WAM Theatre Sets Cast for THE TALL GIRLS Fresh Takes Reading

WAM Theatre has announced the cast for their reading of The Tall Girls by Meg Miroshnik, the next event in the 2015 Fresh Takes Play Reading Series. The first Fresh Takes reading of 2015 sold out last month, as did all five of the readings in 2014 inaugural season, proving Berkshire audiences embrace contemporary plays written by women and focusing on the unique stories of women and girls.

WAM Theatre will present the reading on Sunday, May 17 at 3:00 p.m. at No. Six Depot Roastery and Café, 6 Depot Street in West Stockbridge, MA.

The cast of The Tall Girls features Erin Eva Butcher (Imaginary Beasts's Kerplop! The Frog Prince), Annie Considine (Shakespeare & Company's Private Lives), Sarah Jensen (CT Rep Theatre's Lysistrata), Maizy Broderick Scarpa (Pittsfield Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream), Catherine Seeley (Oldcastle Theatre's My Fair Lady), and Ryan Winkles (Shakespeare & Company's It's a Wonderful Life). Kelly Galvin, curator of the 2014 Fresh Takes Series, and well known to Berkshire area audiences for her work with Shakespeare & Company as an actress and educator, will direct the reading.

Welcome to Poor Prairie, circa the 1930s, the dusty, desolate town in the American midwest where fifteen-and-a-half-year-old Jean has been exiled as caretaker for her wild-child cousin, Almeda. It's a grim, dangerous place to eke out an existence as a teenage girl-until an out-of-towner arrives with a brand-new basketball in tow. As the town's girls come together to form a team set on making it out of Poor Prairie, a murky committee of townspeople threatens to stamp out girls' sports altogether. Few plays exist about women and sports for the American stage, and fewer still that move away from a simple story of triumph over adversity. Written by award-winning playwright Meg Miroshnik this play dramatizes issues important to the WAM Theatre community; the fight for class, education, and gender equality.

"Meg Miroshnik is one of my favorite playwrights and, I think, one of the most exciting women writing today," Galvin said. "For the girls in this play, the basketball court is the one place that they can completely be themselves, where they can to continue to play, grow, and be children - in stark contrast to other their few other options, including marriage at 17 or 18, or holding a menial job. This raises the question: 'Who gets to have a childhood in this country and culture?' That question is really important to me here and now. For all the lip service we pay to it, childhood really is a luxury."

Ryan Winkles, the lone male in the cast, observes, "Meg Miroshnik has written this beautiful play about women in sports that is so much more than the typical 'rise to glory' story. It is exciting and surprising and I am really looking forward to being in it and hearing it read before an audience."

The Tall Girls is the second presentation in the 2015 Fresh Takes Play Reading Series, which gives a stage to ground-breaking works - which have been successfully presented elsewhere but are new to our Berkshire audiences - that tell women's stories. Featuring local established and emerging actors and directors, the series explores the work of provocative contemporary voices. The series includes a post-reading discussion and will encourage feedback on which plays audience members would like to see WAM Theatre produce.

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://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes-play-reading-series-2015. 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 2015 Fresh Takes Play Reading series is curated by WAM Theatre's Artistic Associate Molly Clancy. Future readings include:

• The Tall Girls by Meg Miroshnik, directed by Kelly Galvin (May 17, 2015 at 3:00 p.m.)

• Noms de Guerre by Jacqueline Lawton, directed by Jayne Atkinson (June 14, 2015 at 3:00 p.m. - a part of the Lift Ev'ry Voice Festival)

• The Pulitzer Prize-winning Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegría Hudes, directed by Molly Clancy (August 16, 2015 at 3:00 p.m.)

• The Effect by Lucy Prebble, directed by WAM Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven (September 13, 2015 at 3:00 p.m.)

Find out more about the series at http://www.wamtheatre.com/fresh-takes-play-reading-series-2015.

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