To retiring journalist Juliet Wittman, DAF volunteer support solved a problem – and saved her sanity
Aid recipient: Juliet Wittman is a fiction writer, journalist, memoirist and, despite her recent semi-retirement, has served as the theater crItic at Westword for the past 22 years. She has won several journalism awards and has published essays and short stories in literary magazines. A memoir, “Breast Cancer Journal: A Century of Petals,” won the Colorado Book Award and was named a finalist for the National Book Award. She followed that with the novel “Stocker’s Kitchen,” and she has another coming out in January. She won a 2021 True West Award for her contributions to the Colorado theater community.
Her medical story: Juliet and her husband were evacuated from their South Boulder home when the Marshall Fire reached (but miraculously did not cross) her street. “We were incredibly lucky,” she said. But when they were allowed to return home, the family’s discombobulated and overexcited dog, Allie, a 57-pound Airedale Terrier, accidentally backed into Juliet, and she fractured her hip in the fall. Hip-replacement surgery was then followed by physical therapy twice a week for six weeks.
How we have helped: The Denver Actors Fund primarily helps by providing qualified Colorado theater artists with financial compensation for their medical expenses. But we also have assembled a 100-plus army of volunteers who stand at the ready whenever members of our community are in need of non-monetary, neighborly assistance for practical tasks such as light housekeeping, snow shoveling, rides to medical appointments and personal company. While eligibility for financial compensation requires that an applicant must have participated in a creative capacity on the making of play or musical for a credible Colorado theater company, the eligibility net is much wider when it comes to volunteer assistance, because it is essentially just people helping people. (This why we were able to help another reviewer, Craig Williamson, when his wife was diagnosed with brain cancer.) Because Juliet does not drive, what she needed most from us were rides to and from her physical-therapy sessions. She also was looking forward something just as important for her recovery – personal company and connection with members of the local theater company. “Team Juliet” consisted of Esther Varney, Amanda Berg Wilson, Billie McBride, Laurie Lynn Cullum and Beki Pineda. On assigned days, each picked Juliet up at her home, stayed with her for her therapy sessions and returned her home twice a week for six weeks, often accompanied by a coffee and chat.
‘I FELT EMBRACED AND SUPPORTED BY THIS COMMUNITY’
A message from the Juliet: “As a reviewer occupying a kind of in-between space, I’ve never known if I was seen as part of Denver’s warm, vital theater community or existing somewhere just outside it. But when John Moore of the Denver Actors Fund called a day after I got home from hip-replacement surgery asking if there was anything the team could do for me, the question was answered: I felt embraced and supported. I was panicking over how I was going to get to physical therapy twice a week for six weeks. John contacted indefatigable DAF volunteer coordinator Esther Varney, and she put out the word. You really haven’t experienced full post-op recovery until you’ve been helped down an icy path and into a car by Amanda Berg Wilson, talked theater with Billie McBride as she drove, enjoyed getting to know Laurie Lynn Cullum, and stopped for a post-P.T. session coffee with Esther herself. I knew and admired these folks as a critic, but had never had the privilege of getting to know them well before. My surgeon was very pleased with my recovery —“way ahead of the curve,” he said — and I know the physical help and camaraderie I got from the Denver Actors Fund had a lot to do with it. Because while I was homebound after my surgery, I was a bit wonky on my feet, and I felt fragile and scared. I don’t think people who drive don’t know how trapped you can feel when you can’t get around by yourself. The fact these people came to get me – some of them all the way from Denver – and took me to my sessions was very important to me both emotionally and physically. The kindness that these women showed me – it saves both your life and your sanity. A thousand thanks.”
Would you like to be a volunteer? Our volunteer program is exactly that – entirely voluntarily. When you sign up to volunteer, you are added to the list of those who are called upon whenever a request for service comes in. No one is assigned a task; only those volunteers who are available and willing are assigned to a case. If you have ever thought about taking a more active role with the Denver Actors Fund, click here for more information.
How you can help us : If you would like to donate to the Denver Actors Fund, simply mail checks in any amount made out to Denver Actors Fund to P.O. Box 11182, Denver, CO 80211. Or use this donation link, with our humble thanks.
Read testimonials from other Denver Actors Fund beneficiaries here
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.
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 $1,000,000 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
VOLUNTEER:
Ever thought about taking a more active role in the Denver Actors Fund? Click here for more information
COME TO THE EVENTS THAT SUPPORT US:
MONDAY, AUGUST 15: The Denver Actors Fund has surpassed $1 million in medical assistance made available to members of the Colorado theater community, and to celebrate, we are partnering with the Candlelight Dinner Playhouse to host a benefit concert headlined by Broadway star Beth Malone. The Colorado native and Tony Award-nominated actor received a 2015 Tony Award nomination for originating the role of Alison in the groundbreaking Broadway musical “Fun Home.” She recently appeared as the Angel in the off-Broadway revival of “Angels in America” and originated the role of Molly Brown in the recent reimagination of the classic Broadway musical “The Unsinkable Molly Brown.” Malone is currently a series regular on Apple TV’s new series “City On Fire.” Malone is a cousin of Bryanna Scott, who was the resident stage manager at the Miners Alley Playhouse from 2010-20. Scott, at just age 29, was diagnosed with Stage 3C ovarian cancer in 2021 and, to date, the Denver Actors Fund has picked up all of her out-of-pocket medical expenses. Malone wanted to stage this concert as a way of acknowledging the work the Denver Actors Fund does for the entire community, and to help it replenish. She is calling her special concert “Thanks a Million.”
Thanks a Million!: An Evening with Broadway’s Beth Malone
- When: Monday, Aug. 15
- Who: Beth Malone, featuring David Dyer on piano and a guest appearance by Jalyn Courtenay Webb
- Where: Candlelight Dinner Playhouse, 4747 Marketplace Drive, Johnstown
- Time: Doors open at 5:30 p.m.; seating begins at 6 p.m.; Show begins at 7:30 p.m.
- Tickets: $35-$50, with VIP seating for $75 (includes a meet-and-greet after the concert, and a photo opportunity with Beth Malone)
- Food: Dinner service is not being offered at this performance. Appetizers, desserts and drinks will be available for sale
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE TICKETS TO ‘THANKS A MILLION’
THURSDAY, AUGUST 18: Please Join us for Miners Alley Playhouse’s Industry Night performance of “Hair,” the American tribal love rock musical. MAP is continuing its trendsetting commitment to dedicate ALL PROCEEDS from one designated performance of each run to go to The Denver Actors Fund. “Hair” celebrates the ’60s counterculture in all its barefoot, long-haired, bell-bottomed, beaded and fringed glory with songs like “Aquarius,” “Good Morning, Starshine,” “Hair,” “I Got Life,” and “Let the Sun Shine In.” Exploring ideas of identity, community, global responsibility, and peace, “Hair” remains relevant as ever as it examines what it means to be a young person in a changing world. Since 2014, MAP has generated more than $50,000 in donations to The Denver Actors Fund. If you plan to go see the play, please consider attending at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 18 All tickets are reduced to $15-$23 for this performance only. Miners Alley Playhouse is located at 1224 Washington Ave., in Golden. Call 303-935-3044 or choose your own seats at ovationtix.com (LOW TICKET ALERT: Only 32 tickets currently remain.)
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.
ONGOING: “Waiting for Obama,” the audio version of DAF Founder John Moore’s play that was an official selection at the 2016 New York International Fringe Festival, has been released as way of raising funds for The Denver Actors Fund. A Colorado Springs family is convinced that Barack Obama is coming for their guns in the final weeks of his presidency – and they’re right. Featuring Laurence Curry, Drew Horwitz, Chris Kendall, Leslie O’Carroll, Jenna Moll Reyes, Jessica Robblee, Luke Sorge and Mare Trevathan. It was recorded by the staff of Parker Arts at the PACE Center as an in-kind donation to The Denver Actors Fund. Listen for FREE on all major podcasting platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Podbean. Just by listening, you will be raising revenue for The DAF! Or, WATCH the recording as a pay-per-view video for $9.95 on Broadway on Demand. ‘Waiting for Obama’ was recorded by the staff of Parker Arts at the PACE Center and edited by Ray Bailey TV as in-kind donations to The Denver Actors Fund. The actors also donated their services.
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
