WAM Theatre Appoints Five Members to Board of Trustees

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LENOX, Mass. — WAM Theatre welcomed five new members to its Board of Directors.
 
Each appointee is a recognized leader within the Berkshire community and beyond, bringing expertise, lived experience, and a shared commitment to advancing opportunities for women and girls.
 
"We are thrilled to celebrate both our returning board members and those newly joining WAM Theatre's Board of Directors," said Deb Brothers, WAM Board Co-President. "Each member brings valuable expertise, lived experience, and fresh perspective that strengthens our collective leadership and deepens our impact. WAM's dedicated Board positions WAM to lead with vision, accountability, and care as we advance our mission for women and girls."
 
At the end of 2025, WAM welcomed Shela Levante (Executive Director of Institutional Advancement, State Commissioner for the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women), and Bryan Binder (Leads the firm's M&A Advisory practice at Jetty Rock Capital), At the start of 2026 WAM welcomed Peggy Malumphy (HR Professional and Board Chair of The Boston House), Diana L. Knaebe (Executive Officer of The Brien Center), and Elizabeth Nelson (Multidisciplinary Artist and Communications & Content Producer at Greylock). 
 
Carolyn Butler (Community Philanthropist and fundraiser) returned to the Board for her third term.
 
"This is a pivotal and energizing moment for WAM Theatre," added Managing Director Molly Merrihew. "With a growing and deeply engaged Board of Directors, we are strengthening our governance, expanding our community impact, and building shared investment in WAM's long-term sustainability. As we grow, we are increasing our capacity to leverage philanthropic support, cultivate meaningful cross-sector partnerships, and steward resources in ways that boldly advance our mission. Together—with our staff, board, artists and community—we are expanding opportunities for women and girls across the Berkshires while contributing to the national movement for gender equity."
 
"I'm very excited to collaborate with each of our board members this year," noted WAM Board Co-President Nicole Young-Martin. "Each person has such a deep love and admiration for WAM Theatre, making the work very enjoyable and rewarding. And, we have a diverse range of expertise including human resources, finance, equity and justice, fundraising, community outreach, marketing, and theatre producing that we can tap into, allowing us to help build organizational capacity as we work with WAM Theatre staff and leadership to usher in this next chapter. I thank everyone in advance for all the hard work and dedication that they'll contribute this year."
 
Those with expertise to share and are interested in speaking to WAM about volunteer opportunities including participation in a WAM Theatre Committee working alongside our Team and Board please contact WAM via email at info@wamtheatre.com.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

A Boutique Hotel is Bringing Guests a Luxury Stay in Lenox

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff

LENOX, Mass. — A new Inn is bringing a boutique-style stay for visitors and locals to enjoy.

Owners, Sullivan Capital LLC, purchased the property, located on 135 Main Street, in 2024. After a year or renovations, Garden Gables Inn is open for business. 

"Garden Gables started off as one of the many Berkshire cottages, 1790 was the date on that, and it's always operated as an inn," said Hospitality Manager Yvonne Walton. "It's just a great gathering place and relaxation spot for people to come and get the feel of Lenox, and just slow down and enjoy the nature and the surrounding area...get culture and art and see some great concerts. I think it'll be a wonderful place, definitely does more of the upper-scale hospitality." 

Owners Niko Giallouis and Eric Sullivan bought the property from the former owner. Sullivan had his eye on Lenox since attending a wedding almost 10 years ago.

"I came to a wedding in Lenox, probably six or seven years ago. Personally, just kind of fell in love with the area, and I guess that's kind of how it got on my radar. So you know from that perspective, as we got into the hotel business out towards an area, it was a place I was kind of monitoring and waiting for the right property to show up."

After purchasing the two underwent a full renovation, a project that cost around $1.5 million. The building, first built in 1780, required some TLC. Sullivan's wife, Jessica, who owns Jessica Sullivan Design, designed the inn.

Sullivan said they installed a new roof, repainted everything, renovated the bathrooms, installed new floors, a new HVAC system, and new plumbing.

"We really touched everything from the outside...I mean, all the aesthetics and layouts changed a bit," he said. "As I said, put about a million and a half into it. All new furniture, fixtures, everything. The design's completely different. It wasn't a full gut, but it was a heavy, heavy renovation."

The two like to collaborate with local businesses, and they make a point to direct visitors to local restaurants, businesses, and attractions.

"If guests are asking for recommendations, our customer service team, our guest services team, will relay that kind of information. Even if we can call and make a reservation for somebody, happy to do it," he said. "We aren't doing breakfast, but what we do is we have partnerships with a lot of the breakfast places downtown. We actually purchase a gift certificates for each person each day, so that they can use that to go downtown."

Sullivan hopes that guests don't see their inn as just a place to sleep and dump their bags, but make it an experience for anyone who stays.

"We really focus on kind of the experience side of things, so again, we want to give you the best experience you can have here...and we want that not just to be the place you put your bag and go do things. It's important to think of everything," he said.

Sullivan said partnerships are important to their business and are a way to connect with locals.

"The local partnerships, I can't stress that enough, because no matter how much and how great the room is, people are still going to want to go do other things," he said. "So, I think it just benefits everybody if we're all working together and so forth, and supporting the community, being neighborly too, because we are surrounded by residential homes...But we really try to put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, a lot of love into the building, all the details, really care about the senses," Sullivan said.

The Inn's check-in and reservations are completely online. When guests arrive, all they have to do is check in online and receive their code that they will use to enter their room. Sullivan hopes this helps create less stress for guests and gets them to their room as fast as possible, especially after a long trip.

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