[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: WAM New Intergenerational Ensemble to Debut FRACTURED DREAMS at July 24 Gala

[Gail Burns]

July 18 , 2019

Contact: Gail Burns, Marketing and Publicity Associate

www.wamtheatre.com <http://www.wamtheatre.com/#_blank>

413.274.8122

Press Photos of the WAM Teen Ensemble:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/albums/72157709564614176

Press Photos of the WAM Elder Ensemble:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre/albums/72157709540832232

WAM New Intergenerational Ensemble to Debut FRACTURED DREAMS at July 24 Gala

Two Additional Public Performances Announced

LENOX, MA (July 18, 2019) — WAM Theatre is thrilled to announce a Berkshire
County Tour of FRACTURED DREAMS—a collaborative devised production between
WAM’s new Elder Ensemble and the Teen Ensemble.  The performance is
comprised of original writing, music, and movement on the theme of dreams
and barriers to dreams, created by the Ensemble members using devised
theatre techniques. These Ensembles have been in residence for two weeks at
The Foundry in West Stockbridge.

Ten women over the age of 65 from all over the Berkshires make up the
inaugural cohort of WAM Theatre’s new Elder Ensemble: Marcia Bernstein, Flo
Brett, Alyce Kaplan, Lee McClelland, Karen McNulty, Deborah Morris, CD
Nelson, Molly Pomerance, Edy Pye, and Nancy Tunnicliffe.

They join WAM’s 2019 Teen Ensemble (whose members are all between the ages
of 13 and 18 years): Makenna Albee, Gracie Baczek, Lola Bennett, Tessa
Hanson, Camille Kenney, Olivia May, Dylan Redd, Ella Saupe, and Alexis
Shandor.

The Ensembles are directed by WAM’s Teaching Artists: Amy Brentano, Sara
Katzoff, Talya Kingston, and Lia Rusell-Self.

“Devising original material gives participants a deep sense of ownership
while allowing them to delve into themes drawing from all of their diverse
talents, interests, personal experiences, wisdom, and bias,” Brentano
explained.

“Very young artists offer fearless leaps into the material, bringing their
hopes and dreams to the theatrical form,” Brentano continued. “Senior
artists bring a depth of vision and delicious narrative to the work, often
offering all of us inspiration while sharing their fierce life force that
reminds us to savor each moment for all its flavor. As a theatre artist,
there is nothing more satisfying than starting from scratch, not knowing
where you will end up, then savoring the surprising, rich result of the
process.”

The premiere of FRACTURED DREAMS will be performed at WAM Theatre’s 10th
Anniversary Gala on Wednesday, July 24th at the Stationery Factory in
Dalton, MA. Tickets for this gala performance are going fast, but can still
be purchased at: https://www.wamtheatre.com/wam-gala-2019/
<https://www.wamtheatre.com/wam-gala-2019/?fbclid=IwAR1eAWIJ3EcC79EMurkS930Nav0fpQ7iMUjXMRCQqQavhJA3lvTiF3F59qc>

Subsequently, FRACTURED DREAMS will be performed on Friday, July 26, at 7pm
at Dewey Memorial Hall in Sheffield, MA.  Tickets for this performance will
be available to purchase at the door for $15.

Then on Sunday, July 28, at 3pm, a performance will be offered in The
Stables at The Mount (Edith Warton’s House) in Lenox, MA.  Tickets for this
performance are $15 (general admission) and $10 for members of The Mount,
available to purchase at the door, or in advance from The Mount’s website:
https://www.edithwharton.org/event/wam-theatre-ensemble
<https://www.edithwharton.org/event/wam-theatre-ensemble/?instance_id=19378&fbclid=IwAR0RZ6v6CyuRbRZvXgBOu7jiBTrK9YiM4s4PhwHxC2E2uGGlqenL0kUArlk>
/

WAM’s Ensemble programs are supported by The Feigenbaum Foundation and The
Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.

AT A GLANCE

The WAM Intergenerational Ensemble presents

FRACTURED DREAMS

Devised by members of the WAM Teen and Elder Ensembles

Under the direction of WAM Teaching Artists Amy Brentano, Sara Katzoff,
Talya Kingston, and Lia Russell-Self

Wednesday, July 24 from 5:30-8:30pm

at the WAM 10th Anniversary Gala

The Stationery Factory

63 Flansberg Avenue, Dalton, MA

https://www.wamtheatre.com/wam-gala-2019/

Friday, July 26 at 7pm

at Dewey Memorial Hall

91 Main Street (Rt. 7), Sheffield, MA

Tickets $15, available at the door

Sunday, July 28 at 3pm

in The Stables at The Mount (Edith Warton’s House)

2 Plunkett Street, Lenox, MA

Tickets $15; $10 for members of The Mount

https://www.edithwharton.org/event/wam-theatre-ensemble
<https://www.edithwharton.org/event/wam-theatre-ensemble/?instance_id=19378&fbclid=IwAR0RZ6v6CyuRbRZvXgBOu7jiBTrK9YiM4s4PhwHxC2E2uGGlqenL0kUArlk>
/

ABOUT WAM’S TEACHING ARTISTS

AMY BRENTANO (Teaching Artist) WAM Theatre: Teaching Artist for WAM’s Teen
Ensemble (Mis-Labelled, What’s That Sound, Seeking Justice, The Boy Who
Cried Wolf), Teaching Artist for In-School Teen Ensemble at Richmond
Consolidated School and Pittsfield High School. Elsewhere: She was the film
and theatre director at Berkshire Country Day School for four years, and
she teaches and directs theatre at Richmond Consolidated School. In the
past she has worked for Berkshire Theatre Group, Barrington Stage
Playwright Mentoring Project, and the Southern Berkshire Regional School
District. Brentano was the Co-artistic Director for Red Earth Ensemble and
Producing Director for Don Quijote Experimental Children’s Theatre at
Lincoln Square Theatre in New York City. She performed under the direction
of Moises Kaufman at Theatre for the New City; and at La MaMa ETC as an
ensemble member of Teatron. She appeared in an original piece at Shire City
in Pittsfield with Kickwheel Ensemble and is currently the Co-Artistic
Director of Bazaar Productions.

SARA KATZOFF (Teaching Artist) WAM Theatre: The Decade Project (10X10 on
10/Upstreet Arts Festival), Everywoman, Facing Our Truth, 24 Hour Theater
Project.  Elsewhere: Artistic Director, Bazaar Productions/The Berkshire
Fringe.  Select Directing/Devising Collaborations: Alexis Scheer’s Laughs
In Spanish (Boston Playwrights Theater), PASSAGE (developed with Kickwheel
Ensemble Theater); The Waypoint (MASS MoCA, artist in residence); The Lathe
of Heaven, (Booth Theater) Beowulf: A Thousand Years of Baggage, Particularly
in the Heartland, The Clean House (Boston University, College of Fine Arts) The
Exonerated, (Guest Artist and lecturer, University at Albany) RIOT, The
Motherf**ker With the Hat, Dog Sees God (Guest Artist, Mass College of
Liberal Arts); This Generation/My Generation, The Second Side (Artistic
Mentor and playwright, Barrington Stage’s PMP program) Training: Dell’Arte
International, Bard College at Simon’s Rock, MFA directing candidate,
Boston University.  For more information, visit sarakatzoff.com

TALYA KINGSTON (Associate Artistic Director and Teaching Artist) WAM Theatre:
Administrator and Teaching Artist for the Teen and Elder Ensemble programs
and Curator for the Fresh Takes Play Reading Series.  Theatre Teaching:
Adjunct Professor of Dramaturgy at UMass, Amherst, Guest Artist at Mount
Holyoke College, Visiting Professor of Theatre at Hampshire College,
Co-Teacher UMass Study Abroad Program at the Edinburgh Festival in
Scotland, Education Director at Hartford Stage, Visiting Professor at
Capital Community College, Educational Program Coordinator at the New
Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco.  Playwriting: Campus Unrest
(2018 Play by Play Festival, finalist in the 2019 Bechtel Test Fest), Wave
Goodbye (reading at Theatre Truck, semi-finalist  for Provincetown
Playhouse’s New Plays for Young Audiences), Sheryl Addresses the PGO (The
New England Monologues Project), Wishing on Satellites. Dramaturgy:
Hartford Stage (Necessary Targets, Write On! Teen Playwrights Series, My
Hartford Teen Performance Ensemble Oral History Project), New York Fringe
Festival (Helmet), Ko Festival (Seriously..  What Did You Call Me? Written
and performed by Onawumi Jean Moss), UMass, Amherst (Gum, Christmas Carol,
Bovver Boys, The Last Five Years, Life is a Dream, Late Style).
Publications: Scene Magazine, Theater Journal, The Moving Voice, European
Stages, Howlround and The Valley Advocate. Training: MFA University of
Massachusetts, Directing Fellow at Julliard. Etc: proud member of the
Northampton Playwrights Lab, and North-East Regional VP for LMDA Literary
Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.

LIA RUSSELL-SELF (Associate Producing Director and Teaching Artist) WAM
Theatre: Teaching Artist for Girls Ensemble (Seeking Justice, What’s That
Sound?), Girls Inc., Teen Ensemble at Reid Middle School (The Boy Who Cried
Wolf), Assistant Stage Manager (Ann), Stage Manager (Swallow), Assistant
Director (The Last Wife). Elsewhere: Lia has been dedicated to creating a
change in the arts scene, one way or another. They have worked with
companies locally in the Berkshires, Chatham/Hudson area, and beyond to
bridge the gaps of arts, activism, and education with companies such as
Flying Cloud (Great Barrington, MA) and WiseBodies (Chatham, NY).  Some of
their favorite projects include: participating in a web series about
college activism (activist, Riverwolf Productions); creating scenes
paralleling biblical stories with current social issues (Gospel of Justice,
Eighty4 Productions) and co-founder/co-Artistic Director of Eighty4
Productions, an all-arts company dedicated to intersectionality. Directing: The
Tempest (Berkshire County Day School), The Typists and The Tiger (Director
and Executive Producer, Eighty4 Productions), Disgraced (Assistant
Director, Chester Theatre Company).  Stage Management: The Tempest: A
Musical (GhostLit Repertory Theatre). Acting: When Last We Flew (Real Live
Theatre), The Virgin Trial, What’s That Sound? (WAM Theatre), Framing
Churches (Performer/Collaborator, Ancram Opera House/Olana State Historic
Site). Training: BA in Theatrical Studies and Creative Writing, Bard
College at Simon’s Rock.

WAM 10th Anniversary Sponsors

WAM’s 2019 sponsors include Adams Community Bank, Annie Selke, Berkshire
Gas, Berkshire Hand to Shoulder Center, Berkshire Magazine, Berkshire
Sterile Manufacturing, Blue Q, Blue Spark Financial, Brabson Library &
Educational Foundation, Canyon Ranch, Chez Nous, Custom Business Solutions,
Dr, Jay Wise, DDS and Dr. Casey Jones, DMD, The Dylandale Foundation,
Frankie's Ristorante Italiano, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Guido’s Fresh
Marketplace, Haven Cafe and Bakery, Health Professional Coaching, Heller &
Robbins, Interprint, J.H. Maxymillian, Inc., Lee Bank, Maggie Barry, New
England Public Radio (NEPR), Massachusetts Cultural Council, Only in My
Dreams Events, Onyx Specialty Papers, OUTPOST, RB Design Co., The Rogovoy
Report, The Rookwood Inn, Salisbury Bank, 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, Cultural Council of Northern Berkshires, Hinsdale-Peru
Cultural Council, Lenox Cultural Council, New Marlborough Cultural Council,
Otis Cultural Council, Richmond Cultural Council, Sandisfield Cultural
Council, Sheffield Cultural Council, Washington Cultural Council, West
Stockbridge Cultural Council—local agencies that are supported by the
Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

LADY RANDY was sponsored in part by an anonymous donor and PIPELINE is
sponsored in part by Carolyn Butler.

ABOUT WAM THEATRE

Based in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, WAM Theatre is celebrating its
10th anniversary of being a place 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 provided paid work to more than 200 theatre
artists and donated more than $65,700 to 17 local and global organizations
taking action for women and girls in areas such as girls education, teen
pregnancy prevention, sexual trafficking awareness, midwife training and
more. 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/>

###


-- 
Gail M. Burns

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

My gender pronouns: She/Her/Hers

*Our 10th Anniversary Season!*
 Lady Randy <https://www.wamtheatre.com/lady-randy/> | Fresh Takes
<https://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes-2019/> | WAM Gala 2018
<https://www.wamtheatre.com/wam-gala-2019/> | Pipeline
<https://www.wamtheatre.com/pipeline/>


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