Denver Actors Fund helps when young mom is rushed to E.R. with knee-buckling pain
Financial-aid recipients: Jenny Weiss Mather has appeared in many musicals around town, most recently starring in the one-woman show “Who’s Holiday” at the Vintage Theatre. Previous credits there include “The Addams Family” and “Mack and Mabel.” Just last week, Jenny performed in a benefit for The Denver Actors Fund called “For Love and for Laughs” at Vintage. Next up, she will be appearing in Give 5 Productions’ “Footloose.” Her husband, Eric Mather, is one of Denver’s most gifted and consistent comic actors, most recently having starred as George in “Same Time, Next Year” for the Cherry Creek Theatre and before that, as a lost soul named Mark in Miners Alley Playhouse’s world-premiere family drama “Before You Go.” For playing Inspector Hans Kemp in Town Hall Arts Center’s “Young Frankenstein,” The Denver Post said of Mather: “Here’s a guaranteed formula for staging a successful comedy: Cast Eric Mather, wind him up like a child’s toy, and just … let him go.” He was twice nominated for Denver Post Ovation Awards before being named best actor in comedic role for one of his most substantive roles, as the God-like title character in Miners Alley Playhouse’s “The Visitor.” The couple appeared together for Backstage Breckenridge Theatre in the 2013 farce “Out of Order,” followed by “Beauty and the Beast” as Lumiere and Babette.
Their medical story: Last Christmas, and again two days later, Jenny was rushed to the ER for knee-buckling intestinal pain that ultimately was determined to be a bacterial infection. She was starring in “Who’s Holiday” at the time, missing only two performances because of her medical ordeal. The couple came out of all that with a total of $3,938.51 in post-insurance bills. Back in 2016, when Jenny was just 25 weeks pregnant, she went into pre-term labor that mandated an emergency airlift from Aspen Valley Hospital in Aspen to Presbyterian St. Luke’s in Denver. Jenny underwent surgery to keep her son Myles in the womb for another two weeks, giving him a better chance at a healthy start in life. Myles was born weighing just 1 pound, 9 ounces. He spent his first two months in the Neo-natal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Presbyterian St. Luke’s Hospital.
How we have helped: In the most recent case, the Denver Actors Fund Board of Directors unanimously voted to pay the couple’s $3,938.51 medical obligation in full. Back in 2016, we gifted the Mathers with $2,500, matching what, at the time, was the largest individual grant in our history. The community responded to our call for further assistance with $275 in additional donations. All told, the DAF now has made $6,713.51 in medical support available to the Mather family.
‘THANKS TO THE DAF, WE WERE ABLE TO IMMEDIATELY DIG OUT FROM UNDER A MOUNTAIN OF CONFUSING BILLS.’
How you can help us replenish: If you would like to help, simply mail checks made out to The Denver Actors Fund to P.O. Box 11182, Denver, CO 80211. Or use this donation link. Your donation will be applied to the replenishment of the Denver Actors Fund’s general fund.
A message from the Mathers: “We would once again like to thank the Denver Actors Fund for their incredibly kind assistance in paying for bills associated with two trips to the emergency room for Jenny during the holidays last December. It’s unfortunate in this day and age that any trip to the hospital is coupled with the thought of, ‘Can we afford this?’ especially when that trip happens late at night on Christmas Day. But thanks to the DAF, we were able to immediately dig out from under the mountain of confusing bills that hit us in the weeks following those visits. There are not enough words to show our appreciation to The Denver Actors Fund. It is truly a blessing to our theater community. Thank you, DAF!”
(Note: At the Denver Actors Fund, anonymity of aid recipients is presumed and fully protected, unless and until the recipient chooses to have his or her story told.)
Read more Denver Actors Fund testimonials by clicking here
HOW YOU CAN HELP US REPLENISH:
To DONATE the Denver Actors Fund, please CLICK HERE (with our humble thanks)
ABOUT THE DENVER ACTORS FUND:
Video above: The Denver Actors Fund receives the Colorado Theatre Guild’s 2016 Community Impact Award.
The Denver Actors Fund is a modest source of immediate, situational relief when members of the local theater community find themselves in medical need. To date, the Fund has allocated more than $950,000 to artists facing medical need. In addition to financial relief, a team of more than 100 Denver Actors Fund volunteers offers good neighborly assistance including meal prep and delivery, child care, transportation, errands, construction, pet-sitting and more. For more information, visit our web site at DenverActorsFund.Org.
HOW TO APPLY FOR AID:
To apply for Denver Actors Fund aid: Fill out this brief online form here
MORE WAYS TO HELP:
DONATE BY MAIL:
Send checks made out to the Denver Actors Fund to:
P.O. Box 11182
Denver, CO 80211
SUPPORT THE EVENTS THAT SUPPORT US:
SUNDAY, MAY 8: Our friends at the Arvada Center have designated the 2 p.m. matinee performance of “Stick Fly” as a benefit for The Denver Actors Fund. Fifty percent of all ticket proceeds will be donated to The DAF. This fundraiser was the brainchild of cast member Abner Genece, who received DAF assistance after he and his son were nearly killed in a violent car collision. “Stick Fly,” written by by Lydia R. Diamond and directed by Jada Suzanne Dixon, is described this way: “What should be a relaxing summer weekend on Martha’s Vineyard goes south when the LeVay brothers bring new girlfriends home to meet their wealthy and imposing parents. But Mom’s not there, and Dad’s acting weird. Lydia Diamond’s refreshing and bold story grapples with race, class, jealousy and cultural expectations.” Tickets at 720-898-7200 or go to arvadacenter.org
Read Abner’s harrowing story here
CAST
- Lavour Addison as Kent “Spoon” LeVay
- Ryan George as Flip LeVay
- Abner Genece as Joe LeVay
- Constance Swain as Taylor
- Kristina Fountaine as Cheryl
- Noelia Antweiler as Kimber
CREATIVE TEAM
- Jada Suzanne Dixon: Director
- Christine Moore: Stage Manager
- Brian Mallgrave: Scenic Design
- Shannon McKinney: Lighting Design
- Meghan Anderson Doyle: Costume Design
- CeCe Smith: Sound Design
- Constance Swain: Fight Director
- Lynne Collins: Artistic Director of Plays
ONGOING: “Quarantine Week by Weak” is a new photographic coffee-table book by Susannah McLeod and her wife, Chloe McLeod, who chronicled their home life during the COVID19 shutdown with a light-hearteded photo series documenting their lives during quarantine. They produced more than 35 sets of humorous photos comparing the beginning of quarantine to later in the “stay-at-home” period. Susannah pulled out her camera and we started to play,” said Chloe McLeod. As popularity for the series grew on Instagram and after a feature in Westword, the couple started exploring options to publish the series as a book to benefit The Denver Actors Fund. To order, visit mcleod9creative.com. This project is generously sponsored by: The Albritton Family; Natalie Bowen and Jim Corbett; Dave Dyer; Julie Dyer; and Denise Gentilini and Lynette Prisner. Additional support provided by Angie Flachman and Sandy Birkey at The Publishing House and Sandra Lee Stuart.
VISIT OUR ONLINE MERCH STORE:
Click here to see how you can buy DAF products such as T-shirts, key chains, puzzles and much more
