WAM Theatre Announces Beneficiaries for ROE

Producing Artistic Director Kristen Van Ginhoven, Associate Artistic Director Talya Kingston, and the WAM Theatre team today announced the three beneficiaries for the area premiere of ROE by Lisa Loomer. Tickets to this dynamic, digital production are now on sale.

Patrons can pay $15, $25, $50 or a higher ticket price of their choosing to be granted access not only to the digital production of ROE but also to all the blogs, interviews, talkbacks, and online extras available. The performance runs October 17-20, and tickets to the online-only event are now on sale on the WAm Theatre website: https://www.wamtheatre.com/

In keeping with WAM's double philanthropic mission, a portion of the proceeds from ROE will be divided among these three non-profits: the Amherst-based Abortion Rights Fund of Western Massachusetts (ARFWM), Railroad Street Youth Project in Great Barrington, and SisterSong, headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

ARFWM is a community-based, all-volunteer organization dedicated to overcoming barriers to abortion health care. They promote access by providing financial and logistical support to pregnant people through compassionate caller-centered care that respects their dignity and human rights. WAM's donation will help provide much needed assistance facilitating access to time-sensitive, essential care during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Railroad Street Youth Project empowers young people by supporting youth-inspired projects that promote responsibility, self-worth, and intergenerational communication.

The staff then expertly pairs these youth-generated ideas with community resources. WAM's donation will help train new educators in the only evidence-based sexual health education in the area, serving 250 students in South County schools.

Launched in 1997 by 16 women-of-color-led organizations, SisterSong is the oldest and largest multi-ethnic Reproductive Justice organization, and the only one headquartered in the South. Their mission is to amplify and strengthen the collective voices of Indigenous women and women of color to ensure Reproductive Justice through securing human rights.

WAM's donation will support their Birth Justice program in Georgia, a state with one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the country. Through this program, SisterSong organizes Advanced Doula Trainings, advocates for Community Midwives and Birth Workers, and creates community and learning space with their Mama Talks.

For more information on the ROE beneficiaries visit:

https://www.wamtheatre.com/engage/2020-roe-beneficiaries/

The 2020 beneficiaries were chosen after a thoughtful and rigorous selection process, including a request for proposals and site visits, overseen by a committee at WAM consisting of Kristen Van Ginhoven (WAM Producing Artistic Director), Margaret Fluhr (WAM Board of Directors), Wendy Healey (WAM Board of Directors), Dori Parkman [WAM General Manager], and Lia Russell-Self (WAM Associate Artist).

Directed by van Ginhoven and supported with powerful theatrical design elements, ROE's large ensemble cast will illuminate the history of one of the most polarizing social issues of the modern era - the Roe v. Wade, U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established a woman's right to an abortion. WAM's innovative, online performance will bring the dynamic history and how it relates to our current world into the comfort of your own home.

The cast is led by acclaimed actress and Berkshire resident Tara Franklin as Norma McCorvey, the woman who became "Jane Roe" in the landmark 1973 supreme court case, and Tracy Liz Miller, who has previously worked with WAM as a Fresh Takes reading director, as lawyer Sarah Weddington. Acclaimed actress Susanna Guzmán appears as Connie Gonzales, Norma's longtime partner, and assistant director Catherine Dickerson will play Roxy. Berkshire favorites MaConnia Chesser and Ryan Winkles lead the ensemble, including Vivian Burnham, KD McTeigue, Daniel Rios, Jr., and Wendy Welch, each of whom appears as multiple characters.

For more information on the ROE cast visit: https://www.wamtheatre.com/showsandevents/roe/roe-cast/

Thanks to a grant from Mass Humanities, WAM is also working in collaboration with Scholar-In-Residence Dr. Laura Briggs, Professor of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at UMass Amherst, and dialogue experts Essential Partners to open up and deepen the conversation around reproductive justice during this election year.

For more information on Dr. Briggs, Essential Partners, and the ROE Creative Team visit:

https://www.wamtheatre.com/showsandevents/roe/roe-creative-team/

For more information about WAM Theatre's 2020 programs, events, and artists, please visit www.WAMTheatre.com.

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