WAM co-founder Kristen van Ginhoven and playwright Susan Dworkin
What are the politics of singing—and what are the costs? These questions are at the heart of Women’s Action Movement (WAM) Theatre’s world premiere of The Old Mezzo, which runs from October 12-28. The Old Mezzo tells the story of an artist’s awakening as an activist. Written by Becket playwright Susan Dworkin and starring Capital region actress Eileen Schuyler, the play follows Alyssa, a golden-age opera singer, as she relives the choices she made as a young star faced with a repressive, terrorist regime. “The subject matter is the freedom of the arts, and the necessity for the artistic community to be able to say and speak and think what’s in their hearts,” says Dworkin. Which is why it’s a perfect choice for a young theater company that’s all about political activism. Founded three years ago by Kristen van Ginhoven and Leigh Strimbeck, WAM Theatre produces a play each fall that puts the spotlight on women playwrights, directors, and actors. Then it donates 25 percent of box office proceeds to an organization that benefits women worldwide. Much like Alyssa in The Old Mezzo, van Ginhoven never expected to transform from artist to activist. “I’m not somebody who’s been very politically involved,” she says. A Quebec native who worked as an actress in Toronto, a theater teacher in Belgium, and a master’s student in theater education at Emerson College, for most of her life van Ginhoven focused on the stage, not politics. “I always steered away from it,” she says. “I don’t like conflict.” But one book changed her mind, and her life. In 2009, van Ginhoven was a recent transplant to Lee, MA, looking to find a place in her niche in a new community. One day, she read Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn’s Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide. As she read about women fighting against injustice and building schools, hospitals, and thriving businesses through grassroots movements, van Ginhoven knew that she wanted to take up the cause—and she wanted to use theater as a tool for change. “I thought, ‘How can I use what I’ve spent my life learning about so far to make a difference about something that makes me crazy?’” she says.
Eileen Schuyler stars in The Old Mezzo
Van Ginhoven sought out the help of her WAM Theatre co-founder Strimbeck, a local actress, director, and writer who teaches theater at SUNY-Albany and Russell State College and who has long been involved with women’s rights issues. Together, the fearsome pair devised a plan to combat theater’s longstanding gender bias. Less than 20 percent of plays produced in the United States each year are written by women—which frequently translates into fewer roles for women directors and actors, too. WAM Theatre is set out to right that statistical wrong with top-tier plays by Sarah Ruhl, Jennifer Brewin, Leah Cherniak, Ann Marie MacDonald, Alisa Palmer, and Martha Ross—and now by debuting Dworkin’s play. “It’s our first world premiere,” says van Ginhoven, “so it’s a big risk. We don’t yet have an enormous audience and we’re picking something where they may not know the play or the playwright.” But the risk is well worth it. Themes in The Old Mezzo reflect WAM’s mission to expand justice for women and girls around the world. “The Old Mezzo is about the political awakening of a fictional great opera singer,” says van Ginhoven. “She couldn’t just be a naïve artist; she had to get engaged.”
Jeanet Ingalls, founder of Shout Out Loud
That call to action is echoed by Shout Out Loud Productions (SOLP), the non-profit organization that is this year’s chosen beneficiary. Founded by Lenox artist Jeanet T. Ingalls, who was also inspired by Half the Sky, SOLP's mission is to raise global awareness of sex trafficking and the abuse endured by the women and children ensnared in the $32 billion industry. SOLP's first project, Between Sea and Sky, is a documentary that tells the story of Ingalls’ own experiences as a child bought and sold in the Phillipines sex industry. "WAM and SOLP both hope to achieve the same ultimate end result, to lift up the lives of women and girls locally and globally," says Ingalls. "Both organizations use art as a way to achieve this." WAM Theatre is making a difference in artists’ lives as well. Dworkin, who wrote The Old Mezzo, has had an outstanding career as a journalist, contributing editor at Ms. Magazine, and author of books such as the international best-seller The Nazi Officer’s Wife. But, she says, “I’ve done less in the theater than I would have liked. You can just sit down and write a book, but it takes a large number of people to put a play on.” Now, Dworkin can finally see her labor of love live on stage. She says she’s thrilled to be a part of WAM Theatre. “To be involved with it means you’re really doing more than just doing a play,” she says. “You’re trying to be an agent of transformation for good.” For Dworkin, that’s what art is all about. “All social change, practically all of it, begins with and is nurtured by the artistic community,” she says. “Look at Woodie Guthrie—a great troubadour of progressivism during the Great Depression. He made very sophisticated political ideas accessible to plain people. Political change and social change always happens more sweetly if it sings along." —Sarah ToddThe Old MezzoBerkshire Museum39 South Street Pittsfield, MA Weekends, October 12-28; Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 5 p.m. Tickets are $15 for students and groups and $25 for adults; to purchase click here or call 1-800-838-3006
