[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: Williamstown Theatre Festival Hosts WAM Theatre Fresh Takes Reading August 1

[Gail Burns]

June 6, 2017

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Gail Burns, Marketing and Publicity Associate

www.wamtheatre.com

pr at wamtheatre.com; 413-274-8122

Press Photos can be found at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/sets/72157648698789976/>



Williamstown Theatre Festival Hosts WAM Theatre Fresh Takes Reading August 1



LENOX, MA (June 6, 2017) -  On Tuesday, August 1 at 5 pm, the Williamstown
Theatre Festival will host a WAM Theatre Fresh Takes Play Reading of Smart
People by Lydia R. Diamond at the Clark Art Institute.  The reading will be
directed by WAM's Artistic Director, Kristen van Ginhoven. Tickets are free
but reservations are recommended.

Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director of Williamstown Theatre Festival said,
"We are thrilled to host Kristen van Ginhoven and WAM for a reading at the
Festival this summer.  We look forward to supporting her wonderful work to
benefit women and girls."

In Smart People, it is the eve of Obama's first election in 2008. Four of
Harvard University's brightest - a surgeon, an actress, a psychologist, and
a neuro-psychiatrist - are all interested in different aspects of the
brain, particularly how it responds to race. But like all smart people,
they are also searching for love, success, and identity in their own lives.
Lydia  R. Diamond brings these characters together in this sharp, witty
play about social and sexual politics.

“Since 2014, WAM’s Fresh Takes play reading series have given a stage to
ground-breaking works that tell women’s stories which have been
successfully presented elsewhere but are new to our Berkshire audiences,”
says WAM’s Artistic Director, Kristen van Ginhoven. “The series, curated by
Molly Clancy, explores the work of provocative contemporary voices and is
normally presented at the No. Six Depot Roastery and Cafe in West
Stockbridge. We are excited to bring Fresh Takes to a new location at the
Clark for this special free reading hosted by Williamstown Theatre
Festival.”

This play reading will be held in the auditorium of The Clark Art, (225
South Street in Williamstown, MA.  The auditorium is located in the Manton
Research Center on Clark Art Institute campus .  The Clark recommends
patrons park in the Main Lot and walk down the path to the Manton building.

More information, including how to book your free tickets, can be found on
the WAM Theatre website. http://www.wamtheatre.com/wtf-reading/

AT A GLANCE

August 1, 2017, at 5 pm

Smart People

by Lydia R. Diamond

directed by Kristen van Ginhoven

At the Clark Art Institute, 225 South Street, Williamstown, MA

Admission free

http://www.wamtheatre.com/wtf-reading/

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: LYDIA R. DIAMOND

LYDIA R. DIAMOND Award winning Plays include: Smart People, Stick Fly,
Voyeurs de Venus, The Bluest Eye, The Gift Horse, Harriet Jacobs, The
Inside, and Stage Black. Theatres include: Arena Stage, Cort Theatre
(Broadway), Chicago Dramatists, Company One, Congo Square, Goodman,
Hartford Stage, Huntington, Jubilee, Kansas City Rep, Long Wharf, Lorraine
Hansberry, McCarter, Mo’Olelo, MPAACT, New Vic, Playmakers Rep, Plowshares,
Second Stage, Steppenwolf, and TrueColors. Commissions include: Arena
Stage, Steppenwolf (4), McCarter, Huntington, Center Stage, Victory Gardens
and The Roundabout. A recipient of many playwriting awards, Lydia was also
an ’05/’06 W.E.B. Du Bois Institute non-resident Fellow, a 2007 TCG/NEA
Playwright in Residence at Steppenwolf, an 06/07 Huntington Playwright
Fellow, a 2012 Sundance Institute Playwright Lab Creative Advisor, is a
Board Member at Chicago Dramatists, and a 2012/2013 Radcliffe Institute
Fellow. Lydia is an NU graduate (’91), has an Honorary Doctorate of Arts
from Pine Manor College and is 2013-14 Playwright in Residence at Arena
Stage.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: KRISTEN van GINHOVEN

WAM Theatre: The Bakelite Masterpiece, 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 Elsewhere: I and
You (Chester
Theatre), Waxworks (Williams College), 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 a
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 and is a member of the Michael
Langham Workshop for Classical Direction at the Stratford Festival of
Canada. Kristen is the co-founder and Artistic Director of WAM Theatre.
Website: www.WAMTheatre.com <http://www.wamtheatre.com/>

ABOUT WILLIAMSTOWN THEATRE FESTIVAL

Since 1955, the Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought America's finest
actors,

directors, designers, and playwrights to the Berkshires, engaging a loyal
audience of both

residents and summer visitors. Each WTF season is designed to present unique

opportunities for artists and audience alike, revisiting classic plays with
innovative

productions, developing and nurturing bold new plays and musicals, and
offering a rich

array of accompanying cultural events including Free Theatre, Late-Night
Cabarets,

readings, workshops, and educational programs. With offices in both
Williamstown and

New York City, WTF creates vibrant work that feeds the wider theatrical
landscape. The

artists and productions shaped at the Festival each summer often go on to
reach diverse

audiences nationally and internationally. WTF is also home to of the
nation’s top training

and professional development programs for new generations of aspiring
theatre artists and administrators. WTF was honored with the Tony Award for
Outstanding Regional Theatre

in 2002 and the Commonwealth Award for Achievement in 2011.

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.

Since 2010, WAM Theatre has donated more than $32,500 to twelve nonprofit
organizations and provided paid work to more than 200 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>

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; and by the Massachusetts Cultural Council
Cultural. Our 2017 sponsors include Adams Community Bank, the
Appelbaum-Kahn Foundation, Berkshire Magazine, Berkshire Sterile
Manufacturing, Blue Q, Brabson Library & Educational Foundation, Canyon
Ranch, Custom Business Solutions, The Dylandale Foundation, The Feigenbaum
Foundation, Futures Education, the Garden Gables Inn, Greylock Federal
Credit Union, Guido’s Fresh Marketplace, In Touch Printing, International
Schools Theatre Association, Interprint, Dr. Jay Wise, DDS & Dr. Casey
Jones, DMD,  Lee Bank, Massachusetts Cultural Council, MAXYMILLIAN
Technologies, Methuselah Bar and Lounge, No. Six Depot Roastery and Café,
RB Design Co., Redfin, The Rookwood Inn, Rouge Restaurant & Bistro, The Dr.
Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation, T Square Design Studio, Toole
Insurance, and a. von schlegell & co.

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

# # #


-- 
Gail M. Burns

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

*Our 8th Season:*  <http://www.wamtheatre.com/special/>
Fresh Takes <http://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes-2017/> | Emilie
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/emilie-remount-2017/>| Stars in the Orchard
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/stars-in-the-orchard-2017> | The Last Wife
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/the-last-wife/> | Leadership Summit
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/berkshire-leadership-summit-2017/>


Make a donation now <https://www.wamtheatre.com/donateonline/> to WAM
Theatre!
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