"EVER WIDENING CIRCLE" AN EVENING OF ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRATING ART AND DISABILITY

Featuring Jazz/Cabaret Sensation Wesla Whitfield Thursday, November 7th at 7:00 pm at the YERBA BUENA CENTER for the ARTS THEATER in San Francisco

The World Institute on Disability (WID) and the Corporation on Disabilities and Telecommunication (CDT) take great pride in presenting the fourth annual "EVER WIDENING CIRCLE" - An Evening of Entertainment Celebrating Art & Disability, featuring a wonderful and diverse assemblage of talented performers with disabilities who are either well known or rising stars in the entertainment world. The headliner is jazz and cabaret sensation Wesla Whitfield. Actor and San Francisco resident Danny Glover is the honorary chair of the event. Media sponsor is ABC-7 KGO/TV. This is a one-night-only performance on Thursday, November 7th, at 7:00 pm at THE YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS THEATRE (700 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA - 510-251-4370 - http://www.wid.org/). Tickets range from $15 to $100. The evening is sponsored by SBC Pacific Bell and Verizon.

This year's celebrity line-up includes Wesla Whitfield, jazz/cabaret singer extraordinaire, who will perform with her husband and pianist-arranger Mike Greensill. Wesla is an regular performer at the top cabaret rooms in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, London and elsewhere. The duo has performed on numerous TV shows, at the White House, and in a series of Carnegie Hall tributes to performing legends Sinatra, Fitzgerald, Garland and others. They have recorded 15 albums of standards from the American Popular Songbook.

Also performing will be Chris Fonseca, a wildly funny stand-up comedian of 17 years who sees himself as "a comedian who happens to have cerebral palsy." Chris has appeared on various TV shows, including The Late Show with David Letterman, SHOWTIME's Latino Laugh Festival and SHOWTIME's The Jokes on Thee, a documentary on humor and religion, where Chris Fonseca was featured along with entertainment personalities such as Smokey Robinson and Jonathan Winters.

LIGHT MOTION, a dance company established in 1988 to develop the artistic expressions of both disabled and non-disabled artists working together to enhance awareness of disability issues through the arts, are also featured guests performers. Charlene Curtiss, the disabled performer of the duo, and her partner, Joanne Petroff, have given numerous presentations of integrated dance both nationally and internationally.

Lynn Manning, who is an award-winning playwright, poet, actor, and former World Champion martial artist in Judo, will also be featured. He accomplished these feats after being shot and blinded in 1978. He has appeared on TV shows such as SEINFELD and has been featured in commercials for Nike Shoes, Hewlett Packard and Bank of America. Lynn wrote and stars in the independent short film, Shoot! (HBO/Cinemax), which was screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. Lynn's plays have been produced in both LA and NY.

Another performer is Valerie Zamora, a classically trained concert pianist who is also deaf. She has performed and taught in Europe and across the U.S. Ms. Zamora performs recitals and holds workshops not only for the marvels and beauty of the classical repertoire, but to promote an awareness of the accomplishments and achievements of those with disabilities.

The World Institute on Disability (WID), founded in 1983, is a non-profit public policy center dedicated to promoting independence and full societal inclusion of people with disabilities. Founded in 1982, the Corporation on Disabilities and Telecommunication's (CDT) mission is to promote and support artists, performers and media-makers with disabilities.

Braille programs, audio description, sign language interpreting, and limited wheelchair seating are available. Attendees are requested to refrain from wearing scented products.

For more information, visit http://www.wid.org/.

Back to CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE Home Page

If you would like to receive a free e-mail subscription to CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE, please e-mail cabarethotline@svhamstra.com and place the single word "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. Note: Your subscription will be sent to the e-mail address you subscribe from - and please include your real name along with the city where you live.

NOW YOU CAN JOIN CABARET HOTLINE ONLINE!