WAM Theatre Presents New England Premiere of IN DARFUR, Now thru 11/16

WAM Theatre's Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven is pleased to announce the cast and creative team for the New England premiere of In Darfur, by Winter Miller. A timely, compelling drama, In Darfur will run from tonight, October 30 - November 16 at Shakespeare & Company in the Berry Family Studio of the Elayne P. Bernstein Center. Tickets are now available for purchase. Opening night, which is already sold out, is Saturday, November 1. Press performance is Sunday, November 2 at 2:30. RSVP required.

Van Ginhoven is thrilled to announce the cast of In Darfur, the powerful and provocative tale of three lives that intersect in the most challenging of circumstances: a camp for internally displaced persons.

• Sipiwe Moyo, who has performed Off-Broadway in Prometheus Bound at Classic Stage Company and Trojan Women at The Classical Theatre of Harlem, as well as on the James Spader NBC drama The Blacklist, will play Hawa, a Darfuri woman who has lost nearly everything yet maintains a quiet dignity in the face of constant peril.

• Rich Lounello, who has appeared in Take Me Out and M. Butterfly at Capital Repertory Theatre and Laughter on the 23rd Floor at Oldcastle Theatre, and has wrapped film projects with Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) and Kate Flannery (The Office), takes on the role of Carlos, an aid worker striving to save the lives of Darfuri refugees and protect them from other ever-present threats.

• Tricia Alexandro, who has appeared in Off Broadway productions with The Barrow Group, Looking Glass Theatre, and Gene Frankel Theatre, as well as in several independent films, takes on the role of Maryke, a journalist pursuing a front-page story to call attention to a humanitarian crisis.

Rounding out the cast are Christina Gordon (The Public Theatre and Shadowland Theatre; television's Guiding Light); Shannon Harris (HERE Arts Center, Midtown International Theatre Festival); marcus d. harvey (Old Vic, London and various NYC stages); and Warren Jackson (Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and Chicago's Court Theatre).

van Ginhoven says, "WAM Theatre has worked hard to find the ensemble of actors who will bring this story to life. These seven accomplished professional actors bring not only their talent and technique to this project, but also their deep passion to share this story with our audiences. I couldn't be more thrilled to welcome them to the Berkshires and to WAM Theatre."

For more about the production, go to www.WAMTheatre.com/In-Darfur.

Playwright Winter Miller was inspired to write In Darfur by the turmoil she witnessed as New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's researcher at the start of the Darfuri genocide in 2004. After winning the 2006 "Two-Headed Challenge" commission from the Guthrie Theater and the Playwrights' Center, Miller traveled with Kristof to villages and refugee camps along the Chad/Sudan border. In Darfur premiered at The Public Theater in Manhattan for a three-week sold-out run; a subsequent staged reading in the Public's 1800-seat Delacorte Theater in Central Park - a first for a play by a woman -- drew a standing-room-only crowd.

WAM Theatre's New England premiere of In Darfur runs from October 30 through November 16 at Shakespeare & Company's Berry Family Studio in the Elayne P. Bernstein Center. Previews are October 30 & 31; opening night is Saturday, November 1. Performances take place on Friday and Saturday evenings at 7 pm and Sunday matinees at 2:30 pm. Tickets are $15-$40 and are available for purchase in person or by phone at the Shakespeare & Co. box office: 413-637-3353. Tickets are also available at www.tickets.shakespeare.org with a per ticket charge of $4.50 for online purchases.

About WAM Theatre - Based in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, WAM Theatre was co-founded in 2010 by Canadian director, actor, educator, and producer Kristen van Ginhoven, who was inspired to take action by the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. WAM Theatre's philanthropic mission is two-fold: first, to create theatrical events for everyone, with a focus on women theatre artists and/or stories of women and girls; and second, to donate a portion of the proceeds from those events to organisations that benefit women and girls.

Over the past five years, WAM Theatre has donated more than $10,500 to six nonprofit organisations that help women and girls, and provided paid work to more than 100 theatre artists. In its fifth year, Artistic Director van Ginhoven has expanded WAM Theatre's activities to include more performances in various venues, including educational outreach and the new Fresh Takes Play Reading Series at Six Depot Roastery and Café in West Stockbridge. For more information, visit www.WAMTheatre.com

About Shakespeare & Company - Located in The Berkshires of Western Massachusetts, Shakespeare & Company is one of the largest Shakespeare Festivals in the country, founded in 1978 by Tina Packer. The organization attracts more than 60,000 patrons annually, with a core of over 150 artists and more than 30 full-time staff. The Company develops and performs Shakespeare, classics, contemporary, and new plays of social and political significance, generating opportunities for collaboration between actors, directors and designers of all races, nationalities and backgrounds. Shakespeare & Company embraces the core values of Shakespeare's work: collaboration, commitment to language, visceral experience and classical ideals, expressed with physical prowess and an embodied contemporary voice.

The Company offers one of the most extensive actor training programs by a regional theatre in the country, where professionals from all over the world come to train with the Organization known for its original, in-depth, classical training and performance methods. Shakespeare & Company is also home to an award-winning and nationally recognized theatre-in-education program, one of the largest in the Northeast; it reaches more than 45,000 students annually with innovative performances, workshops and residencies. For more information, visit www.shakespeare.org.

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