Benefit Concert In Sebastopol

FUNDS RAISED WILL PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL MUSIC THERAPY TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SURVIVORS

Kathryn Keats from kathrynkeats.com

Local non-profit Chords for Change is hosting its First Annual Empowering Voices Benefit Concert on May 8, 2010 at the Sebastopol Community Center from 5:30-10:00 p.m. The organization provides free of charge professional music therapy services to domestic violence shelters in Northern California. Music therapy, as administered by a board certified music therapist, has been widely studied as an effective method for generating positive emotional change, increasing self-esteem, and teaching important communication and coping strategies. It has also been proven to successfully decrease feelings of anxiety, isolation, fear, and regret. The Empowering Voices Benefit Concert will feature original music by The Kathryn Keats Show, a collaboration of artists including community activist, domestic violence survivor and professional musician Kathryn Keats; award winning composer and master percussionist Joe Venegoni; solo bassist Michael Manring; internationally known Brazilian drummer Celso Alberti; “Mercer Ellington Jazz Masters Award” winner, pianist Kelly Park; and special guest, local guitar virtuoso Rob Freguletti.

In 1989, working under the name Ellen Munger, Keats earned a New York Drama Critic’s Circle Award for her performance in the original stage version of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Unfortunately, it would be her last public performance for two decades, after her former collaborator, plagued by schizophrenia, began threatening her life relentlessly. This experience culminated in a precedent-setting jury trial in Oakland, CA, in which the abuser was ordered held in a mental hospital temporarily. When he was released, he resumed pursuing and threatening Munger. At the urging of law enforcement officials, she changed her name to Kathryn Keats and put her promising show business career on hold until 2005, when she learned that her abuser had died.

Keats’ harrowing story, first told in Reader’s Digest in March 2007, is now being developed as a stage musical and book titled After the Silence. Her heroic journey from captivity to freedom has inspired audiences in Europe and the United States. This will be Kathryn’s first time appearing in Sonoma County.

Tickets for the Empowering Voices Benefit Concert are available online at chordsforchange.ticketleap.com.