LENOX, MA (January 23, 2024) – WAM Theatre looks forward to holding Equity Principal and General Auditions for our 2024 Season on February 16 and 17, 2024. Auditions will be hosted by incoming Artistic Director, Genée Coreno and Associate Artistic Director, Talya Kingston.

“I am thrilled to kick off my tenure at WAM Theatre with in-person auditions at WAM’s creative hub in Lenox,” shared Artistic Director Genée Coreno. “I look forward to personally welcoming and meeting the creative community in the Berkshires throughout the audition process for the 15th Anniversary Season.”

The season will begin with two Fresh Takes Play Readings at The Foundry in West Stockbridge, followed by pieces of a devised performance created and directed by Genée Coreno in the summer, and will culminate in a Fall production in October.  The entire season will be announced in February. WAM Theatre works under an AEA Small Professional Theatre Contract.

Auditions: Friday, February 16 & Saturday, February 17, 11 am-7 pm. 
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY. E-mail: casting@wamtheatre.com to set up an appointment.

Where: WAM’s New Creative Hub and Offices, 55 Main Street, Lenox, MA (ground floor of the Church on the Hill Administrative Office and Chapel).  Free street parking is available.  The space is wheelchair accessible. Free onsite childcare will be offered on Friday, February 16*

Prepare: 1-2 minute contemporary monologue.

Auditions will be scheduled in 10-minute slots. Please note that no video auditions will be accepted at this time and that we are especially interested in meeting local actors.

AEA members may request an appointment by emailing casting@wamtheatre.com with “2024 Season Auditions” in the subject line. Please indicate any time limitations otherwise you will be assigned the first available slot. The deadline to submit is February 13. All AEA actors who request an appointment will receive an appointment until slots are filled. Additionally, AEA actors may be seen as walk-ins on the day of if time permits.

Non-Equity actors will also be seen as time permits and should submit a photo and resume and indicate their non-union status in their request.

Performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, are encouraged to audition.   Please note in your email if you have any accessibility needs.

*If you are planning on using the onside childcare on Friday, February 16, please note in your email the number of children and their ages, so that we can prepare.

MORE ABOUT THE ARTISTIC TEAM

Genée Coreno (she/her) is a director and producer with a passion for devised theater created in collaboration with women, girls, and non-binary artists and designers. WAM Theatre: Incoming Artistic Director and life-long admirer. Selected Directing Credits: Outside (Culture Lab, LIC), Madge Love (Theater Mitu & The Brick),  The Hopelessly Hopeless Story of All Good Girls (The Brick), “Is This Clear Enough?” (The Poetry Project), Dutchman (UnUrban Cafe, LA), Selected Producing Credits: The Possessed Girls of St. Mary’s (Reading, at Brick Aux), thisamericanplay (pop-up theater by Blue Flamingo), The Stronger & Mother Love (Alchemical Studios), The World is Round (BAM Fisher). Select Company Management Credits: Under the Radar Festival (The Public Theater), The Outer Space (The Public Theater), National Mobile Unit Tour of Sweat (The Public Theater), Mobile Unit’s Twelfth Night (The Public Theater), Various Performances (Big Dance Theater). Community Engagement/Activist Work: Former Manager of Development and Engagement at Every Mother Counts and Clinic Escort at Choices; Adjunct Professor at Purchase College, Women and Performance. Training: MA in Performance Studies, NYU; BA in Drama Studies, Purchase College; Embodied Voice: Intensive Vocal Workshop; The Song of the Goat; SITI Company Summer Intensive; Theater Mitu Artist Fellowship (Japan). Creative Inspiration: I’m inspired by large-scale international work that demonstrates a commitment to dance theater practices and film-making. 

Talya Kingston (She/Her, Associate Artistic Director) is a dramaturg, playwright, and educator, who is inspired by the live interactions between artists and audiences and how these can be a catalyst for social change. Prior to joining WAM in 2018, she was a Visiting Professor of Theatre at Hampshire College. She has also held the positions of Education Director at Hartford Stage and of Educational Programs Coordinator at the New Conservatory Theatre Center in San Francisco. Talya is originally from Britain and returned for five recent summers to co-teach a University of Massachusetts course at the Edinburgh Festival. Talya’s writing on theatre has appeared in Theater Journal, Scene Magazine, The Moving Voice, European Stages, HowlRound, and The Valley Advocate. Talya curates WAM’s Fresh Takes Play Reading Series and has directed readings of Swallow, Paradise, Campus Unrest, and The Thanksgiving Play. Her professional dramaturgy credits include: What The Constitution Means to Me, ROE and Lady Randy at WAM; the premiere of Eve Ensler’s Necessary Targets at Hartford Stage/Variety Arts Theatre; the US premiere of Helmet by Douglas Maxwell at the New York Fringe Festival; an immersive production of The Lonely Soldier Project by Helen Benedict; Seriously… What Did You Call Me? written and performed by Onawumni Jean Moss at the Ko Festival; and Late Style, a stage adaptation of conversations between Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim featuring performances by members of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Talya is a member of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, the Dramatists Guild, the Play Incubation Collective, and the Northampton Playwrights Lab, and holds an MFA from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst

WAM SUPPORT

WAM’s sponsors include Adams Community Bank, Blue Q., Berkshire Roots, Blue Spark Financial, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Garden Gables Inn, Guidos Fresh Marketplace, Handful Photography, Mill Town Foundation, Inc., Health Professional Coaching, Heller & Robbins Attorneys at Law, Interprint, Onyx Specialty Papers, Outpost Productions, RB Design Co., T Square Design Studio, Toole Insurance, a. von schlegell & co, and the Women’s Fund of Western Massachusetts.

WAM Theatre is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC). WAM Theatre’s 2022 Season was also supported in part by grants from  Berkshire Bank, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation,  Bradson Education & Library Foundation, The Feigenbaum Foundation,  Lee Bank Foundation, Scarlet Sock Foundation, U.S. Small Business Administration’s Shuttered Venue Operators Grant; as well as grants from the Dalton Cultural Council, Lee Cultural Council, Lenox Cultural Council, Pittsfield Cultural Council, Northern Berkshire Cultural Council,  Otis Cultural Council, Sandisfield Cultural Council, and Washington Cultural Council.

ABOUT WAM THEATRE

WAM Theatre is a professional theatre company based in Berkshire County, MA, that operates at the intersection of arts and activism. Now celebrating its 15th Anniversary Season, WAM creates theatre for gender equity and has a vision of theatre as philanthropy. In fulfillment of its philanthropic mission, WAM donates a portion of the proceeds from its Mainstage productions to carefully selected recipients. Since WAM’s founding in 2010, they have donated more than $100,000 to 26 local and global organizations taking action for gender equity in areas such as girls’ education, reproductive justice, sexual trafficking awareness, midwife training, and more. WAM Theatre has been widely recognized for having a positive impact on cultural and community development in the region. WAM is the recipient of the Creative Economy Standout Berkshire Trendsetter Award and previously, was named Outstanding Philanthropy Corporation of the Year by the Western MA Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. For more information, visit www.wamtheatre.com

# # #