Cancer has touched the lives of all of us; a relative, a friend, our children, ourselves. For something so ubiquitous, it is strangely absent from the world of entertainment and the arts.
Veteran writers and performers Verna Gillis and David Gonzalez (both of whom are currently receiving chemotherapy) have gathered a group of vibrant storytellers with Rebecca Kalin and Bruce & Gail Whistance and outstanding musicians Joey Eppard, and Jay Collins with Matt Finck to shed sound and light, and open new conversations, on the “C word”.
VERNA GILLIS
Verna Gillis (1942 – 20??) has been performing “sit down comedy” standing up since 2010 when she won her first slam. The topic was Coming of Age which she changed to Coming of Aging. She was 68. Her niche is aging – and so is she. Her One Older-Woman Show is called TALES FROM GERIASSIC PARK – On the Verge of Extinction. United Solo Theater Festival, 2014 awarded Tales the BEST COMEDIC SCRIPT. In 2019 she won the Woodstock Bookfest Story Slam At 82 she’s the oldest she’s ever been. Living with CMML
DAVID GONZALEZ
David was born and raised in the Bronx, NY. A recipient of many prestigious awards he is grateful to be living Rosendale, the hippest little town in Ulster County. He has received commissions from The Smithsonian Institution, The Kennedy Center, and the Cincinnati Opera, among others. Soundings, a book of poetry was published in 2022 was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. David’s poetry was featured at Lincoln Center’s Out-of-Doors Festival, Bill Moyer’s documentary Fooling with Words, All Things Considered, and the World Science Festival.
This performance is made possible by a generous grant by NYSCA, the New York State Council on the Arts.
