[Capdist-announce] PRESS RELEASE: WAM Theatre Announces Beneficiary and Education Outreach for Spring Mainstage Production

[Gail Burns]

March 14, 2019

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/wamtheatre2/albums/72157705686170354

WAM Theatre Announces  Beneficiary and Education Outreach for Spring
Mainstage Production

LENOX, MA (March 14, 2019) – WAM Theatre has announced that local
organization Tapestry was selected from a pool of applicants to be the
primary beneficiary of WAM’s spring Mainstage World Premiere production of Lady
Randy - a delightfully dizzying romp through the life of Jennie Jerome,
mother of Winston Churchill, written by and starring Anne Undeland. In
keeping with its double philanthropic mission, WAM Theatre will be donating
a portion of the box office proceeds from Lady Randy to Tapestry after
their closing performance on May 5. To date, WAM has donated $56,500 to its
fifteen beneficiaries.

Since its inception in 1973, Tapestry has been the sole provider of
low-cost, federally-funded (Title X) reproductive health care and family
planning services in Berkshire County. Tapestry will use WAM’s donation to
provide training to staff to improve their services to marginalized
communities.

Additionally, in a continuation of WAM’s commitment to organizations that
help women and girls globally,  $1,000 from Lady Randy will be donated to
The Mooncatcher Project, which provides free reusable, washable menstrual
pads to girls in the poorest communities worldwide. These pads provide a
way for girls to stay in school while menstruating, giving them a greater
chance of completing their education. WAM’s $1,000 donation will provide
200 menstrual kits to Mooncatcher’s work in Haiti, the Democratic Republic
of Congo, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Ghana, Malawi, Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan and
India.

“Sexual health gets short shrift in terms of resources and support, and
that is a big part of what I try to explore in Lady Randy,” playwright and
actor Anne Undeland explained. “When people, especially women, have better
control over their sexual and reproductive health, they have better control
over their lives. As a small, local organization, WAM's contribution to
Tapestry will make a big difference. I couldn't be more pleased with the
choice.”

The 2019 beneficiaries were chosen after a rigorous selection process,
including a request for proposals and site visits, overseen by a committee
at WAM comprised of Kristen van Ginhoven (WAM Artistic Director), Dori
Parkman (WAM General Manager), Margaret Fluhr (WAM Board Member), Wendy
Healey (WAM Board President), and Lia Russell-Self (WAM Teaching Artist).

Also announced is the series of free education outreach opportunities for Lady
Randy audience members organized by WAM Associate Artistic Director Talya
Kingston. The series begins with a talkback with Undeland and director Jim
Frangione following the matinee on Sunday, April 21.

After the matinee on Saturday, April 28, Kingston will moderate a panel
discussion featuring Undeland, Anne Schuyler, (director, The Mount), Lise
Sanders (Professor of Literature and Cultural Studies, Hampshire College)
and Naomi Miller (Professor of English and the Study of Women and Gender,
Smith College).

And on Saturday, May 4 a Fresh Takes Play Reading of Native Gardens by
Karen Zacarías will take place at 3pm, with a performance of Lady Randy
scheduled for 7:30 that evening. A perfect opportunity for audience members
to make a day of it in Lenox! For tickets for Native Gardens visit:
https://www.wamtheatre.com/nativegardens/

Finally, on the closing performance on Sunday, May 5, there will be a
chance to meet representatives of Tapestry and Mooncatcher and hear more
about how WAM’s donation will impact their work. This conversation will be
followed by the check presentation ceremony which all are welcome to attend.

About Tapestry

Founded in 1973 by women committed to the belief that high quality,
confidential, and affordable reproductive health care was a necessity,
Tapestry is rooted in the principles of compassionate, confidential,
non-judgmental care for all. Since its inception, the agency has been the
sole provider of low cost, federally-funded (Title X) reproductive health
care and family planning services in Berkshire County. Each year
reproductive health education, counseling, and clinical care is provided to
approximately 1,100 people in Berkshire County. In 2018, a majority of
these people were female (82%), aged 25 or less (73%), and were
economically disadvantaged (70%). As the only provider of confidential,
family planning services in Berkshire County, the agency prioritizes
clinical services for young people, uninsured and underinsured individuals,
regardless of income, race, gender identity or sexual orientation.

Today, Tapestry provides services which include sexual and reproductive
health care, syringe access and disposal, overdose prevention and
education, overdose reversal medication access and training, PrEP
(Pre-exposure prophylaxis for individuals at high risk for HIV and
providing new mothers and their children with nutritional education and
support, including 24-hour-a-day breastfeeding help throughout all of
Western Massachusetts. https://www.tapestryhealth.org/

About WAM’s spring production of Lady Randy



In 1875, the American heiress, Jennie Jerome, seemed to have have it all.
She had married an English lord, she was young, rich and beautiful, and she
had just given birth to Winston Churchill. Lady Randy takes us on a
dizzying ride through the treacherous, kaleidoscopic sexual and political
landscape of her marriage.  A woman ahead of her time, Jennie kept everyone
watching, kept them guessing, and she never, ever surrendered.



Playwright Anne Undeland stars, Mark Zeisler plays all the supporting
roles. Jim Frangione directs.

Performances of Lady Randy are scheduled for April 18-May 5, 2019, at
Shakespeare & Company’s Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre, 70 Kemble St, Lenox, MA.
Preview tickets for the April 18 & 19 performances at 7:30 pm are $10-$30.
Tickets for the rest of the run start at $30 and are available at the
Shakespeare & Company Box Tuesday-Saturday 11 am -3 pm, by calling
413-637-3353 or online at https://www.wamtheatre.com/ladyrandy/

In celebration of their 10th Anniversary Season, WAM will offer ten $10
tickets at every single Mainstage performance during the 2019 season on a
first-come, first-serve basis.

For more information on Lady Randy, visit:
https://www.wamtheatre.com/ladyrandy/

About WAM’s 10 Anniversary Season

In addition to Lady Randy, WAM’s 10th anniversary season includes a fall
Mainstage production of Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau, presented in
partnership with Multicultural BRIDGE, which runs October 25-November 9.
Two Fresh Takes Play Readings - Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías (May 4)
and Paradise by Laura Maria Censabella (November 2) -  will correlate
directly to each Mainstage production; and an expanded Education program
will include a new Elder Ensemble for women 65 and older, along with the
successful, established Teen Ensemble, both of which will debut their
original devised theatre pieces at the WAM Gala in July.

For more information about WAM’s 10th Anniversary Season visit:

https://www.wamtheatre.com/2019-season/

Quick Facts

Lady Randy

World Premiere

by Anne Undeland

Directed by Jim Frangione

Starring Anne Undeland

with Mark Zeisler

April 18-May 5, 2019

at Shakespeare & Company’s Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre

70 Kemble St, Lenox, MA

About the Playwright: Anne Undeland

WAM Theatre: Lady Randy. Facing our Truth. Writing: As a playwright Anne is
an active member of Berkshire Voices, Berkshire Playwrights Lab’s writing
group, and Howl Playwrights out of Rhinebeck, NY. Her short plays, The Kiss
and Another Party of the Wood, were selected for BPL’s Radius Festival in
2018 and 2019. The Kiss won best play at Writer’s Voice Ten Minute Play
Festival at the West Side Y in New York in the spring of 2018. She is
currently at work on Touch, an evening of sketches that feature, in a
quietly revolutionary way, a woman over 45 who drives the action and gets
the bulk of the funny lines. Lady Randy is her first full length play.
Online: www.anneundeland.com.

About the Director: Jim Frangione

Jim Frangione WAM Theatre: debut. Elsewhere: He was founder and co-artistic
director of the Berkshire Playwrights Lab, directing and developing many
new plays, including Lady Randy, which came out of the BPL Writer’s Group.
He directed David Mamet’s play Romance at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater;
Seriously Funny: An Evening of Short Plays by Mamet, Shel Silverstein and
Harold Pinter at the Harvard/ART Institute for Advanced Theater Training;
and Private Life at HERE Arts Center in New York City. Playwriting: His
play Flight of the Monarch recently received its world premiere at
Gloucester Stage Company. Acting: Jim has acted for over 30 years with the
Atlantic Theater Company, in National Tours and in many regional theaters
such as The Alley Theatre, The Mark Taper Forum, Long Wharf Theatre and
Berkshire Theatre Festival. Most recently he appeared in David Mamet’s
Prairie Du Chien at Atlantic, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike at
Shakespeare & Company and The Delling Shore at the Humana Festival of New
American Plays. Film/TV: Joy, Transamerica, Spartan, Heist, State and Main,
The Spanish Prisoner, Homicide, Suits, Claire Dolan and Maryam. Recording:
Jim is an award-winning audiobook narrator with over 300 titles to his
credit.

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, 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 is 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 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 $56,500 to fifteen 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 9th Season:
Fresh Takes <http://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes-2018/> | Alison Larkin
LIVE! <http://www.wamtheatre.com/alison-larkin-live/> | WAM Gala 2018
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/wam-gala-2018/> | ANN
<http://www.wamtheatre.com/ann/>


Make a donation now <https://www.wamtheatre.com/donateonline/> to WAM
Theatre!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://capdisttheater.org/pipermail/capdist-announce/attachments/20190314/538f4a09/attachment.html>