New Beginnings’ 50th anniversary celebration comes to a close this fall with a one-night production of Food and Shelter by Jane Anderson, Nov. 1 at the New Vic, 33 W. Victoria St, Santa Barbara. The stage reading of the play is presented by New Beginnings and Jenny Sullivan.
As a leading provider of mental health, veteran and homeless services in Santa Barbara County, New Beginnings presents the fanciful but heartrending story of a homeless family who spends the night at Disneyland.
“Often we encounter community members who want to better understand how emotional instability, unemployment and poverty lead to homelessness,” said executive director Kristine Schwarz.
“So we have focused this past year on providing experiential opportunities that can give people a sense of what causes housing insecurity and what it feels like to be homeless, as well as on motivating them to think about how we can work together as a community to prevent and address it.
“Moreover, our hope is that Food and Shelter will enable people to understand the issue in systemic terms, while also considering the range of types of homelessness.”
The production stars Joe Spano (NCIS, Apollo 13, NYPD Blue), Eric Lange (Victorious, Lost, Narcos, The Bridge), Chris Butler (Designated Survivor, Rescue Dawn, The Good Wife), and Faline England (9-1-1, The Mentalist, Station 19).
Screenwriter Anderson is an Emmy award-winning writer and director whose credits include: The Wife, Olive Kitteridge, How to Make an American Quilt, Looking for Normal, It Could Happen to You, The Baby Dance and If These Walls Could Talk II.
She received an Emmy, Penn Award, and Writers Guild Award for best teleplay for The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader Murdering Mom.
Sullivan is an award-winning director whose theater credits include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf, Hamlet, The Mystery of Irma Vep, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Food Confessions, The Vagina Monologues, and Steel Magnolias.
Food and Shelter is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc., a Concord Theatricals Company. The performance is a stage reading of the play, which was previously produced at the Vineyard Theatre in NYC with Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Tickets are $149 and include a reception with the cast and crew following the performance, and may be purchased, along with sponsorships that include a dinner at Bouchon with Anderson, at www.sbnbcc.org/annual-fundraiser/.
New Beginnings Counseling Center provides quality, affordable counseling, shelter, case management and education that provides its clients with the ability to lead healthy, productive lives. New Beginnings Counseling Center, 324 E. Carrillo St., Ste. C, Santa Barbara, is a nonprofit 501(c)(3).
For more information, contact the development department, 805-963-7777 ext.112 or email mberton@sbnbcc.org.
— Michael Berton for New Beginnings.