WAM Theatre Announces Casting for SMART PEOPLE Reading Hosted by Williamstown Theatre Festival, 8/1

WAM Theatre Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven has announced casting for the Fresh Takes Play Reading of Smart People by Lydia R. Diamond, hosted by the Williamstown Theatre Festival on Tuesday, August 1 at 5 pm. Van Ginhoven will direct this reading. Tickets are free but reservations are recommended. The reading will take place at the Clark Art Institute.

Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director of Williamstown Theatre Festival said, "We are thrilled to host Kristen van Ginhoven and WAM for a reading at the Festival this summer. We look forward to supporting her wonderful work to benefit women and girls."

"We are excited to bring Fresh Takes to a new location at the Clark for this special free reading hosted by Williamstown Theatre Festival, van Ginhoven said. "Since 2014, WAM's Fresh Takes play reading series has given a stage to ground-breaking works that tell women's stories which have been successfully presented elsewhere but are new to our Berkshire audiences."

In Smart People, it is the eve of Obama's first election in 2008. Four of Harvard University's brightest - a surgeon, an actress, a psychologist, and a neuro-psychiatrist - are all interested in different aspects of the brain, particularly how it responds to race. But like all smart people, they are also searching for love, success, and identity in their own lives. Lydia R. Diamond brings these characters together in this sharp, witty play about social and sexual politics.

Boston-based actor Lin-Ann Ching will read the role of Dr. Ginny Lang. Margaret Odette Gold, who recently appeared in Skeleton Crew at Chester Theatre, will read the role of Valerie Johnston. Rounding out the cast for the reading are Christopher Cassarino, reading BrIan White, and Will Adams, reading Jackson Moore.

This play reading will be held at the auditorium of The Clark Art Institute, (225 South Street in Williamstown, MA. The auditorium is located in the Manton Research Center on Clark Art Institute campus. The Clark recommends patrons park in the Main Lot and walk down the path to the Manton building.

More information, including how to book your free tickets, can be found on the WAM Theatre website. http://www.wamtheatre.com/wtf-reading/.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: Lydia R. Diamond

Lydia R. Diamond Award winning Plays include: Smart People, Stick Fly, Voyeurs de Venus, The Bluest Eye, The Gift Horse, Harriet Jacobs, The Inside, and Stage Black. Theatres include: Arena Stage, Cort Theatre (Broadway), Chicago Dramatists, Company One, Congo Square, Goodman, Hartford Stage, Huntington, Jubilee, Kansas City Rep, Long Wharf, Lorraine Hansberry, McCarter, Mo'Olelo, MPAACT, New Vic, Playmakers Rep, Plowshares, Second Stage, Steppenwolf, and TrueColors. Commissions include: Arena Stage, Steppenwolf (4), McCarter, Huntington, Center Stage, Victory Gardens and The Roundabout. A recipient of many playwriting awards, Lydia was also an '05/'06 W.E.B. Du Bois Institute non-resident Fellow, a 2007 TCG/NEA Playwright in Residence at Steppenwolf, an 06/07 Huntington Playwright Fellow, a 2012 Sundance Institute Playwright Lab Creative Advisor, is a Board Member at Chicago Dramatists, and a 2012/2013 Radcliffe Institute Fellow. Lydia is an NU graduate ('91), has an Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Pine Manor College and is 2013-14 Playwright in Residence at Arena Stage.

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: KRISTEN van GINHOVEN

WAM Theatre: The Bakelite Masterpiece, In Darfur (New England Premiere), Emilie (New England Premiere), The Old Mezzo (World Premiere), The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls and Melancholy Play Elsewhere: I and You (Chester Theatre), Waxworks (Williams College), The Whale (Adirondack Theatre Festival), 10 Minute Play Festival (Barrington Stage Company), Petticoats of Steel (Capital Repertory Theatre), Footloose (Cohoes Music Hall), Children's Hour (Siena College), Vendetta Chrome (Emerson College). Selected assistant directing: The Physicists, 42nd Street (Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada), Two Men of Florence (Huntington Theatre) Sleuth, Absurd Person Singular (Barrington Stage Company). Training: Dalhousie University (BA), Queen's University (BEd), Emerson College (MA). Et cetera: Kristen is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and a theatre artist for the International Schools Theatre Association. She was a member of the 2013 Lincoln Center Director's Lab and is a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction at the Stratford Festival of Canada. Kristen is the co-founder and Artistic Director of WAM Theatre. Website: www.WAMTheatre.com

ABOUT Williamstown Theatre Festival

Since 1955, the Williamstown Theatre Festival has brought America's finest actors, directors, designers, and playwrights to the Berkshires, engaging a loyal audience of both residents and summer visitors. Each WTF season is designed to present unique opportunities for artists and audience alike, revisiting classic plays with innovative productions, developing and nurturing bold new plays and musicals, and offering a rich array of accompanying cultural events including Free Theatre, Late-Night Cabarets,

readings, workshops, and educational programs. With offices in both Williamstown and New York City, WTF creates vibrant work that feeds the wider theatrical landscape. The artists and productions shaped at the Festival each summer often go on to reach diverse audiences nationally and internationally. WTF is also home to of the nation's top training and professional development programs for new generations of aspiring theatre artists and administrators. WTF was honored with the Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre in 2002 and the Commonwealth Award for Achievement in 2011.

ABOUT WAM THEATRE

Based in Berkshire County, MA, WAM Theatre is 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 donated more than $32,500 to twelve nonprofit organizations and provided paid work to more than 200 theatre artists. 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

WAM SEASON SPONSORS

WAM Theatre is funded in part by Mass Humanities, which receives support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and is an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities; and by the Massachusetts Cultural Council Cultural. Our 2017 sponsors include Adams Community Bank, the Appelbaum-Kahn Foundation, Berkshire Magazine, Berkshire Sterile Manufacturing, Blue Q, Brabson Library & Educational Foundation, Canyon Ranch, Custom Business Solutions, The Dylandale Foundation, The Feigenbaum Foundation, Futures Education, the Garden Gables Inn, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Guido's Fresh Marketplace, In Touch Printing, International Schools Theatre Association, Interprint, Dr. Jay Wise, DDS & Dr. Casey Jones, DMD, Lee Bank, Massachusetts Cultural Council, MAXYMILLIAN Technologies, Methuselah Bar and Lounge, No. Six Depot Roastery and Café, RB Design Co., Redfin, The Rookwood Inn, Rouge Restaurant & Bistro, The Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation, T Square Design Studio, Toole Insurance, a. von schlegell & co., and Zonta.

WAM Theatre is also supported in part by grants from the Alford-Egremont Cultural Council, Dalton Cultural Council, Lenox Cultural Council, New Marlborough Cultural Council, Pittsfield Cultural Council, Cultural Council of Northern Berkshires , Otis Cultural Council, Richmond Cultural Council, Sandisfield Cultural Council, Stockbridge Cultural Council, Washington Cultural Council, and West Stockbridge Cultural Council - local agencies that are supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

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