Where: Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor, Tel. 410-692-0202
When: January 30, 2007, Registration 8 am, morning session 9-12,
lunch 12-2 pm, afternoon session 2-5:30 pm
Cost: $45 for IAADP members, $65 for non-members
How to register: Consult the website, www.iaadp.org, e-mail
iaadp@aol.com or call Tanya at 513-245-2199

.

Hope you can use this. Don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything more. (I've attached it and pasted it below in case you aren't comfortable opening attachments.) If you'd like to speak directly to Darrell Gwynn, I'd be happy to set you up.

Thank you!

Sincerely,
Caren Berg

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DARRELL GWYNN FOUNDATION DEDICATES
FLORIDA SPINAL CORD INJURY AWARENESS WEEK TO EDUCATING THE COMMUNITY

November 13 – 19 –First-ever week aimed at paralysis prevention, promoting safety, knowledge and understanding to reduce injuries and accidents

Ft. Lauderdale, FL: The Darrell Gwynn Foundation (DGF) – a nonprofit organization dedicated to preventing paralysis when possible, providing support for individual’s living with paralysis and ultimately finding a cure for paralysis – is capitalizing on the first Florida Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week as a focal point for educating the Florida community to the dangers of accidents that can lead to paralysis. The Foundation will spend the week of November 13-19, 2006 in Florida classrooms, on the airwaves, and at events across the state educating the public on preventing spinal cord injuries. DGF says its ultimate goal for the week is to reduce the number of spinal cord injuries in the state of Florida.

Darrell Gwynn, president and founder of DGF, noted that this is the first-ever week of its kind anywhere in the United States for paralysis prevention. “The Florida lifestyle is very active, with swimming a year-long pursuit, plus scores of outdoor activities,” he said. “Participation sports, as well as boating and driving, can lead to dangerous accidents that can often be avoided with a little bit of knowledge. For example, did you know that you should not allow your child to wear a backpack while belted into a car because even the slightest car accident could cause a neck injury?” Darrell Gwynn, a former professional racecar driver, is himself a quadriplegic, suffering a devastating spinal cord injury in a crash in 1990.

Florida Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week was made possible by Florida legislators Sen. Nan Rich (D) and Rep. Rene Garcia (R).

Consistent communication is the key to prevention and to this end, Darrell Gwynn, Marc Buoniconti and other disabled individuals will visit selected Florida high schools and talk to students about what it’s like to be paralyzed and ways – some very simple – to prevent spinal cord injuries. In some cases, key Florida legislators will accompany individuals during the schools visits. In addition, the Florida Department of Health is sponsoring a series of Public Service Announcements featuring celebrities such as NASCAR NEXTEL Cup driver Tony Stewart to air during Florida Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week on major television stations.

The Darrell Gwynn Foundation is partnering with The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis to create spinal cord injury prevention tips and information brochures. These vital and informative brochures will be distributed at targeted high schools in Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Hillsborough, Orange, and Duval counties. DGF is also partnering with MAC Tool Trucks in Florida to distribute information tip sheets at customer locations. In addition, partners Homestead- Miami Speedway and Moroso Motorsports Park are making prevention tip sheets available at their locations. Some information will also be hosted online at www.darrellgwynnfoundation.org, including a schedule of events or call 954-792-7223 ext. 105

The week-long series of events and educational outreach will culminate the weekend of November 18th and 19th with DGF’s 5th Annual Miccosukee Resort & Gaming’s Hot Rods & Reels NASCAR Drivers Charity Fishing Tournament at Homestead-Miami Speedway’s infield lake, plus a charity walk around the Homestead-Miami Speedway track, put on by the NASCAR Foundation.

“Florida Spinal Cord Injury Awareness Week is a terrific way of giving the public essential information toward reducing crippling injuries,” added Gwynn. “We are doing our best to make this week interesting and fun, but most importantly to make an impact – on the statistics and on people’s lives.” Florida Spinal Cord Injury Week is generously sponsored by Homestead-Miami Speedway, the Florida Spinal Cord Injury Resource Center, The Miami Project to Cure Paralysis, the Florida Department of Health, the NASCAR Foundation, Miccosukee Resort & Gaming, MAC Tools/Florida and Moroso Motorsports Park.

# # #

The Darrell Gwynn Foundation is a non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization dedicated to prevent, provide for and ultimately cure spinal cord injuries and other debilitating illnesses. To expedite specific cures, the Foundation assists in the funding of targeted research.

Caren Berg
Vice President
Boardroom Communications
1776 N. Pine Island Rd.
Suite 320
Plantation, FL 33322
(954) 370-8999
(954) 370-8892(fax)
cberg@boardroompr.com

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE:
This e-mail, and any attachment to it, contains privileged and
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or entity named in the e-mail. If the reader of this e-mail is not the
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it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that reading it is
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Thank you.

Posted by Caren Berg

"As readers familiar with the lucid candor of his earlier Planet of the Blind would expect, Mr. Kuusisto's new memoir, Eavesdropping, about living with blindness,is about vision, ways of seeing with other senses, principally hearing. The writer is a poet, and it is not surprising that his words clearly have been heard by him before we hear them." - W.S. Merwin, author of Present Company: Poems

For daily thoughts by Steve, visit his blog at www.planet-of-the-blind.com

Posted by Connie Kuusisto

Performances will begin October 4
at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre in the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex

(New York) August 18, 2006—Visible Theatre (Krista Smith, Artistic Director) will present its third bi-annual True Story Project, “True Story Project: SEX,” conceived and directed by Krista Smith, co-directed by Laura Silence, and written by the ensemble at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, part of the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex, 312 West 36th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues). The official opening performance will be Wednesday, October 4 at 8:00 p.m. Performances will run through Saturday, November 4.

“True Story Project: SEX” features a profoundly diverse ensemble of nine actors, including actors with disabilities, who take turns revealing true life stories that explore sex and sexuality in a wide range of styles. The stories shift in subject matter and treatment from outrageously funny to grievously stark and engrossingly matter-of-fact. Previous True Story Projects have been performed at many New York City colleges, hospitals, shelters and residential centers. They have appeared as part of the Imagine Festival in 2004 (Chashama), at the HERE Arts Center, and at City Hall, to commemorate the Americans with Disabilities Act. The True Story Project seeks to advance the mission of the company by “celebrating alternative perspectives, challenging perceptions and providing unique insight into the human condition.”—Visible Theatre mission statement.

The ensemble of Visible Lab members includes Rebecca Bateman, Angela D'Arezzo, Eugenia Francis, Gregg Mozgala, Chris Reed, Esra Gaffin, Michelle Mantione, Katie Labahn, and Liz Treston performing as themselves. Mr. Mozgala and Ms. Treston also serve as head writers for the project.
Krista Smith has conceived and directed two previous True Story Projects, each of which was developed over an intensive two-year writing- and rehearsal process. Other directing credits include Pvt. Wars at the Duncan Smith Theatre in New Jersey, and the world premiere of The Ballad of Round Eyes by Stacey Engels. She has appeared in over 40 plays, including the Actor's Studio Free Theatre revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? directed by Arthur Penn, and the OOBR best drama award-winning Two Rooms by Lee Blessing. Other work includes: Hitler’s Addendum with Ruby Dee, That Tuesday written by Eduardo Machado and directed by Joseph Chaikin, and a cameo in the HBO film Let it Snow. She teaches acting at Johns Hopkins University.
Laura Silence is a member of the Visible Lab and Visible Writing Circle. She has taught acting for twelve years with organizations such as Merry-Go-Round Playhouse, Curtain Call in Stamford CT, The National Theatre Workshop for the Handicapped, The Boys and Girls Club of San Francisco and Visible Theatre. Her regional performances have included the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, the Mendocino Shakespeare Festival and Off Off Broadway. She has worked extensively in children’s theatre and in improvisational theatre. Silence says of her work: “Theatre should ideally be the telling of a story--honestly, creatively, expressively, wholly, joyfully, soulfully, and clearly.”

“Since founding the Visible Theatre in 2000, Krista Smith, an actress, director, and advocate for people with disabilities, has nurtured a range of theatrical projects that are bringing able and disabled bodies together in performance. With a vision directed toward confronting issues of social exclusion and a mission to foster long-term development of provocative theatre art, the Visible Theatre enfolds all bodies in its theatre training, workshops, and new play development.”—Susan Tenneriello, Brooklyn College forthcoming review, Theatre Journal 58:3 (October 2006). This fall’s production of Krankenhaus Blues will be dedicated to the memory of playwright John Belluso, a Visible Board member, friend and inspiration for Visible’s mission and work

The five-week performance schedule (October 4 through November 4) for “True Story Project: SEX” will be: Wednesdays at 8:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 3:00 p.m. The official opening performance will be Wednesday, October 4 at 8:00 p.m. Admission will free of charge, with tax-deductible donations accepted at the door. The box office number for individual and group reservations is 212-479-8418.

For more information on Visible Theatre or “True Story Project: Sex” visit www.visibletheatre.org or e-mail desk@visibletheatre.org

Posted by Elizabeth Treston

Performances will begin October 5 at the
Dorothy Strelsin Theatre in the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex
Officially Opens October 8

(New York) August 18, 2006—Visible Theatre (Krista Smith, Artistic Director) will present a re-mounting of Sam Forman’s new play “KRANKENHAUS BLUES,” directed by Donna Mitchell, at the Dorothy Strelsin Theatre, part of the Abingdon Theatre Arts Complex, 312 West 36th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues.) Performances will begin on October 5 and the official opening performance will be Sunday, October 8 at 3:00 p.m. Performances will run through Sunday, November 5.

“KRANKENHAUS BLUES” is a frightening and funny play about disability issues, genocide, and the grim realities of show business. A playwright, an actress and a clown are locked in a Nazi asylum for reasons beyond their comprehension. Moving effortlessly between 1930’s Berlin and present day New York City, the characters make great efforts to connect with each other as they confront their existentially bleak surroundings. Artistic Director Smith says: “’KRANKENHAUS BLUES,” for me, is about the disconnect that we often feel in today’s society regarding horrific events and our struggle to connect to our own humanity.

Sam Forman is the lyricist and co-book author for the musical I Sing! which has been produced off-Broadway and in theaters throughout the world. (A recording from The York Theater Concert Cast of I Sing! is available in stores on the Jay Records label.) Sam’s other plays and musicals include: The Grille Room (Cherry Lane Mentor Project 2005); Quarterlife (Workshop at The Ford Center, dir. Mark Brokaw); Fringical! (Ars Nova, NYC; American Theatre of Actors, New York Musical Festival 2004); The Quiet Game (Hangar Theater, Ithaca NY); Please Stop Talking (The Cherry Lane, NYC); Hunter For Hunter Green (Singularity Company, NYC); Utica Forever (Chashama, NYC); Schmoozy Togetherness: a kid's play (Manhattan Theater Source, NYC); Narcissus and Goldstein (Pantheon Theater, NYC); Rob (Naked Angels, NYC); Do You Like Me Europe? (Dostotheaterfest, Berlin) Living Arts / I’m In Relationship Hell (Magnetic North). He is currently developing an original television series for AMC, and is the producer of the late night cabaret phenomenon Creation Nation at Ars Nova, NYC.

page 2—Visible Theatre’s “KRANKENHAUS BLUES”
Donna Mitchell’s directing credits include a Los Angeles production of August Strindberg’s The Pelican starring Salome Jens. For that production she also collaborated with Strindberg scholar Anne-Charlotte Harvey on a new translation of the play. In New York she directed Irish playwright Jim Doyle’s play Kevin Barry at the Workshop Theater Company, and was at the helm for Visible’s production of Krankenhaus Blues when it premiered and ran at the Blue Heron Studio Theater in 2005. Her acting credits in theater include playing Martha in Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, directed by Arthur Penn and leading roles in New Group productions of Elmer Rice’s The Adding Machine and Brian Friel’s Faith Healer, both directed by Scott Elliott. Her movie roles include parts in: Syriana, Mona Lisa Smile, The Baxter, The Ice Storm, The Rookie, Wet Hot American Summer, and Pollack.

The cast includes: Christine Bruno (Anka, an actress), Bill Green (Bruno, the plawright), Joe Sims (Fritz, a clown) and Angela DeMatteo (as a nurse). Ms. Bruno and Mr. Green are members of the Actors Studio and all four actors are members of the Visible LAB. The set and costume design will be by Kimi Maeda and the lighting design by Paul Jepson. Music will be composed and performed by Helen Yee, with additional song material written by Hannah Hens-Piazza. The production stage manager will be Emily Alexander-Wilmeth.

“Since founding the Visible Theatre in 2000, Krista Smith, an actress, director, and advocate for people with disabilities, has nurtured a range of theatrical projects that are bringing able and disabled bodies together in performance. With a vision directed toward confronting issues of social exclusion and a mission to foster long-term development of provocative theatre art, the Visible Theatre enfolds all bodies in its theatre training, workshops, and new play development. In addition to producing original theatre pieces, the theatre sponsors The True Story Project, a performance collaborative devoted to autobiographical storytelling, and the Visible Lab, a studio for actors, writers, and directors to share work-in-progress…(in Visible’s Krankenhaus Blues) Donna Mitchell’s direction carves out a taut, seventy-minute, mind-bending roller coaster…with swiftly moving episodes, dynamically acted”—Susan Tenneriello, Brooklyn College forthcoming review, Theatre Journal 58:3 (October 2006). .” This fall’s production of Krankenhaus Blues will be dedicated to the memory of playwright John Belluso, a Visible Board member, friend and inspiration for Visible’s mission and work.

The five-week performance schedule (October 5 through November 5) for “KRANKENHAUS BLUES” will be: Thursdays through Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 3:00 p.m. The official Opening Performance will be Sunday, October 8 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets will be $20.00. The student and senior rate will be $15.00. TDF vouchers will be accepted. The box office number for reservations is Smarttix at 212-868-4444 or www.smarttix.com. For information about Visible Theatre, visit www.visibletheatre.org

Posted by Elizabeth Treston