Tickets Now On Sale for WAM's IN DARFUR

WAM (Women's Action Movement) Theatre is gearing up for its most ambitious and daring fall production: the New England premiere of Winter Miller's timely drama, In Darfur. Preparations come on the heels of WAM Theatre's enlightening fifth-season celebration, Change Makers, during which Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven announced that Mother of Peace Ilovo, an orphanage in South Africa, will be the beneficiary of WAM's 2014 philanthropic donation. In Darfur will run from October 30 - November 16 at the Berry Family Studio at Shakespeare & Company, where tickets are now available for purchase. Opening night is Saturday, November 1.

Attendees at last month's Change Makers event were introduced to In Darfur playwright Winter Miller, who participated in a provocative panel discussion with other award-winning artist/activists who use their work to address issues of human rights and social justice. Change Makers also included a brief preview of In Darfur, which gave the audience a glimpse of the play's power, relevance, and unexpected humor.

In Darfur is the provocative tale of three lives that intersect in the most challenging of circumstances: a camp for internally displaced persons. The story follows an aid worker's mission to protect lives, a Darfuri woman's quest for safety and a journalist's pursuit to deliver a front-page story to call attention to a humanitarian crisis. Relevant and poignant, In Darfur is a journey of courage and humanity in the face of peril.

"WAM really wants to illuminate this play and I am moved by their curiosity, sensitivity, and research," says Miller. "I am really looking forward to the journey with WAM and eager to get to know more of the community in the Berkshires."

An award-winning playwright and founding member of the Obie-recognized collective 13 Playwrights, Miller was inspired to writeIn Darfur by what she witnessed as New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof's researcher at the start of the Darfuri genocide in 2004. She traveled with Kristof to villages and refugee camps along the Chad/Sudan border after winning the 2006 "Two-Headed Challenge" commission from the Guthrie Theater and the Playwrights' Center. In Darfur premiered at The Public Theater in Manhattan for a sold-out run; a subsequent staged reading in the Public's 1800-seat Delacorte Theater in Central Park - a first for a play by a woman - drew a standing-room-only crowd. Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public, has calledIn Darfur "A theatrical offering that is also a call to arms."

After five years of producing plays and donating more than $10,500 to organizations that help women and girls, van Ginhoven says she was ready to select a play for the fall production that dealt more directly with the issues WAM Theatre was founded to address. "I have always said that I don't have the resilience to be one of those people on the front lines," notes van Ginhoven, who has annually produced entertaining, intellectually stimulating plays with the goal of donating a portion of ticket sales to groups that fight social injustice in a direct manner. "This year, all signs have been telling me to choose In Darfur as our fall production. I have loved this play for four years, since I met Winter and she sent it to me. It takes on serious issues that are extremely relevant given the turmoil in the world today, and, in Winter's unique style, injects the humor that is so necessary for survival. Some might hesitate to attend a play that has genocide as its backdrop, but I've found that our audiences are intelligent, caring, and involved. We look forward to taking this dramatic journey with them."

Van Ginhoven was inspired to create WAM Theatre after reading the book Half the Sky by Pulitzer-prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Kristof will deliver the 2014 Hardman Lecture at MCLA, just two weeks before In Darfur opens. The working relationship between Kristof and Miller, combined with WAM's origins, as well as the play's subject matter, made In Darfur seem like an inevitable choice for the fall production. "It's incredibly powerful," Kristof has noted, "In Darfur is based on a real case in Darfur's Kalma camp that I once reported on... (Winter) turned it into this great play and it both shined a spotlight on Darfur and, in a broader sense, other humanitarian disasters. It's an excellent, poignant play."

In keeping with WAM Theatre's double philanthropic mission, 25% of the box office proceeds from this production of In Darfur will be donated to the Mother of Peace orphanage in Ilovo, South Africa, where 13 women have dedicated their lives to raising children who have lost their families. By selecting Mother of Peace Ilovo as this year's philanthropic beneficiary, WAM honors and celebrates the selfless dedication and important work of these women. Van Ginhoven became aware of Mother of Peace Ilovo through Berkshire resident Susie Weekes, a steadfast supporter of the orphanage. Says Van Ginhoven, "When Susie described the commitment of these women to providing a better life for otherwise hopeless children, and shared with us what an impact our donation could make for these women who receive nothing but a tiny stipend, all the pieces fell into place. I knew Mother of Peace Ilovo was the right choice to be the recipient of our philanthropic donation from our fifth fall production."

In Darfur is WAM Theatre's first production on the Shakespeare & Company campus. "To have WAM as a part of our extended family has long been a goal of mine, ever since I met Kristen," says Tony Simotes, Shakespeare & Co.'s Artistic Director, "Her professionalism and strong vision to create theatre that is driven not by commercialism but by a desire to reinforce the voices of women truly connected to me, and to what I always felt was a bedrock of Shakespeare & Company, which should be a place where brave and creative artists can be supported to help us continue our mission to teach, educate, inform, and entertain. My desire is that WAM and Shakespeare & Company can accomplish something special together, with a combined vision of inspiration through theater as its medium, that will continue to be of benefit to our region and beyond. I have always wanted to open our studios, theaters, and campus to those that complement our vision and mission. WAM is more than a guest on our property; they are creative partners."

WAM Theatre's New England premiere of In Darfur runs from October 30 through November 16 at Shakespeare & Company's Berry Family Studio in the Elayne P. Bernstein Center. Previews are October 30 & 31; opening night is Saturday, November 1. Tickets are available for purchase in person or by phone at the Shakespeare & Co. box office: 413-637-3353. Tickets are also available at www.tickets.shakespeare.org with a per ticket charge of $4.50 for online purchases.

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