Event to benefit Haiti's Children

COMING SOON!!!

Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and After The Storm present
The Human Heart: Helping Haiti's Children
Monday, March 1st at 7 PM
Joe's Pub
425 Lafayette
New York

Tickets
$40 (General)
$100 (Premium - includes Preferred Seating, Meet & Greet and more!)

www.joespub.com

Starring: Farah Alvin (Chess, The Look Of Love, Nine, I Love You Because), Betty Buckley (Triumph of Love, Sunset Boulevard, Carrie, Song & Dance, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Cats, 1776), Tituss Burgess (Guys And Dolls, The Little Mermaid, Jersey Boys), Quentin Darrington (Ragtime), Gregg Edelman (A Tale Of Two Cities, Wonderful Town, Into The Woods, City Of Angels), Kecia Lewis-Evans (The Drowsy Chaperone, Once On This Island, Chicago), Rachel Bay Jones (Hair), Janine LaManna (The Drowsy Chaperone, Seussical, Ragtime), One Life To Live's Mark Lawson, James Lecesne, Michael McElroy (Big River, The Wild Party, Rent, The Who's Tommy), Gerry McIntyre (Once On This Island), Jill Paice (The 39 Steps, Curtains, The Woman In White), Billy Porter (Smokey Joe's Cafe, Grease), Christy Romano (Avenue Q, Parade), Robin Skye (Parade, Cyrano), Stephanie Umoh (Ragtime), Lynne Wintersteller (A Grand Night For Singing, Closer Than Ever) and Andrea Frierson (Once On This Island, Marie Christine, Juan Darien, The Lion King). This fundraiser will also feature new songs by Brooke Sunny Moriber, Bill Schermerhorn and Michael Feinstein and Georgia Stitt and Bil Wright and special appearances by Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty and more. Directed by Randy Redd, Aaron Jodoin musical directs and leads a 5 piece band with vocalists Cole Burden, Mary Catherine McDonald, Caroline Dooner, Justin Lopez and Matt Dengler. All proceeds go through After The Storm directly to SOS Children’s Villages.

SOS Children's Villages is assessing the most immediate needs of the thousands of victims of the disaster in Haiti and will provide medical supplies, drinking water and basic food supplies. In the days and weeks to come, SOS Children's Villages Haiti will provide temporary care for children who are not accompanied by adults or even long-term care for children who have lost their parents in this terrible catastrophe.

www.sos-childrensvillages.org

From Beatrice Crouch - Vashon

Last week I attended a wonderful screening at Vashon Island. As soon as I arrived and I saw the theater with After The Storm next to Avatar just in a better time of the day, I knew it will be special. and it was...Beatrice Couch who helped organized it wrote that:

In late November Diane Bradford asked me to coordinate a promotional campaign and oversee the NW premiere of “After the Storm” on Vashon Island, WA on January 18, 2010 (MLK Day). After watching the movie, I was inspired along with and a small group of local Vashon artists to create a two week event called “From Vashon with Love: a Celebration of Films, Music and Art”.

As part of the grassroots promotion of “After the Storm” I held a private screening for 20 local artists, ranging from film-makers, musicians, artists and local promoters of the arts. From that meeting came a core group Vicki Dunakin, Richard Waits, Robyn Landis and myself that helped to create “From Vashon with Love: a Celebration of Films, Music and Art” (January 8 – 20, 2010).

With a recent break in of the Vashon Theater, Vicki Dunakin and some of the local film-makers created FilmAid as a means of helping the theater owner recover from the financial loss. Along with FilmAid we created a benefit “From Vashon with Love: a Celebration of Music” to send local musicians to Sundance. We were able to take Robyn Landis (the Grand prize winner of the 2009 John Lennon singer/song-writer award), Troll’s Cottage and Song and Legend to perform during the first weekend of the Sundance Film Festival at the “Crown on Main” in Park City, UT.

As part of the NW Premiere of “After the Storm”, it was Diane’s wish to include an educational piece to the screening of the movie. I have known James Cardo for many years he was the perfect choice, James Cardo is the assistant Dean and teaches at The Harbor School and has been leading a group of 8th grade students to New Orleans’ for the past three years in an effort to play a part in the recovery projects. The NW Premiere was used as a benefit to create a follow up mini-documentary and show how the power of community involvement with youth can be used as an experiential educational piece and showcase the value of volunteering. Nick Weisnet, Vicki Dunakin’s son will be filming the travel study trip that the 8th grade students from The Harbor School in May, 2010.

“After the Storm” is a magical movie that provides a model to create community cooperation combined with the creative arts to overcome most obstacles that life presents us. As Gerry McIntyre states in the movie “through Community and Love one can over come any disaster”! James Lecesne, Hilla Medalia, Gerry McIntyre and the cast of young performers all give us a shining example of how with love, determination and inspiration communities can bring hope into even the most hopeless of hearts.

Sincerely,
Beatrice Crouch
Heart of the Sound Events
www.fromvashonwithlove.org

Photos by Peter Ray and Rebecca Douglas