[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: WAM Theatre Announces Reading of “The Oregon Trail” June 19

[Gail Burns]

May 31, 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 “The Oregon Trail”

Lenox, MA [May 31, 2016] - WAM Theatre is pleased to announce the cast for
the third in their 2016 Fresh Takes Play Reading Series, The Oregon Trail
by Bekah Brunstetter, directed by Estefanía Fadul. The reading will take
place on Sunday, June 19 at 3 pm at No. Six Depot Roastery and Café, 6
Depot Street in West Stockbridge, MA.

Fresh Takes takes pride in introducing new faces and emerging artists to
Berkshire audiences. With the exception of Zoe Laiz, who has appeared in
Fresh Takes Readings in 2014 and 2015, the rest of the cast are making
their WAM Theatre debut.  The cast of The Oregon Trail features Kaleigh
Cerqua (Theatre Institute at Sage’s The Trojan Women and The Wizard of Oz)
as Then Jane; Caleb John Cushing (Classics @ the Point’s The Glass Menagerie
The Theater Barn’s Moon Over Buffalo) as Billy; Zoe Laiz (WAM’s Water By
The Spoonful, Shakespeare & Company’s Twelfth Night) as Jane; John Romeo
(Theatre Institute at Sage’s Christmas Carol, Saratoga Shakespeare Company’s
Macbeth) as Clancy; and Kate Washington (Shakespeare & Company’s Fall
Festival, Austen Riggs Center’s King Lear ) as Mary Ann. For detailed
information on the cast go to: http://www.wamtheatre.com/the-orgeon-trail/

A tale of two young women, both named Jane. One is an awkward middle
schooler with body odor and epic skills for The Oregon Trail computer game.
The other Jane is the woman in the game, living through the hardships of
trail life with her family. Looking at the impact of memory and the legacy
of sadness across generations, the play weaves parallel stories of
survival, and asks the age-old question – do you want to ford the river?
WAM is proud to present Brunstetter’s funny, imaginative and poignant play,
which had it’s world premiere at the 2015 Women’s Voices Theatre Festival
in Washington DC.

Fadul is also making her WAM Theatre and Berkshire area debut. “We are so
excited to have Estefanía directing for WAM,” said WAM Co-Founder and
Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven. “I met her when we participated in
the Lincoln Center Theatre Lab together a few years back. She's a 2015 Fall
Fellow of the Drama League Directors Project
<http://dramaleague.org/programs/directors-project>, a 2014-15 Van Lier
Fellow at Repertorio Español <http://repertorio.nyc/#/>, and the founding
artistic director of Pleiades Productions
<http://www.pleiadesproductions.org/>. We are catching her as she emerges
into what promises to be an outstanding career in theatre.”

“The Oregon Trail is so wonderfully quirky- in the language, the
characters, and even the structure. Bekah Brunstetter has created a unique
world that is at once real and imaginary, human and technological,” Fadul
said, “I also strongly believe in WAM’s mission to support the work of
women artists in the theatre. My own work is very focused on women’s
stories or plays that feature three-dimensional, complex female characters.
Companies like WAM are integral to supporting female voices and making our
stories -which have traditionally been underrepresented on stage-
accessible to an audience of women and men alike.”

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.

After The Oregon Trail, the Fresh Takes Series continues with Samsara by Lauren
Yee on August 21; and Grand Concourse by Heidi Shreck, directed by Sheila
Siragusa, on September 11.

About the Playwright: Bekah Brunstetter

WAM Theatre: Debut. Plays: Oohrah! (Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater) Miss
Lilly Gets Boned (Lark Playwrights Week)To Nineveh (NY Innovative Theater
Award for Best New Full-length Play); Sick(Winner, Sam French Short Play
Festival); Green (Finalist, Alliance Theater’s Kendeda Competition;
National Finalist, Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival;
Semi-finalst, O’Neill); Space (Semi-finalist, Princess Grace Award); I Used
To Write On Walls; Fat Kids On Fire; You May Go Now: A Marriage Play; Arms;
Le Fou; Happy Birthday / I’m Dead (Finalist, Samuel French Short Play
Festival). Venues: Her plays have been read and produced by New York Stage
and Film, Luna Stage, the Babel Theatre Project, The Rattlestick
Playwright’s Theater, the Ohio Theater (Think Tank), New Georges, NYU,
Centenary Stage, NC New Voices, The New School for Drama, Working Man’s
Clothes, Flux Theatre Ensemble, Phare Play Productions, Old Vic/New Voices,
Boston Theatre Works, Manhattan Theatre Source, SPF, The Alliance Theater,
and The Atlantic. Et Cetera: She was the 2009 playwright in residence at
Ars Nova. She is currently working a commission for the Roundabout
Underground and Naked Angels, and the Williamstown Theater Festival.
Training: BA from UNC Chapel Hill and an MFA in Dramatic Writing from the
New School for Drama.

About the Director: Estefanía Fadul

WAM Theatre: Debut. Elsewhere: Directing includes The House of the Spirits(SUNY
Purchase, guest director), Cell (Drama League DirectorFest), Well (Pleiades
Productions), so go the ghosts of méxico and El Laurel de Apolo (Repertorio
Español), Underneath (Around the Block/5D), A Streetcar Named Desire
(Vassar College). Assistant directing includes: Public Theatre, MCC,
Classic Stage Company, OSF, The Flea, PlayMakers. Training: BA Vassar
College, Lincoln Center Theatre Directors Lab. Awards:Drama League
Directors Project Fellowship, Repertorio Español Van Lier Fellowship, Kazan
Prize for Theatre (Vassar). Website: www.estefaniafadul.com.

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/

June 19, 2016

The Oregon Trail

by Bekah Brunstetter

directed by Estefanía Fadul

August 21, 2016

Samsara

by Lauren Yee

Director TBA

September 11, 2016

Grand Concourse

by Heidi Shreck

directed by Sheila Siragusa

OUR SEASON SPONSORS

Our 2016 sponsors include the Adams Community Bank, Brabson Library &
Educational Foundation, Berkshire Magazine, Berkshire Sterile
Manufacturing, 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, 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, RB Design Co., Rouge Restaurant & Bistro, Toole Insurance, A. von
Schlegell & Co., 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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