WAM Theatre Announces Summer Benefit

WAM Theatre has announced the Northeast Regional Premiere of Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight by Lauren Gunderson as its fall production. The production will run November 7-24 at Barrington Stage Company's St. Germain Stage at 36 Linden Street in Pittsfield. Auditions will be held May 13 at Barrington Stage Mainstage from 4-9pm.

Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight had its world premiere in 2009 at South Coast Repertory Theatre. The play has been described as 'fiercely inquisitive and joyfully sexy' (The San Francisco Chronicle), 'an evening of humor and heartbreak' (BroadwayWorld) and as an 'ambitious, highly theatrical romp that literally crackles with electricity' (LA/OC Examiner).

Although today she is best known for her fifteen-year liaison with Voltaire, Emilie Du Chatelet (1706-1749) was more than a great man's mistress. She was one of the leading interpreters of modern physics in Europe, as well as a master of mathematics and linguistics, during the Age of Enlightenment. After marrying a marquis at the age of eighteen, she proceeded to fulfill the prescribed-and delightfully frivolous-role of a French noblewoman of her time. But she also challenged it, conducting a highly visible affair with a commoner, writing philosophical works, and translating Newton's "Principia" while pregnant by a younger lover. In this play Emilie must defend her life by tallying her achievements in Love and Philosophy-and searching for a formula that will convince the world of her worth.

Lauren Gunderson is an award-winning playwright living in San Francisco. She studied at Emory University and NYU's Tisch School of Performing Arts where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her work has been produced and developed at companies across the US including South Cost Rep

(Emilie, Silent Sky), The Kennedy Center (The Amazing Adventures of Dr. Wonderful And Her Dog!), Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks, Crowded Fire, San Francisco Playhouse, Marin Theatre, The Magic, Actors Express, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Portland Center Stage, Second Stage, Playwrights Foundation, Impact Theatre, The Lark, and The O'Neill. Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight is published with Samual French. The first two plays in her Shakespeare Cycle, Exit, Pursued By A Bear and Toil and Trouble are now published by Playscripts. She is a Playwright in Residence at The Playwrights Foundation, and a proud Dramatists Guild member. Los Angeles Times calls Gunderson someone who 'possesses an antic imagination that seeks to invent its own rules. As soon as we're drawn in, she shakes and whisks us 10 or 15 paces ahead'.

Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight will be directed by Kristen van Ginhoven, WAM Theatre's Artistic Director. For WAM Theatre, Kristen's directing credits include: The Old Mezzo (World Premiere), The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls and Sarah Ruhl's Melancholy Play. She recently was a director for the 10x10 New Play Festival at Barrington Stage Company, where she also was assistant director for Sleuth and Absurd Person Singular. Elsewhere as a director, Kristen has worked at the Stratford Festival of Canada, Capital Repertory Theatre, Majestic Theatre, Cohoes Music Hall, and Emerson College. Kristen is an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society and is participant of the 2013 Lincoln Center Director's Lab.

In keeping with WAM Theatre's double philanthropic mission, a portion of proceeds from the box office will be donated to an organization that benefits women and girls.

The beneficiary for Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight will be announced on July 1 at Claiming Her Place: a panel discusses the challenges women face in the entertainment industry. This benefit for WAM Theatre willtake place at the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington at 7:30pm on Monday, July 1. This event is co-produced and hosted by Tony nominee Jayne Atkinson (Criminal Minds). The panel includes: Karen Allen (Indiana Jones), Lauren Ambrose (Six Feet Under), Michel Gill (House of Cards), Marin Mazzie (Tony Nominee), Linus Roache (Law & Order) and Debra Jo Rupp (That 70's Show).

Co-producer Jayne Atkinson says, "I am honored to be hosting this fun and exciting benefit, which brings WAM's worthy mission of using theatre to benefit women and girls front and center to the Berkshire community."

This all-star panel will share their stories, observations and thoughts about the challenges women face in the entertainment industry. The evening will also include a sneak peak at Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight, WAM Theatre's fall production.

Tickets for the benefit can be purchased online at www.mahaiwe.org or at 413- 528-0100.

Tickets for Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight can be purchased at www.WAMTheatre.com or 1-800-838-3006.

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