LENOX, MA (August 30, 2023) – WAM Theatre is delighted to announce a series of free Fall workshops. Artists and community members are invited to join WAM’s experienced teaching artists to experiment with techniques of devised theater as a form that encourages empowered creative expression. The first two FREE theatre workshops that are now enrolling are: Devising Theatre for Strength & Resiliency with Priscilla Kane Hellweg on September 23 at the WAM Theatre Hub in Lenox and Devising Theatre Online with Nicole Orabona on September 30 over Zoom.
As the phrase suggests, “devised theatre” is a performance method where the play is “invented” by the performers, rather than constructed from a pre-written script. The process is collaborative; participants use a variety of techniques—which might include writing, improvisation, games, movement, and brainstorming—to create original work. Unlike purely improvised shows, devised theatre uses activities to come up with material that is then shaped into a planned performance.
Each workshop in WAM’s Fall series offers members the opportunity to engage with theatrical storytelling, and community building connections using a variety of devising practices. These special afternoon workshops are free and open to all, regardless of experience level.
“Bringing our community together through devised theater is a natural fit for WAM,” states WAM Theatre Teaching Artist and new Director of Community Engagement, Maizy Scarpa. “Not only is it a fantastic tool for imaginative storytelling but it’s also a communal practice, which makes it a powerful conduit for activism. Instead of bringing a written script to life, the devising process brings a group’s ideas, imaginations, fears, and dreams into three-dimensional space. Once there, the ensemble can choose what to explore, celebrate, question, and center.”
Devised Theatre for Strength and Resiliency with Priscilla Kane Hellweg will take place on Saturday, September 23rd, 1:30-4 pm, in-person at the WAM Creative Hub in downtown Lenox. Hellweg will guide the group through devised theatre exercises to imagine a better tomorrow. Drawing upon collective ideas, hopes, experiences, and practices, the group will create a distilled performance of theater, dance, and rhythm.
Devising Theatre Online with Nicole Orabona takes place on the following Saturday, September 30th, 2-4 pm. Aimed at those wanting to expand their artistic practice and connect digitally with a greater sphere of collaborators, this program is entirely online and facilitated over Zoom. Orabona will lead improvisation and collaboration activities to explore the process of creating art and connecting through digital platforms. While this workshop will be taught through the lens of theater, creative artists of other disciplines–– as well as anyone ready to discover their creativity–– are welcome to participate. People with barriers to in-person workshops (whether due to health, scheduling, transportation or other reasons), and those curious about virtual collaboration are encouraged to take advantage of this unique workshop.
“These workshops are the perfect opportunity to spend time with your creative self and to connect with WAM’s mission of arts activism. And with your community,” added Scarpa. “Join us for a couple of hours to play with free expression and your imagination.”
The workshops are expected to sell out, and registration is now open. Learn more or reserve your spot HERE. This FREE and accessible community program is made possible through partnerships with Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (Arts Build Community Incubation Grant), local cultural councils, and special donors like you. These workshops part of WAM’s ongoing commitment to engaging with, learning from, and mutually supporting their ever-shifting local community. Through these events, WAM hopes to create spaces––physical and virtual–– where people from a variety of backgrounds can gather, connect, and counteract polarization and isolation in our communities through artistic expression. In the process, WAM will use the opportunity to learn more about what needs, desires, and interests are priorities in the community, which in turn may guide future programming.
ACCESSIBILITY
WAM is committed to increasing accessibility in theatre and the wider community. Please note the WAM Creative hub is wheelchair accessible, and caregiver stipends are available to participants. If you incur caregiver costs (babysitters, after school care, adult caregivers etc.) in order to attend a WAM live Theatre performance or workshop, you can request a reimbursement. If you have accessibility need/s to participate fully in these workshops please contact us and we’ll do our best to provide what you need.
QUICK LOOK
Introduction to Devised Theatre with Priscilla Kane Hellweg
Saturday September 23rd, 1:30-4pm
In-person at the WAM Hub in downtown Lenox
Priscilla will guide the group through devised theatre exercises to share ideas and together imagine a better tomorrow. We will draw upon our collective ideas, hopes, experiences, and practices to create a distilled performance of theater, dance, and rhythm as a final sharing, just for us!
“Telling stories is the way we all connect with each other; you can fall in love with a fellow human in an instant,” said Teaching Artist Priscilla Miller. “I think teaching is like that; people in a room together get a chance to feel our collective humanity. We’re all here to tell some story that’s burning a hole in our pocket, and at some point or another, we’re all scared or stuck, but we persist. I respect the desire in all of us to create. I’m thrilled to partner with WAM. The work and the mission of this company are aligned with social justice and storytelling.”
Devising Theatre Online with Nicole Orabona
Saturday, September 30, 2023, 2-4 pm
On-line over zoom
Curious about expanding your artistic practice and connecting digitally with a greater sphere of collaborators? Using improvisation and collaboration, participants in this workshop will explore the process of creating art and connecting using digital platforms. While this workshop will be taught through the lens of theater, creative artists of other disciplines––as well as anyone ready to discover their creativity––are welcome and encouraged to participate.
“As a theatre maker and activist, I am such a huge fan of WAMs mission and absolutely chuffed to present this workshop!” says Teaching Artist Nicole Orabona. “My theatre practice thrives in a collaborative environment. During the early isolating days of the pandemic, I was lucky enough to find ways to make art virtually that could fill me with the same satisfaction of rolling around on the floor in a studio. I’m excited to share these practices with the WAMily!”
Community Story Circle with Maizy Scarpa
Saturday, October 7, 2023, 2-4 pm
In-person at the WAM Hub in downtown Lenox
This third workshop (not currently open for public enrollment) invites participants to give voice to challenges, dreams, fears and desires present in their communities today. Through a story exchange facilitated by WAM Director of Community Engagement Maizy Scarpa, Community Story Circle aims to create a space where we imagine—and begin to build—a future where WAM more fully meets the needs and aspirations of our neighbors, in an ever-changing world. What do you need to feel welcomed? And what do you hope to find once you’re here?
“As long as humans have had fire to gather around, we’ve met in circles to unpack our fears and dreams through storytelling. This is a powerful act; in the process we combat isolation, understand ourselves and our neighbors better, and build community. Sharing stories, real or imagined, is also a crucial step towards creating intentional and positive change.”
AT A GLANCE
Devising Theatre for Strength & Resiliency with Priscilla Kane Hellweg
Saturday, September 23, 2023, 1:30-4 pm
WAM Theatre Creative Hub, 55 Main Street, Lenox, MA
Devising Theatre Online with Nicole Orabona
Saturday, September 30, 2023, 2-4 pm
Online, via Zoom
Community Story Circle with Maizy Scarpa
Saturday, October 7, 2023, 2-4 pm
WAM Theatre Creative Hub, 55 Main Street, Lenox, MA
Free to all participants. Donations to WAM Theatre’s Community Engagement programs welcome. Visit www.wamtheatre.com/workshops/ asap to reserve your spot or to learn more
WAM COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
WAM Theatre empowers community through art. Community engagement is a central part of our activist mission. Each season, in accord with our main stage productions, we present invigorating conversations, workshops, professional development and devising ensembles that are responsive to the needs of the community and the time in which we are living.
TEACHING ARTIST BIOS
Nicole Orabona (they/she), is a queer, non-binary, Latinx theater maker who splits their time between a 45-year-old boat in NYC and a 100-year-old house in Berkshire County, MA. Acting: She thrives in collaborative and unconventional environments and has worked on over 30 interactive productions and prestige immersive events for clients that include Netflix and MGM. On-screen you can see them opposite Claire Danes in Hulu’s “Fleishman is in Trouble.” Directing: Nicole is the co-artistic director of Emit Theatre, co-founder of CirqueSaw Productions, and a company member of Infinite Variety Productions and Live in Theater. Awards/Achievements: Member of the 2022 Moxie Arts Incubator cohort, 2023 recipient of Mass Cultural Council Pandemic Recovery Grant, 2023 R.Evolución Latina Doreen Montalvo “Do It Anyway” scholarship finalist. Proud member of AEA. Connect: nicoleorabona.com
Priscilla Kane Hellweg (she/her) is the Principal Teaching Artist & CEO of the Arts Integration Studio, a new creative maker space that utilizes creativity, collaboration, and the practice of arts integration to address critical issues in education and community health & well-being. Prior to forming AIS, Priscilla was a teaching artist and the Executive/Artistic Director of Enchanted Circle Theater, a non-profit, multi-service arts organization in Holyoke, Massachusetts, which she led for forty years, integrating the arts, education, and social services to engage, enhance, and inspire learning. Awards/Proudest Achievements: 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, Champions of Arts Education Award and a Millennium Award from the National Guild of Community Arts Educators for her commitment to making quality arts education accessible to all. Selected Artistic Credits: Priscilla has co-written and directed site-based historical plays for educational and cultural tourism sites, including: Women on the Move: Celebrating the 150th Anniversary of the Seneca Falls Convention (2017); A Fiery and Still Voice: William Cullen Bryant at Home (2015); Inherent Dignity: Women Change Makers in the Progressive Era (2014); Sojourner’s Truth: “I will shake every place I go to” (2012), commissioned by the Sojourner Truth Memorial Statue Committee; Leah Enters Late: A New Chapter in the History of Yiddish (2010); The Skinner Servants’ Tour: A Living History of Wistariahurst (2005); and Between the Canals: The Evolution of a Mill Town (2001). Final Word: Collaboration and connectivity is at the center of everything Priscilla does. She is thrilled to be working with WAM Theatre in 2023, a company whose work she has greatly admired for many years. Connect: Priscilla@artsintegrationstudio.com
Maizy Broderick Scarpa (she/they/any pronouns) is an educator, writer, and theatre artist who is dedicated to building a more just & healthy world by fostering equity in the arts, and nurturing mutually supportive communities. Current Role at WAM: Director of Community Engagement. Previous WAM Credits: Teaching Artist (Teen Ensemble 2023); Actor in Fresh Takes Play Readings (Port of Entry, Grand Concourse, The Droll, The Tall Girls, Campus Unrest); 24 Hour Theatre Project 2016 (Playwright); workshop co-facilitator “Writing & Gender” Selected Teaching Credits Elsewhere: Theatre: Barrington Stage Co, Shakespeare & Company, Hampton Shakespeare Festival, Dorset Theatre Festival, The Buxton School, Taconic High School, Le Chapeau Rouge, StateraConIV. English as a Foreign Language: Lycée Alphonse Daudet; Collège Rene Cassin; The Kurdish Regional Government. Training: NYU/Tisch (Adler & ETW). Awards & Experiences: Named a “Berkshire County Woman Change Maker” by the Berkshire Eagle for International Woman’s Day (nominated by Kristen van Ginhoven); proud member of the Dramatists Guild of North America; 3+ years as an advocate & case manager for people living with HIV and/or experiencing housing instability. Selected Artistic Credits: Maizy’s plays have enjoyed productions, readings, and workshops across the United States as well as in Sweden and France. She has performed as an actor throughout the Berkshires and across the Northeast. (If you have kids, you may have heard their voice on WBUR’s popular storytelling podcast Circle Round). Inspired by the belief that all humans are artists, she founded Bloom Creativity in early 2020, which helps people unleash their inner artist through playwriting and creative wellness. Connect: maizyscarpa.com / bloomcreativity.com Instagram: @maizyscarpa / @bloom_creativity
WAM SUPPORT
This series of free community workshops has been made possible by an Arts Build Capacity Incubation grant from the Berkshires Taconic Community Foundation.
WAM’s sponsors include Adams Community Bank, Blue Q., Berkshire Roots, Blue Spark Financial, BRAVA, Downright Pro, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Garden Gables Inn, Guidos Fresh Marketplace, Mill Town Foundation, Inc., MILL TOWN FOUNDATION, INC. Health Professional Coaching, Heller & Robbins Attorneys at Law, Interprint, Onyx Specialty Papers, Outpost Productions, Prix Fixe, 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 Alford Egremont Cultural Council, Dalton Cultural Council, Lee Cultural Council, Lenox Cultural Council, Northern Berkshire Cultural Council, Otis Cultural Council, Sandisfield Cultural Council, Stockbridge 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. 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 their Mainstage productions to carefully selected beneficiaries. Since WAM’s founding in 2010, they have donated more than $90,000 to 26 local and global organizations taking action for gender equity in areas such as girls education, teen pregnancy prevention, sexual trafficking awareness, midwife training, and more.
In addition to Mainstage productions and special events, WAM’s activities include innovative community engagement programs and the Fresh Takes Play Reading Series. To date, WAM has provided paid work to more than 500 theatre artists, the majority of whom are female-identifying.
As a civic organization that embraces intersectional feminism (feminism that acknowledges how multiple forms of discrimination overlap), WAM understands that to address one piece of systemic discrimination means we have to address them all. This is on-going personal and professional work at WAM for the staff and board, detailed in their recently released accountability plan.
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. Kristen van Ginhoven, WAM’s Producing Artistic Director, was honored by the Berkshire Theatre Critics Association (BTCA) with the prestigious Larry Murray Award, presented at the discretion of the BTCA Board to a person or theatre project that advances social, political, or community issues in Berkshire County.