Lenox — WAM Theatre’s word-premiere production of “1999” will open at the Elayne P. Bernstein Theatre at Shakespeare & Company on Thursday, October 16. Performances will run until Sunday, November 2.
WAM (Where Arts and Activism Meet) was founded in 2010 by Leigh Strimbeck and Kristen van Ginhoven.
According to its website, WAM Theatre aims to “… create opportunity for women and girls and we do that through our mission of theatre as philanthropy. As we grow, we realize that we are also a civic institution that creates theatre for gender equity.”
Written by playwright Stacey Isom Campbell and directed by WAM Theater Artistic Director Genée Coreno, the show stars Zoë Laiz, Caroline Festa, and Zurie Adams.
WAM describes provides the following description of the play on its website:
When a student challenges the film selections in her class, Emma—a film criticism professor and film producer—is forced to confront her past. As long-buried guilt resurfaces over a decision she made as an emerging filmmaker back in 1999, Emma finds herself questioning the very foundation of her career. How do we reckon with the films we once revered in the light of Hollywood’s reckoning with the Me Too Movement? And what responsibility does an educator bear in shaping the minds, systems, and morals that allow our next generation to thrive?
The play, which flashes back and forth in Emma’s life between 1999 and 2019, is a finalist for the 2025 Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and Modern New Works Festival.
“I was inspired to write this play when I was teaching a creative writing class a few years ago,” Isom Campbell told The Berkshire Edge. “During these classes, I take my students through writing prompts and exercises. What was coming out of these prompts were little rants about movies of the 1990s and how things in the news were changing how people felt about these movies.”
As an example, Isom Campbell referenced movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s criminal convictions for sexual assault. Weinstein co-founded the movie production company Miramax, which produced many influential films in the 1990s, including “Pulp Fiction,” “Clerks,” and “Good Will Hunting.”
Back in 2017, multiple media outlets reported various accusations from at least 80 women in the film industry who claimed that Weinstein sexually harassed, assaulted, or raped them. The allegations were the spark of the #MeToo movement.
Weinstein was eventually arrested in May 2018 and charged with rape in New York City, and he was subsequently found guilty of two of the five felony counts he was charged with and sentenced to 23 years in prison.
In July 2021, Weinstein was extradited to Los Angeles on sexual assault charges.
In December 2022, he was found guilty of three of seven charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
In April 2024, the New York Court of Appeals overturned the rape convictions due to “egregious errors of procedure.”
After a retrial in April, Weinstein was once again convicted of the charges in a mixed verdict.
Coreno said that the character Emma in “1999,” played by Laiz, was a burgeoning filmmaker in the 1990s, along with her friend Teresa, played by Festa. “Together, both Emma and Teresa decided that they were going to set out to make cinema in the spirit of love, collaboration, and vision,” Coreno said. “It’s in a very feminist independent filmmaking kind of way. In the play, we watch Emma become a professional and try to make it in the mainstream alongside her friend Teresa. During this time, Emma comes across powerful men in the entertainment business who impact her, her experiences, her life, and her trajectory. When we are thinking about films of the 1990s, this play is really asking us if we can watch a film or look at a piece of art and not consider the context in which it is made. Miramax produced a lot of these films that are talked about in the play. What does it mean that Miramax produced these films that we love, but through producing these films, it harmed a lot of people and affected the way they feel about their art and the future of their careers?”
“You have to wonder about the films that might have been made if these women had been given a chance to make them,” Isom Campbell said. “I think in 2025, women have a better chance to make films than they did in 1999, but I still think it’s incredibly difficult. Even in the theater world, it’s difficult for women to create their work. There have been articles published this year about how there is a lack of the work of female playwrights being produced at major theaters. To be frank about it, it’s disappointing.”
Coreno said that the play also brings up subjects surrounding “equal opportunities and safe and respectful working spaces” for women.
“In all sectors, there are real challenges for investment in endeavors created by women, especially in the arts,” Coreno said. “We’re seeing fewer women directors, fewer women playwrights, and women have the lowest-paying contracts out of anyone in our industry. There is also an intersection of race and gender that plays a part in the disparity being greater. We still need to do a lot to keep this conversation present to keep pushing towards equal opportunity.”
Coreno added that a play like “1999” is important to keep the ball rolling in the conversations about equal opportunity for women. “Women and girls need to see an intergenerational conversation between women artists,” Coreno said. “We need to push forward more examples of powerful women, along with examples of women searching for their meaning, their truths, and authentically living their lives.”
For more information about “1999” and performance times, visit WAM Theatre’s website.
