Williamstown Theatre Festival to Host WAM Theatre Fresh Takes Reading of SMART PEOPLE

On Tuesday, August 1 at 5 pm, the Williamstown Theatre Festival will host a WAM Theatre Fresh Takes Play Reading of Smart People by Lydia R. Diamond at the Clark Art Institute. The reading will be directed by WAM's Artistic Director, Kristen van Ginhoven. Tickets are free but reservations are recommended.

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."

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.

"Since 2014, WAM's Fresh Takes play reading series have 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," says WAM's Artistic Director, Kristen van Ginhoven. "The series, curated by Molly Clancy, explores the work of provocative contemporary voices and is normally presented at the No. Six Depot Roastery and Cafe in West Stockbridge. We are excited to bring Fresh Takes to a new location at the Clark for this special free reading hosted by Williamstown Theatre Festival."

This play reading will be held in the auditorium of The Clark Art, (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.

IF YOU GO:

August 1, 2017, at 5 pm

Smart People

by Lydia R. Diamond

directed by Kristen van Ginhoven

At the Clark Art Institute, 225 South Street, Williamstown, MA

Admission free

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, Massachusetts, 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.

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