Well, it sure has been awhile since we blogged………

But-this week deserves a quick entry! Over the past weeks we have spent hours in the theatre preparing for our production of ‘Melancholy Play’. It is amazing to me that exactly a year ago I was attending the Women’s Fund of Western MA annual dinner. The idea for WAM Theatre was already in progress, but Leigh and I had not chosen our beneficiaries and after that Annual Dinner, I called Leigh and said, “This organization is inspiring-we have to do something for them” and voila-they became our first local beneficiary! Over the past months, I have been communicating with Marjorie Hutter, Director of Philanthropy at the Fund, about putting on ‘Melancholy Play’ and on Friday, at our opening night, I will finally meet her in person! The whole journey of WAM Theatre this year has been out of this world-like a dream coming true. To think that we launched WAM in January of 2010 and here we are in November producing our second event and our first full-length production is unbelievable-especially when I really sit back and think about how many people have helped us reach this point: our donors, our cast and creative team, our families, our mentors to name only a few….

So-here we are, after months of planning, about to have our opening weekend. Perhaps the most amazing thing is that opening night is nearly sold out. Wow. That completely blows my mind. But then I think about how hard everyone involved has been working on the show and to spread the word and I think-well, maybe in this case, hard work does pay off!

I cannot express how excited I am about this event. It feels incredible that WAM exists, that we are producing a full production and that by doing so, we are taking action to uplift the lives of women and girls by donating a portion of our proceeds to the Women’s Fund of Western MA. Our mission in practice. It’s actually happening…..amazing.

This blog was written by an extremely excited co-artistic director and director of ‘Melancholy Play’: Kristen van Ginhoven