2018 Annual Report Here’s how YOUR support changed WAM in 2018 Where Arts & Activism Meet The company was co-founded in 2010 by Canadian director, actor, educator, and What is WAM Theatre? producer Kristen van Ginhoven to create professional theatrical events for everyone, with a focus on women theatre artists and/or stories of women and girls. Inspired by the book Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women ANN Check Presentation. Photo by David Dashiell. Worldwide by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, WAM donates a portion of the Cover photo: Jayne Atkinson as Ann Richards in ANN. Photo by David Dashiell. proceeds from its theatrical events to organizations that benefit women and girls. IN OUR FIRST In 2010, you helped us launch an idea. In 2018, you made WAM herstory: 9 YEARS… 1 Mainstage Production WAM Theatre has donated 5 FreshTakes Play Readings over 12 Girls Ensemble Participants $56,500 3,000+ Audience Members to 15 beneficiaries $15,000 to 2 Beneficiaries Provided paid work for more than Go to page 8 to see the impact of WAM’s work for women and girls 475 since the beginning -- it’s amazing! theatre artists Thank You for your ongoing support. 73% of whom are women YOU make it all happen. fostered an EDUCATION PROGRAM that has served over 350 Kristen van Ginhoven students Artistic Director of WAM page 2 Learn more at WAMTheatre.com 2018 for WAM Theatre PIPELINE. Photo by David Dashiell Fresh Takes Reading Series April - September Curated by Talya Kingston, WAM's 2018 Fresh Takes season presented thought-provoking plays by Stef Smith, Kate Hennig, Sarah Bierstock, Dominique Morisseau, and Caryl Churchill. WAM GALA. Photos by David Dashiell Annual Gala July Our most successful midsummer benefit ever! Great music, auction excitement, the Girls Ensemble’s original piece, Seeking Justice, and the announcement of WAM’s 2018 fall beneficiaries. ALISON LARKIN LIVE. Photo by David Dashiell Alison Larkin LIVE May Internationally acclaimed comedienne, award-winning audiobook narrator, and bestselling author of The English American, Alison Larkin performed her hilarious one-woman show. Jayne Atkinson as Ann Richards in ANN. Photo by David Dashiell. ANN October Starring Jayne Atkinson in the title role, ANN became WAM's best-selling production of all time. Mary Garnish Bauman and Linda Kaye Moses at BERKCHIQUE! 2018 at The West Stockbridge Historical Society. Photo by Ogden Gigli BerkChique! May Pop-up clothing boutique benefitting local nonprofits: WAM Theatre, the Berkshire Humane Society, Community Access to the Arts, and IS183 the Art School of the Berkshires. page 3 Learn more at WAMTheatre.com by Holland Taylor directed by Kristen van Ginhoven Starring Jayne Atkinson “Passion is on full display in a masterly performance by Jayne Atkinson.” Jeffrey Borak, The Berkshire Eagle Written by award-winning actress and writer Holland Taylor (Two and a Half Men) and starring Jayne Atkinson (House of Cards, Madam Secretary), ANN was a co-production with the Dorset Theatre Festival where it ran for four sold-out performances in Dorset over Labor Day weekend. ANN then continued on to break all of WAM’s ticket sales records during its two-week run at the Tina Packer Playhouse in Lenox, MA, in October. “Wonderful afternoon of celebrating women’s power, compassion, and BIG humor. Thank you WAM!!” Audience member “ANN is an affectionate, stimulating, often hilarious, shoot-from-the-hip tonic for our times.” Chris Rohmann, The Valley Advocate page 4 Learn more at WAMTheatre.com ANN production photos by David Dashiell. 2018 Beneficiaries The success of ANN enabled WAM to present our largest donation ever - $15,000 split evenly between its 14th and 15th beneficiaries, The Denise Kaley Fund and the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts’ 2018 Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact (LIPPI). Each organization received $7,500. The Denise Kaley Fund stands alone in their mission to help women living with cancer pay for the cost of life’s necessities as they undergo treatment and heal. WAM's donation provided emergency grants for women with cancer in Berkshire County. “The women we help are often single moms, elderly women on fixed incomes, or immigrants who don’t speak English and have no support networks.” Barbara Bonner, Co-Founder and Fund Advisor of the Denise Kaley Fund The Women’s Fund supports women and girls in the four counties of Western Mass through grant making and leadership Update from our 2017 Beneficiary programs. Their Leadership Institute for Political and Public Impact is a non-partisan initiative that provides women with the SOLDIER ON tools, mentors, and confidence they need to become our region’s Thanks to WAM, Soldier On Women’s Program was able to offer community leaders and elected officials. WAM's donation two sessions of Seeking Safety, a present-focused therapy to help provided scholarships for participation in the LIPPI program. individuals attain safety from trauma/PTSD and substance abuse, during the 2018 year. We had 11 women participate in these sessions, having 100% positive feedback on how this group aided in their personal recovery. Soldier On is building permanent housing for female veterans. The development of the Catherine Doherty Veterans Village in Pittsfield will provide 14 affordable one-bedroom supportive housing units in a smaller community setting which is better suited for serving veterans who have experienced higher levels of trauma including military sexual trauma, post traumatic stress and ongoing effects from early childhood trauma. The construction is scheduled to start in the spring of 2019 with a completion date in the fall of 2019. “You need to create women leaders who will write and protect the laws, who will raise their voices and say ‘I’m going to run, I’m going to apply, I speak not only for myself but for others in the room.’” Donna Haghighat, CEO of the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts page 5 Learn more at WAMTheatre.com WAM Education The Teen Ensemble is a performance group for young people ages 13-18. The criteria for participation is enthusiasm and the creative impulse to voice your feelings and ideas through multiple forms of artistic expression. "Devised theater is not only fun to be a part of, but it's meaningful too because we're able to spread a message. This is an especially excellent way to make sure your voice is heard." 2018 Participant, age 15 Twelve ensemble members spent an intensive two weeks in July creating SEEKING JUSTICE, an original performance that asked timely questions about injustice and the places we look to find justice. The ensemble members received a stipend and performed to sold out audiences. WAM Theatre has re-named it’s Girls Ensemble as Teen Ensemble in order to be more inclusive, and in acknowledgement of the full spectrum of genders represented by the group. We will continue to proudly devise our work through an intersectional feminist lens. page 6 Learn more at WAMTheatre.com "Yes, we are younger, but we're old enough to realize these problems, and we're old enough to start being able to do something about it, and help these problems to be solved." 2018 Participant, age 13 Photos by David Dashiell page 7 Learn more at WAMTheatre.com Productions, Presentations & Beneficiaries: Our First Decade PRODUCTIONS PRESENTATIONS PROGRAMS 2010 $1000 to A WAM Welcome Women for Women International Safe Spaces for Women 2010 $1500 to A Melancholy Play Women’s Fund of Western Mass Leadership Training 2 011 $650 to O Solo Mama Mia Festival Edna Adan Hospital Midwife Training $1750 to 2 011 Berkshire United Way’s The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls Teen Pregnancy Prevention Initiative Education 2012 $2400 to Sexual Trafficking The Old Mezzo Shout Out Loud Productions Awareness 2013 Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet $3400 to Empowerment for Defends Her Life Tonight Rite of Passage and College Tour Girls Program Production Photo Credits: 2010 Cast of ‘Mirror, Mirror’, Cast of ‘A WAM Welcome’, Photos by Joe Schuyler. 2010 Betsy Holt, Todd Quick, Erika Helen Smith, Photo by Kaitlyn Pierce. 2 011 Camilla Schade in ‘Beyond Therapy’, Cast/Creative Team of ‘O Solo Mama Mia Festival’. 2 011 Deann Simmons Halper, Karen Lee, Barbara Cardillo, Photo by Enrico Spada. 2012 Ryan Winkles, Erin Ouellette, Elizabeth Donnelly, Rylan Morsbach, Eileen Schuyler, Photo by Joe Schuyler. 2013 Oliver Wadsworth, Brendan Cataldo, Suzanne Ankrum, Kim Stauffer, Photo by Enrico Spada. page 8 Learn more at WAMTheatre.com PRODUCTIONS PRESENTATIONS PROGRAMS $5005 to 2014 Housemothers at the In Darfur Mother of Peace Orphanage Education 2015 $5500 to Earthquake Relief Holy Laughter Sisters for Peace and Hands In Outreach and Education for Girls $9000 to Path to Citizenship for 2016 Berkshire Immigrant Center Women and Women The Bakelite Masterpiece and Suzi Banks Baum Artists in Armenia 2017 $2500 to Scholarships to Emilie Remount Flying Cloud Institute Girls Science Clubs 2017 $9000 to Care for The Last Wife Soldier On Female Veterans 2018 $15000 To Emergency Grants Ann Denise Kaley Fund and Women’s Fund and Leadership 2014 Christina Gordon, Sipiwe Moyo, Shannon Harris, Photo by Enrico Spada. 2015 Dana Harrison, Amie Lytle, Benjamin Zoëy, Kimberlee Monroe, Ron Komora, Photo by Enrico Spada. 2016 David Adkins, Corinna May, Photo by Emma Rothenberg-Ware. 2017 Kim Stauffer, Photo by David Dashiell. Nehassaiu deGannes and John Hadden, Photo by Emma K. Rothenberg-Ware. 2018 Jayne Atkinson, Photo by David Dashiell. page 9 Learn more at WAMTheatre.com The WAM Team 2018 Team Gwendolyn