(WEST STOCKBRIDGE, Mass.) – A staged reading of “How the World Began” by Catherine Trieschmann will take place at No. Six Depot Roastery and Café (6 Depot St.) on Sunday, June 22, 2014, at 3pm, as part of WAM Theatre’s Fresh Takes Play Reading Series. Trieschmann’s provocative and intelligent play about the collision of faith and science won critical acclaim Off-Broadway in 2012. “How the World Began” is the third presentation in the new Fresh Takes play reading series, which offers new and reimagined works that tell women’s stories. The series has proven popular with audiences, selling out its first two readings.

In “How the World Began,” a Manhattan woman travels to a rural Kansas town, recently devastated by a tornado, to take a teaching job in a makeshift high school. But when she makes an off-handed remark regarding the origins of life, she unleashes community outrage and the particular distress of a troubled teenage boy. Through an intimate, artful examination of her characters, Trieschmann invites audiences to consider their own beliefs and their perhaps unspoken opinions of others.

“In writing the play, I don’t know that I was so intent upon representing all sides of the evolution versus creationism debate as much as I was intent upon creating characters that were extreme in their beliefs but sympathetic in their portrayal,” says Trieschmann. “I personally have no problem reconciling evolution and the existence of God, but I was intrigued by people who do.”

“It’s not very often that a play with such direct harsh honesty crosses my path that is also so well written,” says Miller, the director of this play reading. “Nothing is black and white, cut and dry […] It asks questions such as “Can helping others become too self-serving?” “Do we need faith in times of tragedy?” “Can a change of landscape equate a change of heart?” As a lover of theatre, I look forward to the conversation that this play will inspire.”

The cast of “How the World Began” features Elizabeth Donnelly (WAM Theatre’s The Old Mezzo, Ivoryton Playhouse’s The Rainmaker), Benjamin Epstein (Shakespeare & Company’s Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2), and Don Shannon (National Player’s Twelfth Night, Barrington Stage Company’s Enemy of the People). Tracy Liz Miller (Vermont Shakespeare Company, Associate Producer) will direct the reading.

There are only 25 tickets available for this reading. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by calling 1-800-838-3006 or going online to Fresh Takes Play Reading Series.. Due to the limited availability, advance booking is highly recommended. Food and drink will be available for purchase at the café prior to the reading, which will begin in the gallery at 3pm.

The Fresh Takes Play Reading series is curated by WAM Theatre Artistic Associate Kelly Galvin and consists of: Blue Stockings by Jessica Swale (April 13, 2014 at 3 p.m.), Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare (May 18, 2014 at 3p.m.), How the World Began by Catherine Trieschmann (June 22, 2014 at 3p.m.), Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England by Madeleine George (August 17, 2014 at 3p.m.), and Waxworks by Trina Davies (September 21, 2014 at 3p.m.).

WAM (Women’s Action Movement) Theatre was co-founded in 2010 by Artistic Director Kristen van Ginhoven. Inspired by the book “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide” by Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, WAM Theatre is based in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. WAM Theatre’s philanthropic mission is two-fold: first, to create theatrical events for everyone, with a focus on women theatre artists and/or stories of women and girls; and second, to donate a portion of the proceeds from those events to organizations that benefit women and girls. Since 2010, WAM Theatre has donated more than $10,500 to its beneficiaries.