLEY (Playwright) WAM Theatre: Debut. Plays: Tarragon Theatre: After
Akhmatova, The Bakelite Masterpiece; Zuppa Theatre: The Archive of Missing
Things; Stranger Theatre: The Yellow Wallpaper Project, The Counterfeit
Marquise, and what Alice found there, The Hanging of Francoise Laurent.
Books: How You Were Born (short stories), The Hangman in the Mirror (young
adult novel), When This World Comes to an End (poetry), Other Houses
(poetry, forthcoming). Training: University of King’s College, Halifax.
Awards: Trillium Book Award, Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction,
finalist for the Governor General’s Award for Fiction, Chalmers Fellowship.
Online: www.katecayley.ca

About the Director: KRISTEN VAN GINHOVEN

WAM Theatre: In Darfur (New England Premiere), Emilie (New England
Premiere), The Old Mezzo (World Premiere), The Attic, The Pearls and Three
Fine Girls and Melancholy Play. Regional Theatre: The Whale (Adirondack
Theatre Festival), 10 Minute Play Festival (Barrington Stage Company),
Petticoats
of Steel (Capital Repertory Theatre), Footloose (Cohoes Music Hall), Children’s
Hour (Siena College), Vendetta Chrome (Emerson College). Selected assistant
directing: The Physicists, 42nd Street (Stratford Shakespeare Festival of
Canada), Two Men of Florence (Huntington Theatre), Sleuth, Absurd Person
Singular (Barrington Stage Company) Training: Dalhousie University (BA),
Queen’s University (BEd), Emerson College (MA). Et Cetera: Kristen is the
Artistic Director of WAM Theatre, an associate member of the Society of
Stage Directors and Choreographers and a theatre artist for the
International Schools Theatre Association. She was a member of the 2013
Lincoln Center Director’s Lab. Website: www.wamtheatre.com

About the Cast

DAVID ADKINS (Han van Meergeren)

WAM Theatre: David is very pleased to be making his WAM debut in Bakelite
Masterpiece. Elsewhere: He is an Artist Associate at BTG and has performed
in over 20 seasons. David made his Broadway debut at the National Actor’s
Theatre, has worked off Broadway numerous times, and has worked extensively
in resident theaters across the country. TV: David has guessed starred
recently on Blacklist, Elementary, The Good Wife, recurred as George on The
Americans, was in the pilot BlaqJaq (dir.Forest Whitaker), the mini-series Ben
Franklin, and others like Happyish, Law and Order, SVU, Trinity, Chicago
Hope. Training: Juilliard.

CORINNA MAY (Geert Piller)

WAM Theatre: 2011 & 2016 24 Hour Theatre Projects. Elsewhere: Shakespeare &
Company  28+ productions including The Unexpected Man, The Memory of Water,
King Lear, A Winter’s Tale, Twelfth Night, Enchanted April, Roman Fever, An
International Episode, Jack and Jill, Betrayal, Fortune and Misfortune,
House of Mirth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet.
BTF/BTG: Benefactors, Same Time Next Year, Homestead Crossing, Two-headed.
Wharton Salon: The Long Run, Autre Temps. National Tour: The Graduate with
Jerry Hall/Linda Gray/Lorraine Bracco/Kelly McGillis/Morgan Fairchild.
Regional (selected):  Portland Stage Co., Merrimack Rep., Syracuse Stage,
Rep. Theater of St. Louis, Capitol Rep., Studio Arena Theatre. Film: Split
Ends (starring); Rain Without Thunder; Speck’s Last. Television: House of
Cards; Unforgettable; Bourbon Street(pilot); Law & Order; PBS: Evening at
the Pops. Et cetera: Playwright: Dancing with the Czar. Designated
Linklater Voice teacher. Feldenkrais practitioner. Proud to be a union
member: SAG-AFTRA, AEA.

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, 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 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


###

-- 
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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