WAM Theatre's Fresh Takes Series to Continue with HOW THE WORLD BEGAN, 6/22

WAM Theatre has announced the cast for a reading of How the World Began by Catherine Trieschmann as part of the Fresh Takes Play Reading Series. Trieschmann's provocative and intelligent play about the collision of faith and science won critical acclaim Off-Broadway in 2012. WAM Theatre will present the reading on Sunday, June 22 at 3:00 p.m. at No. Six Depot Roastery and Café, 6 Depot Street in West Stockbridge, MA. How the World Began is the third presentation in the new Fresh Takes play reading series, which offers new and reimagined works that tell women's stories. The series has proven popular with audiences, selling out its first two readings.

The cast of How the World Began features Elizabeth Donnelly (WAM Theatre's The Old Mezzo, Ivoryton Playhouse's The Rainmaker), Benjamin Epstein (Shakespeare & Company's Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2), and Don Shannon (National Player's Twelfth Night, Barrington Stage Company's Enemy of the People). Tracy Liz Miller (Vermont Shakespeare Company, Associate Producer) will direct the reading.

In How the World Began, a Manhattan woman travels to a rural Kansas town, recently devastated by a tornado, to take a teaching job in a makeshift high school. But when she makes an off-handed remark regarding the origins of life, she unleashes community outrage and the particular distress of a troubled teenage boy. Through an intimate, artful examination of her characters, Trieschmann invites audiences to consider their own beliefs and their perhaps unspoken opinions of others.

"In writing the play, I don't know that I was so intent upon representing all sides of the evolution versus creationism debate as much as I was intent upon creating characters that were extreme in their beliefs but sympathetic in their portrayal," says Trieschmann. "I personally have no problem reconciling evolution and the existence of God, but I was intrigued by people who do."

"It's not very often that a play with such direct harsh honesty crosses my path that is also so well written," says Miller, the director of this play reading. "Nothing is black and white, cut and dry [...] It asks questions such as "Can helping others become too self-serving?" "Do we need faith in times of tragedy?" "Can a change of landscape equate a change of heart?" As a lover of theatre, I look forward to the conversation that this play will inspire."

There are only 25 tickets available for this reading. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by calling 1-800-838-3006 or going online to http://wamfreshtakes.bpt.me. Due to the limited availability, advance booking is highly recommended. Food and drink will be available for purchase at the café prior to the reading, which will begin in the gallery at 3:00 p.m.

The Fresh Takes Play Reading series is curated by WAM Theatre Artistic Associate Kelly Galvin and consists of: Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale (April 13, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.), Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare (May 18, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.), How the World Began by Catherine Trieschmann (June 22, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.), Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England by Madeleine George (August 17, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.), and Waxworks by Trina Davies (September 21, 2014 at 3:00 p.m.). Find out more about the series at http://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes/.

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