[Capdist-auditions] PRESS RELEASE: WAM Theatre Seeks Applications for New Elder Ensemble - Fee Required

[Gail Burns]

ebruary 11, 2019

Contact: Gail Burns, Marketing and Publicity Associate

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

pr at wamtheatre.com; 518.243.9627

Press Photos can be found at:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wamtheatre2/albums/72157706637545594

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WAM THEATRE ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR NEW ELDER ENSEMBLE

LENOX, MA (February 11, 2019) — Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven,
Associate Artistic Director Talya Kingston, and the WAM team are proud to
launch their much-anticipated Elder Ensemble – a performance group for a
diverse cohort of women over 65 years. In July 2019, this group will spend
three weeks creating an original performance using devised theatre
methods.  An informational workshop will be held on March 2nd, 2019, from
11am-1pm at Lenox Yoga.

The criteria for participation is enthusiasm and the creative impulse to
voice feelings and ideas through multiple forms of artistic expression.
Devised theatre is a collaborative process where an ensemble uses a variety
of techniques – writing, improvisation, games, movement, brainstorming, and
more – to create original performance material.  Performance experience
welcome but not necessary.

“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,” WAM Teaching Artist Amy Brentano, who will be
directing the ensemble, explained. “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. 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.

The Elder Ensemble will rehearse over three weeks beginning July 8, 2019,
and then will present four public performances in connection with the
<https://www.wamtheatre.com/teen-ensemble/>WAM Teen Ensemble July 23-28,
2019. The two ensembles will be working at the same time around the same
theme to ultimately create an inter-generational piece that will premiere
at the WAM gala at the Stationery Factory in Dalton on July 24, 2019.

Tuition for this program is $300.  There are eight spots available for this
ensemble.  Scholarships are available, please ask.

A free workshop for all interested participants will be held on March 2nd,
11am-1pm at Lenox Yoga Studio, 4 Main St, Lenox. At this workshop we will
give more information about the Elder Ensemble and do some creative
activities together. Attendance at this workshop is not mandatory for
participation in the summer program.

To sign up for the March 2 workshop, express interest in the summer
program, or for more information, please contact Talya Kingston at (413)
274.2024 or by email at talya at wamtheatre.com.

ABOUT THE 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.

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:
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.

WAM Tenth Anniversary Sponsors

Our 2019 sponsors include Adams Community Bank, Berkshire Magazine,
Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing, Blue Spark Financial, Brabson Library &
Educational Foundation, Custom Business Solutions, The Dylandale
Foundation, Frankie's Ristorante Italiano, Greylock Federal Credit Union,
Guido’s Fresh Marketplace, Haven Cafe and Bakery, Interprint, J.H.
Maxymillian, Inc., Lee Bank, Maggie Barry, Massachusetts Cultural Council,
Only in My Dreams Events, Onyx Specialty Papers, RB Design Co., The Rogovoy
Report, The Rookwood Inn, Salisbury Bank, T Square Design Studio, Toole
Insurance, a. von schlegell & co.

WAM Theatre is also supported in part by grants from the Alford-Egremont
Cultural Council, Lenox Cultural Council, Cultural Council of Northern
Berkshires, Hinsdale-Peru Cultural Council, Otis Cultural Council, Richmond
Cultural Council, Sheffield 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 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 $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!
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