LENOX, MA (September 26, 2024) — WAM Theatre and Central Square Theater are proud to announce the impressive and diverse creative team for their Fall Main Stage production of Galileo’s Daughter by Jessica Dickey (The Amish Project, The Rembrandt, Row After Row), directed by Reena Dutt (Chester Theater Company’s Guards at the Taj). The production will run at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre Shakespeare & Company, Lenox, MA from October 18 – November 3, 2024, and will then transfer to Central Square Theater in Cambridge, MA from November 14 – December 8, 2024. Tickets are on sale now.
Rattled by a personal crisis, a playwright flees to Florence to study the letter between Galileo and his eldest daughter Maria Celeste. Caught up in the threats against her father, Maria must abandon her work and join a convent. The writer’s discovery of Maria’s strength and tenacity inspires her own pursuit of purpose. Alternating between past and present, this play is a personal examination of faith, forgiveness, and the cost of seeking and speaking truth. The Chicago Reader called it “a smart and poignant” story.
WAM Theatre and Central Square Theater are excited to share that this regional premiere of Galileo’s Daughter will feature the talents of an international group of emerging theatrical designers.
Director Reena Dutt explains, “The show travels with a writer working through her own crisis by investigating the history of a brilliant woman long since buried with time. Unearthing their lives in this fast-moving, funny, and heart-warming play is going to be a delight. It’s the perfect group of people with whom to bring this story to life.”
Originally from China, Scenic Designer Qingan Zhang is a multidisciplinary artist who has designed for new productions at IRT Theater, HERE Arts Center, Rattlestick Theater, and New Ohio Theatre. Her scenic designs were last seen at Central Square Theater in their productions of Beyond Words and The Chinese Lady. Zhang explains that in her designs she: “seeks to empower the intangible mental fantasy rooted in the narratives through materiality of the built environment through layers of materials, objects, multimedia and objective metaphors.” For Galileo’s Daughter, Drishti Chauhan, a recent MFA graduate, originally from India will serve as the Apprentice Scenic Designer, assisting Zhang throughout the creative process.
The costumes and props are being designed by Malorie Grillo, a Costa Rican designer who has launched her professional career in the United States at WAM having previously worked on the cabaret Me & the Sky and the summer benefit fragments of Outside. “Galileo’s Daughter is a special piece for me,” explains Grillo. “It takes us on the journey of two women who have fought against their destinies and what is predetermined for them. As an immigrant woman, I feel connected to these stories and see myself in them, always challenging what was predetermined for me.”
Mexican-American Lighting Designer Andrea Sofia Sala was attracted to this production of Galileo’s Daughter as an opportunity “to think unconventionally while uplifting the voices of those who are/have been unseen, and work with people determined to do the same.” Based in Boston, she is currently the Lighting Supervisor for Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Production Manager for Fresh Ink Theatre.
The sound for Galileo’s Daughter will be designed by Masatora Goya whose work was recently seen at WAM Theatre’s fragments of Outside. Masatora is a designer and composer, born in Malaysia and raised in Japan, who enjoys, “finding a shape and flow in intangible emotions.”
That the majority of the design team is made up ofemerging women or non-binary identified artists is intentional. WAM’s BIPOC Apprenticeship program, sponsored by the Brabson Family Foundation, is a multi-year commitment. Artistic Director Genée Coreno explains: “The hope is to build meaningful relationships with early career designers and apprentices over time to cultivate a sense of creative belonging and nurture paths to future collaborations.”
The creative team is rounded out with: Stage Manager Hope Rose Kelly, (whose previous work with WAM includes Cadillac Crew, Holy Laughter, The Last Wife and Ann), assisted by Nathaniel Bokaer (2024 WAM Fresh Takes Play Readings and Big Big Sky at Chester Theatre Company), and Production Dramaturg Talya Kingston (WAM’s Associate Artistic Director who has dramaturged past WAM productions of What The Constitution Means to Me, Roe, and Lady Randy).
WAM Theatre is proud to offer equitable seating for this production and encourage patrons to select the ticket price that best fits their needs. Tickets range from $25-$100. WAM invites audience members to choose from one of the suggested price levels, while keeping in mind that the higher ticket price you are able to select, the more we will be able to donate to our recipients (who will be named later this month). WAM Theatre also offers group tickets (for groups of ten or more), and $5 for EBT card holders.
Tickets for Galileo’s Daughter are on sale now. For tickets and more information about WAM Theatre’s 2024 Season, programs, events, and artists, please visit wamtheatre.com
AT A GLANCE
Galileo’s Daughter
A co-production of WAM Theatre and Central Square Theater
Written by Jessica Dickey
Directed by Reena Dutt
at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre Shakespeare & Company,
70 Kemble St, Lenox, MA
Previews: Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19 at 7pm
Opening/Press Night: Sunday October 20, at 2pm
Berkshire Closing: Sunday November 3 at 2pm
Tickets: $25 – $100: Friend: $25 Standard: $55 Supporter: $100
Central Square Theatre: November 14 – December 8, 2024
For more information about the 2024 Season and WAM Theatre’s programs, events, and artists, please visit www.WAMTheatre.com.
MORE ABOUT GALILEO’S DAUGHTER ARTISTS
Jessica Dickey is an award-winning playwright and actor. Playwriting: Jessica’s most recent play, The Convent, a dark comedy about a group of women who try to live like nuns in the middle ages, premiered Off-Broadway this year in a sold out co-production with Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Rising Phoenix, and WeatherVane, and is now being developed into a series for Sarah Jessica Parker’s company, Pretty Matches. Jessie’s play The Rembrandt (about a museum guard who decides to deliberately touch a Rembrandt painting) had a sold out run at Steppenwolf starring John Mahoney. Other plays have been premiered Off-Broadway in New York and produced around the country: The Amish Project, about the 2006 Nickel Mines school shooting in an Amish community; then Charles Ives Take Me Home, about a violinist father and his basketball star daughter; and Row After Row, a dark comedy about Civil War reenactors. Her next world premiere is coming up this season on the west coast: Nan and the Lower Body is a dark comedy about the creation of the Pap Smear and her maternal grandmother (commissioned by Manhattan Theater Club and the Sloan Foundation). Acting Credits include: Cry It Out (Humana Festival), Pocatello (Playwrights Horizons), and performances at Manhattan Theater Club, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, Barrow Street, Cherry Lane, Keen Company, the Guthrie, McCarter, the Huntington, Denver Center, and George Street. TV Credits include: Homeland, Shades of Blue, The Big C, Law & Order, and the Lifetime movie Amish Grace. Memberships & Awards: Jessica is a member of the exclusive New Dramatists and a recipient of the prestigious Stavis Award. Contact: jessicadickey.com
Reena Dutt is dedicated to new and reimagined texts that catapult polarizing conversations through unexpected stories with the bodies, voices, and life experiences of the underheard. Theatre Credits: Her Broadway debut was on The Collaboration at MTC as Assistant Director to Kwame Kwei-Armah of the Young Vic in London, and she most recently assisted Leigh Silverman on Merry Me at NYTW. New York: Columbia University, Playwrights Realm, A.R.T. West Coast: UC Riverside, Artists At Play, Coeurage Ensemble, UC Riverside, Greenway Court Theatre, East West Players, Sacred Fools. Upcoming: An Experiment with an Airpump (CalArts), Pang Spa (World Premiere, Chalk Rep). Film: Reena is also a film director and producer, having screened films at over 80 festivals worldwide including Sundance, LAFF, Outfest, Frameline, Cucalorus, NBCUniversal, BET, PBS/Latino, and HBO. Her most recent short film, FOUND, brings voice to transracial adoption through fictional storytelling from the adoptee’s point of view and is currently touring the festival circuit in conjunction with private events with adoption organizations across the country. Dutt directed TOO MANY BODIES, a socially driven music and dance piece advocating for gun reform, which was picked up by NoRAnow.org and Survivors Empowered and received numerous awards in music video and social justice categories. She directed 3 PUFFS OF GOLD, a magical realism piece about domestic violence, and was a finalist for New Filmmakers Los Angeles: On Location competition with her film “SNAPSHOT!” (2011), which explored Angelinos and their diverse roots. Community Activism: Reena was the first South Asian Community Liaison at the Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and served on the board of Theatre of NOTE. She produced panel discussion connecting 99-seat theater to large theatre houses in the LA area at the Hollywood Fringe Festival and acted as an Associate Producer for Directors Lab West/Connects during the pandemic. Fellowships: Drama League NY Directing Fellow, LCT Directors Lab, Directors Lab West, Project Involve at Film Independent, SFFilm, and Trans Atlantic Partners with the Goethe Institut (Berlin). Connect: reenadutt.com
Masatora Goya (Sound Designer) is a composer, born in Malaysia and raised in Japan, finding a shape and flow in intangible emotions. WAM Theatre: fragments of Outside. Selected Theatre Credits Elsewhere: OUTSIDE (Culture Lab LIC), Echo and Narcissus (Shortened Attention Span Musical Festival), Dog Life (Smithfield Little Theatre) Selected training: DMA in Composition – Five Towns College, ASCAP/Columbia Film Scoring Workshop, BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop Awards/proudest achievements: 2022 American Prize in Instrumental Chamber Music Final word: Inspiration comes from what can be felt but is intangible. Connect: www.masatoragoya.com
Andrea Sofia Sala (Lighting Designer) is a Mexican-American/Latinx Lighting Designer, Production Manager, and Mover currently based in Boston, MA. WAM Theatre: debut. Selected Theatre Credits Elsewhere: Andrea is currently the Lighting Supervisor for Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Production Manager for Fresh Ink Theatre. She has had the privilege to work with incredible companies and institutions, including Dance Theater of Harlem, Urban Bush Women, Jacob’s Pillow, The Yard, Central Square Theater, Fresh Ink Theater Company, Free Soil Arts Collective, and local dance artists at the Boston Center for the Arts. She is also involved as aperformer within the Boston dance community. Creative inspiration: She hopes to find opportunities to think unconventionally while uplifting the voices of those who are/have been unseen, and work with people determined to do the same. Connect: Website: www.andreasofiasala.com; Instagram: andrea_sofia2010
Drishti Chauhan (Scenic Apprentice) is an Indian production designer based in NYC interested in working on funny, queer and feminist stories. WAM Theatre: Debut. Selected Theatre Credits Elsewhere: Lighting Designer for Smart People (Silverthorne Theater). Scenic Designer for Twelfth Night, Into the Woods, Orlando, Dance Nation, The Hatmaker’s Wife, Allegory of a Young Man, Webgirl (UMass Amherst.) Additional artistic credits: Installation Designer and Fabricator for Sculptural Installation for Kids Education Revolution Annual Meet, India and Possibilities Teach for India Annual Meet, India. Membership/Affiliations: Design Action, Rise Theatre and ITA (Immigrant Theater Makers ) Selected training: MFA in Scenic Design and Technology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; Internship with Broadway Scenic Designer David Zinn; B.Des in Interior Design Connect: www.drishtichauhandesign.com
Hope Rose Kelly (Stage Manager) WAM Theatre: Me & the Sky, Cadillac Crew, Holy Laughter, The Last Wife, Ann, various Fresh Takes readings, 24 Hour Theatre Festival Selected Theatre Credits Elsewhere: Companies worked include American Stage Company, Hartford Stage Company, Shakespeare & Company, Long Wharf Theatre, McCarter Theatre. George Street Playhouse, Hangar Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Berkshire Theatre Group, L/A Public Theatre, New Repertory Theatre, Majestic Theatre. Membership/Affiliations: Actors’ Equity Association, Stage Managers’ Association (Chair of the International Cohort) Selected training: Ithaca College, University of Toronto Connect: Instagram: @doctorstgmgr
Malory R. Grillo (Costume/Props Designer) is a Costarrican theater artist-designer based in Massachusetts. Previous WAM Credits: Costume and Props Designer fragments of the Outside, Costume Consultant, Me & the Sky Cabaret. Selected Theatre Credits: Costume designer Bulrusher (Silverthorne theater), director and costume designer Allegory of a Young Man, costume and puppet designer Twelfth Night, costume designer The Hatmaker’s Wife, Aurash, Los Olvidados (UMASS Amherst), Costume Designer MACHINAL (University of Costa Rica), Costume Design Assistant The house the Negro insane (CATF), Costume Designer Desconoci2 (La Cebolla Producciones), Writer Maldita Golondrina (Teatro Mélico Salazar Costa Rica), Director and writer Naufragos O… (Metafora Estudio). A passion for theater since 2009, Actress, director, writer, designer, makeup artist and art director for short films. Selected training: MFA in Costume Design for Theater, UMASS Amherst, BA Degree from the University of Costa Rica. Awards: Best National Short Play Maldita Golondrina (2020) Teatro Melico Salazar, Costa Rica Connect: maloriegrillo.com
Nathaniel Bokaer (they/them) (Assistant Stage Manager) is a stage manager and costume designer based in the Berkshires with a passion for education and training. WAM Theatre: Far, Far Better Things, Be Here Now Selected Theatre Credits Elsewhere: Nathaniel has worked with Great Barrington Public Theater, Shakespeare & Company, CATA, Pittsfield Shakespeare in the Park, and the Columbia County Players. Most recently they stage managed Big Big Sky at Chester Theatre Company. Selected training: Bard College at Simon’s Rock (BA, Psychology and Theatre Studies). Etc: Nathaniel lives in South County with their wife, Victoria, and their Dog, Barney. Qingan Zhang (Scenic Designer) is a multidisciplinary scenic designer and producer based in Boston and New York. WAM Theatre: Debut. Selected Theatre Credits Elsewhere: Boston: Beyond Words, The Chinese Lady (Central Square Theater), Nüwa in Fairyland (CHUANG Stage); New York: Qingan has designed for new productions at IRT Theater, HERE Arts Center, Rattlestick Theater, New Ohio Theatre, and more. Additional artistic credits: The Babble of the Brook (short film, production designer). Creative inspiration: Qingan seeks to empower the intangible mental fantasy rooted in the narratives through materiality of the built environment through layers of materials, objects, multimedia and objective metaphors. Community Engagement/Activist work: Co-founder of Cellunova Productions, a nonprofit interdisciplinary production company founded by first generation immigrant artists, aiming to create experience that expand the boundaries of theatre. Selected training: Boston College (Theatre BA and Psychology BA); Pratt Institute (Interior Design MFA) Final word: Qingan is very grateful for the support she has received from WAM and the entire creative team. Connect:qinganz.com
Talya Kingston (production dramaturg) is a playwright, dramaturg and educator who is inspired by the live interactions between artists and audiences and how these can be a catalyst for social change. Selected WAM Theatre Credits: dramaturgy (What the Constitution Means to Me, Roe, Lady Randy), direction (Me & the Sky, The Thanksgiving Play, Paradise, Swallow), playwright (Port of Entry, Campus Unrest). Selected Dramaturgy Credits Elsewhere: Hartford Stage (Necessary Targets), New York Fringe Festival (Helmet), Ko Festival (Seriously.. What Did You Call Me? Written and performed by Onawumi Jean Moss), UMass, Amherst (Gum, Christmas Carol, Bovver Boys, The Last Five Years, Life is a Dream, Late Style). Playwriting: Port of Entry, Circling Suspicion (Plays In Place at Historic Northampton), Campus Unrest (finalist in the 2019 Bechtel Test Fest), Wave Goodbye (2020 PLAYground TYA Festival at NorthWestern University, semi-finalist for Provincetown Playhouse’s New Plays for Young Audiences), Sheryl Addresses the PGO (The New England Monologues Project), Wishing on Satellites, Anxiety Overdrive. Publications: Journal of American Drama and Theater, Scene Magazine, Theater Journal, The Moving Voice, European Stages, Howlround and The Valley Advocate. Selected training: MFA in dramaturgy, University of Massachusetts. Directing Fellow at Juilliard. Memberships/affiliations: proud member of the Northampton Playwrights Lab, the Play Incubation Collective, the Dramatists Guild and the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas.
WAM SUPPORT
WAM Theatre’s 15th Anniversary Benefit Performance of fragments of Outside is supported by many individuals and foundations including: Baystate Financial, Berkshire Bank, Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, Brabson Family Foundation, Brava/Ombra, Doctor Sax House, 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, Black Writers Read, Blue Spark Financial, Carolyn Butler, Greylock Federal Credit Union, Garden Gables Inn, Guidos Fresh Marketplace, Handful Photography, Mill Town Foundation, Inc., Higher Bar, Health Professional Coaching, Heller & Robbins Attorneys at Law, Interprint, Onyx Specialty Papers, Outpost Productions, RB Design Co., T Square Design Studio, 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 and the National Endowment for the Arts, and U.S. Small Business Administration’s Shuttered Venue Operators Grant.
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
ABOUT CENTRAL SQUARE THEATER
Central Square Theater (CST) explores social justice, science and gender politics through theater. Combining artistic excellence, cross disciplinary collaboration and community engagement, CST creates theater where points of view are heard, perspective shifts, and change can happen. Central Square Theater, the oldest female-led theater organization in Greater Boston, engages over 35,000 people annually through live performance, rigorous youth education, and community programs. CST works closely with MIT on Catalyst Collaborative@MIT (CC@MIT), one of the only nationwide partnerships between a world class research institute and a professional theater. CC@MIT creates and presents plays that deepen public engagement with science, while providing creative and emotional experiences not available in other forms of dialogue about science. Central Square Theater’s education programs serve youth throughout Cambridge and Greater Boston via in-school residencies, onsite programs, and collaborations with community partners. Youth Underground (YU), CST’s award winning youth development program, provides a platform for members to broaden their own perspectives and understand others’, and to come to a deeper understanding of self as they cultivate their artistry. Visit CentralSquareTheater.org.