A suspense-filled new play
Lenox, MA (March 19, 2024) – The 15th Anniversary Season of WAM Theatre continues with a Fresh Takes Play Reading of Far, Far Better Things written by Geetha Reddy (Mahābhārata, Hela with Lauren Gunderson) and directed by Tatyana-Marie Carlo (Pride and Prejudice at Hartford Stage; La Broa’ [Broad Street] at Trinity Repertory Company) on Sunday, April 7, 2024 at 2pm at The Foundry (West Stockbridge, MA). Far, Far Better Things will also be viewable online on Saturday and Sunday, April 13-14.
WAM is proud to present the first reading of the latest version of Far, Far Better Things by acclaimed playwright Geetha Reddy. Inspired by Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities”, this new play tells the tale of two women – Pilar, a Latina domestic worker, and Zoe, a young South Asian doctor – separated by class, race, and the unspoken rules of modern womanhood. The two women struggle to balance their responsibilities to their children, to themselves, and to each other. In the end, they must decide if they are on the same or opposing sides of the struggle.
“When I set out to reimagine A Tale of Two Cities my idea was to center the two female characters in the book; portray them as allies instead of enemies,” said Reddy. “As I was writing the play the events of the book and the real world seemed to align. And as I watched, and partook, in the waves of activism sweeping the world I found myself compelled to set the play in the present day. But at its heart I still contend with the same questions Dickens does: How do you know when it is time to act? What action is meaningful? And for whom should you make sacrifices?”
“We’ve been watching Geetha’s development of this beautiful play for a couple of years and are honored to debut the new version at WAM’s Fresh Takes Play Reading Series,” said Talya Kingston, WAM’s Associate Artistic Director, who curates the series. “It cleverly interweaves immigrant stories showing how differences in class, race and gender affect life decisions in contemporary America, and how trauma reverberates through generations.”
The play features exciting local professional actors including: Abuzar Farrukh as Josh (last seen in Guards at the Taj at Chester Theatre Company) and Isabel Sanchez as Dani (last seen as a debater in What The Constitution Means to Me at Capital Repertory Theater). The rest of the company will be announced shortly.
WAM Theatre’s Fresh Takes Play Reading Series presents ground-breaking stories that are imaginative and thoughtful explorations of complex issues affecting women and girls. Featuring local professional actors and directors, the Fresh Takes play readings continue WAM’s commitment to connecting Berkshire audiences to female playwrights who are contributing to national and international theatre conversations. Each reading will be followed by a brief discussion with the artists.
WAM is thrilled to collaborate with The Foundry in West Stockbridge on their 2024 Fresh Takes Play Reading Series. Audience members will be able to purchase a drink and sit in the comfortable, cabaret space in close proximity to the performers to enjoy the play. The Foundry’s Producing Artistic Director, Amy Brentano, states that: “The Foundry is honored to host WAM Theatre’s Fresh Take series continuing a history of collaborations with the company. Fresh Takes aligns with our mission to prioritize, develop, and share new work for the stage.”
WAM will be streaming Far, Far Better Things the following weekend (April 13-14), allowing audiences from across the country, as well as those unable to attend the live performance, to watch this new play reading from the comfort of their homes. Tickets to online stream are now available.
TICKETS
Tickets are now on sale for our Fresh Takes Play Reading, Far, Far Better Things. Join WAM at The Foundry in West Stockbridge or online for this groundbreaking reading. The Foundry seating is limited and expected to sell out.
WAM will release tickets for the 15th Season benefit and fall mainstage production, Galileo’s Daughter, in the coming months.
For more information or to reserve your tickets today, visit WAM online at wamtheatre.com or call 413.274.8122.
FRESH TAKES READING SERIES AT A GLANCE
Far, Far Better Things
By Geetha Reddy
Directed by Tatyana-Marie Carlo
Cast TBA
The Foundry, 2 Harris Street, West Stockbridge, MA
Sunday, April 7 at 2pm, live
Sunday, April 13-14, online
Tickets $25 & $50
For more information about the 2024 Season and WAM Theatre’s programs, events, and artists, please visit www.WAMTheatre.com.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Tatyana-Marie Carlo (director, Far Far Better Things) is a proud, Puerto Rican director from Miami who received her MFA in Directing from Brown University and her BFA in Acting from New World School of the Arts. WAM Theatre: debut. Theatre Credits Elsewhere include: Sueño and Marisol by José Rivera, Behold, a Negress by Jacqueline E. Lawton, Fedra, Queen of Haiti by J. Nicole Brooks, Fade by Tanya Saracho, Subliminal by Ren Dara Santiago, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot by Stephen Adly Guirgis, She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen, Real Women Have Curves by Josefina Lopez, Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes, The Motherf**ker with the Hat by Stephen Adly Guirgis, Life is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, References to Salvador Dali Make me Hot by Jose Rivera, Paris by Eboni Booth, The Inferior Sex by Jacqueline E. Lawton, Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris, Carmela Full of Wishes by Alvaro Saar Rios, Vámonos by Julissa Contreras, La Gringa by Carmen Rivera, A Little Less Lonely at Dallas Theater Center, and several bilingual adaptations of Shakespeare with La Bulla Collective. Most recently she directed Pride and Prejudice by Kate Hamill at Hartford Stage and La Broa’ (Broad Street) at Trinity Repertory Company. Awards: 2019 Matt Harris Directing Fellow at Williamstown Theater Festival. 2021 Drama League Public Works Fellow. As the former Artistic Director of Micro Theater Miami, Tatyana integrated English-language plays where previously all the plays were performed in Spanish. While leading the creation process of 15-minute plays in 20′ x 8′ shipping containers she was also able to establish Micro-theater for Kids which was never seen in the United States. Soon after she became the Associate Director of Seminole Theatre, a performing arts center in Homestead FL. In her role she aided in the reopening of the theater after a 40-year closure. Membership: SDC. Contact: tatyanamariecarlo.com
Abuzar Farrukh (Josh, Far, Far Better Things) is an actor, born and raised in Lahore, Pakistan. Previous Roles at WAM Theatre: Honor Killing (Fresh Takes 2018), current member of the WAM Literary Committee. Selected Theatre Credits Elsewhere: Invasion! (Ancram Center for the Arts), Guards at the Taj (Chester Theatre Company), Disgraced (Chester Theatre Company), The Night Diary (Children’s Theatre Of Charlotte), Refugee (Joakim Interfest, Serbia), Much Ado About Nothing (Brown Box Theatre Project) Selected training: BA in Theatre – UMass Amherst. Shakespeare & Company Winter Intensive 2023, Awards/proudest achievements: 2022 Berkshire Theatre Critics Association Winner for Outstanding Ensemble (Invasion!) Final word: Delighted to be back at WAM where I started my professional acting journey! Connect: abuzarfarrukh.co
Geetha Reddy (playwright, Far, Far Better Things) is a playwright and filmmaker working in the Bay Area. Her plays include: Mahābhārata (Oakland Theatre Project) Far, Far Better Things (Shotgun Players/ TheatreFirst), Hela (with Lauren Gunderson, TheatreFirst), Safe House (SF Playhouse), Blastosphere (with Aaron Loeb, CentralWorks). Geetha’s plays Me Given You, Girl in a Box, and On a Wonderverse were part of the Playwright’s Foundation’s ‘In the Rough’ reading series. Safe House and On a Wonderverse were featured in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. She has been commissioned by TheatreWorks, SFPlayhouse, Oakland Theatre Project, Shotgun Players, Crowded Fire, the Gerbode Foundation, and PlayGround (3). Her plays have also appeared in the San Francisco Fringe Festival, the Santa Rosa Quickies festival, the Best of PlayGround Festival, the Just Theatre Lab series, the Crowded Fire Matchbox series, and the Theatreworks New Works Festival. Film Credits: Her short film Obit appeared at LA Shorts, NY Indie Fest, Bend Film Festival, the GI Film Festival and many others. Memberships: Geetha is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild and alumna Resident Playwright at the Playwright’s Foundation.
Isabel Sanchez (Dani, Far, Far Better Things) is an actor and soon-to-be college graduate from the University at Albany. WAM Theater: Isabel is ecstatic to be making her WAM Theater debut! Selected Theater Credits Elsewhere: What the Constitution Means to Me at Capital Repertory Theater (Debater), The Taming of the Shrew at UAlbany (Petruchio), The Wolves at UAlbany (#46), Twelfth Night at UAlbany (Maria). Film: “Morning, Dr. Kyudi,” “Laser-Focused,” “Al Otro Lado,” “C- Student.” Creative Inspiration: Isabel gathers her inspiration from the world around her. Special Thanks: Thank you Mom, Dad, and CJ for your unwavering love and support! Connect: https://www.theisabelsanchez.com/
THE WAM TEAM
Genée Coreno (Artistic Director) 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. Connect: (website) www.fringeandfur.org. (instagram) @Genéealyse_c
Talya Kingston (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.
ABOUT THE FOUNDRY
The multidisciplinary 85-seat venue in West Stockbridge, MA, programs theater, music, comedy, spoken word, educational workshops, and more. The space celebrates work that counteracts the passive, the isolating, the distance between people. The Foundry presents relevant performing art that is accessible for diverse audiences; art that connects and inspires us, and incites us to leap across cultural boundaries and serves as a holding tank for raw, funny, challenging, empowering work that changes the lens through which we view each other.
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 their 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
WAM SUPPORT
WAM Theatre’s 15th Anniversary Season is supported by many individuals and foundations including: Berkshire Bank, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Brabson Family Foundation, The Feigenbaum Foundation, GKV Foundation, Lee Bank Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), Scarlet Sock Foundation, and WomenArts. WAM’s season sponsors include Adams Community Bank, Blue Q., Berkshire Roots, Blue Spark Financial, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Garden Gables Inn, Guido’s 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. With additional support from Local Cultural Council 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. WAM was also the recipient of recent support from the New England Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, and U.S. Small Business Administration’s Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.