Past performances:

on april 19, 2019, Time For a change came to mount baker theatre in bellingham, washington, to produce a charity benefit (all proceed donated to namI - The National Alliance on Mental Illness). more than fifty youth and professional performers came together to discuss the relationship between mental health and art, sharing their work with a live audience of community members.

stay tuned for more information about the upcoming even in April 2020. if you are interested in performing in the event, contact me and we can chat!

Bellingham high school showstoppers

The Bellingham High School Showstoppers is the outstanding small mixed vocal ensemble out of three choral ensembles currently offered at Bellingham High.

This exceptional group has won 1st place for the last 17 out of 19 years at the Regional Solo/Ensemble Contest. Considering they compete against schools of every size including those with 3,000 students while they have approximately 1,000, that is quite an accomplishment. But beyond that achievement the Showstoppers won 1st Place in the State Contest in 2015, 2nd Place in 2008, and 3rd place in 2016.

Under the leadership of Linda Short, a 38 year veteran of the Bellingham School District, this group is often in demand to perform at schools and community events in addition to concerts.

Duet from home

Brooke Evans started studying ballet at the age of three in her hometown of Santa Fe, NM. Her dance education includes notable instructors such as Rex Bickmore and Daniel Catanach of Prince Ballet, Zola Dishong and Richard Cammack of The Contra Costa Ballet and under full scholarship with Gisela Genschow of The Santa Fe Aspen Ballet. Brooke has had the privilege of performing the works of many distinguished choreographers including Mark Haim, Wade Madsen and Michele Miller, and the solo choreographic works of Joshua Beamish, Alan Good, Eva Stone and Mary Sheldon Scott. Brooke is a co-founder of Bellingham Repertory Dance and performed in over 30 different choreographic works during her eleven seasons with the company. Currently, Brooke is the Artistic Director of Opus Performing Arts and has held the position since 2015.

Diane Williams is a movement and visual artist who has been dancing, choreographing and teaching in Bellingham for more than 15 years. She studied dance at the University of Washington and on scholarship at Western Washington University, and has taught and choreographed for WWU, Pacific Danceworks, Northwest Ballet School, Bellingham Repertory Dance (BRD) and Opus Performing Arts School. She is a co-founder of BRD, and danced with the company for twelve years. During that time, she had the pleasure of performing the works of many notable choreographers, including Joshua Beamish, Wade Madsen, Gina and Kyle Sorenson, Pablo Cornejo, Mary Sheldon-Scott, Deborah Wolf, Daniel Stark, Marlo Ariz, and solo works by Kevin Jenkins, Eva Stone and Lindsey Drury. Diane began her dance journey at age five in Bellevue, WA and spent her teens competing extensively throughout the Northwest and West Coast, earning scholarships to further her dance training from Dance Masters of America, Tremaine and Edge Performing Arts School. When she’s not dancing, Diane works as a freelance graphic designer and is a wife and mom.

Choreographer: Mary Sheldon Scott has been exploring visual media and creating innovative performance works for over 40 years. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder (1990), and studied additionally at Reed College, University of Oregon, University of Denver, and Cornish College of the Arts. Since 1993 Scott has worked in a dedicated collaboration with nationally renowned composer Jarrad Powell, and in 1994 they formed Scott/Powell Performance to explore their interest in the intersection of movement, sound, and visual territories. Their work has been presented across the United States, and has received funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Performance Network/Creation Fund, Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, Artist Trust, 4Culture/King County, and Seattle's Office of Arts & Culture. Scott has received individual grants and awards from Artist Trust, 4Culture/King County, and Seattle's Office of Arts & Culture. Recent choreographic commissions include Cornish Dance Theater and the University of Washington. Scott teaches creative process, choreography, improvisation, and performance practice, and has been a guest faculty at the University of Washington, Cornish College of the Arts, and Velocity Dance Center.

claire campbell

Claire Campbell is a 17-year-old singer/songwriter. Music has always played an active role in her life and she hopes to spread a culture of connection and vulnerability through the power of song. Claire is an active member of Students for Action, a district wide group that works to implement change in the Bellingham schools. She is thrilled to help support this incredible organization.

Izzy Rae Jones

Izzy Rae Jones is a sixteen year old singer/songwriter. She has been writing and performing music around the PNW for four years. She views songwriting as a way to share stories and emotions, not only for herself but for others as well. Izzy is currently a student at Sehome High School and a member of “Students for Action,” a district wide group working towards change in various aspects of the Bellingham community. She is very excited to be performing in “Time For a Change,” and to be helping such a great cause.

Bellingham Repertory Dance (Brd)

Bellingham Repertory Dance (BRD) is a professional contemporary dance collective in Bellingham, WA. BRD began with its first fall performance in 2006, and is now producing two full-length concerts annually.

The founding mission of BRD was to create continuing opportunities for the community’s most accomplished dancers to perform sophisticated professional dance works by established and emerging choreographers.

To date, the company has worked with many regionally and nationally recognized choreographers including Wade Madsen, Mary Sheldon-Scott, Marlo Martin, Joy French, Josh Beamish, Deborah Wolf, Melissa Rolnick, Gina & Kyle Sorensen, Pablo Cornejo, Michele Miller, Dionne Noble, Andrea Shelley, Kevin Jenkins, Daniel Stark, Mari Meade, Lauren Edson, Lindsey Drury, Daniel Stark, Paige Barnes, Darion Smith, Monica Campbell, Ryan Corriston, Eva Stone, Mark Haim, Rachel Lincoln, Cyrus Khambatta, Kate Wallich, Kate Digby & Holly Jaycox, Andy Noble, Daniel Costa, Shannon Mockli, and many others.

As Bellingham continues to gain stature as an artistic community, BRD hopes to also grow and continue to bring great dance works to local and new audiences to contemporary dance.

BRD is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

For more information, visit their website:

https://www.bhamrep.org/our-story

jasmine summer

Wil Henkel has been producing music under the name “Jasmine Summer” for two years. His act is focused around a hope for a more positive future, with the power of belief in oneself. Wil is also focused on creating a more open and honest community to help break the stigmas of mental health. He has helped start a club at Sehome High School, called at “Peer Centered Outreach” opening discussion about mental health to the youth. He will be serving as a youth influencer in a national program called “Connected” for the next 18 months, learning how to address suicide and mental illness in Bellingham.

opus performing arts: “na und”

Opus Performing Arts was started by a small group of parents in the Bellingham area who wanted to provide a high quality dance experience based on a multidisciplinary curriculum in a learning environment that is both serious and fun. Opus believes that the high degree of discipline needed to progress as a performer must be taught, and that this discipline will serve the student well whether they pursue a career in performing arts or in any other field of endeavor.

This piece is from Opus’s Contemporary IV class. Choreographed by Diane Williams, this piece is performed by Ally Schuh, Bailey Kager, Grace Oman, Rosemary Hickman, and Sophie-Rose Kendrick.

Shepard’s pie

Shepard’s Pie is a phenomenal double reed duo from Western Washington University. Performers include Katerina Freedman and Martijn Wall.

Dos de la Caña

Dos de la Caña is an amazing clarinet duo from Western Washington University. The performers for this duet include Dallas Geil and Kimberly Yau.

Past Guest Speakers:

JOHN E. DUNNE, MD

Dr. Dunne is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who has been in practice for 34 years. Over the years, Dr. Dunne has been involved in many projects and issues nationally and regionally. At this stage in his career, Dr. Dunne wants to move away from full time care of patients and devote part of his time training and assisting others who work under more severe restrictions of time and training while attempting to treat children with mental health and behavioral problems.

After completing his child psychiatry training at UW, Dr. Dunne opened a private practice. Dr. Dunne became very involved with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, taking on a sequence of leadership roles. He was nominated for President Elect in 2001 but lost in a close election. Although he has continued to be active at the national level, Dr. Dunne has become concerned about the increasing prevalence of serious psychiatric and developmental problems in children and the dearth of well trained professionals to treat these children. Because primary care physicians and nurse practitioners are now assessing and treating roughly 75% of the mental health problems in children coming to medical attention, Dr. Dunne spent several years developing a state-wide training and support service for PCPs which, although initially funded by the State, fell victim to "The Great Recession."

Dr. Dunne has been married for forty years and has two adult children and one grandson. Although Dr. Dunne has many outside interests, performing music is taking up an increasing amount of time in his life. Dr. Dunne plays tenor trombone with the Sound Brass Quintet and the Rain City Symphony.

ALYSSA SISEMORE

Alyssa Sisemore has been an active mental health advocate for the last 3 years, and has a passion for fighting to break the stigma of mental illness. Within 6 months of joining NAMI Whatcom in 2017, Alyssa became a certified recovery support group facilitator, and a certified program presenter. Over the last 2 years, she has accepted and made opportunities to verbally share her mental health journey at local high schools, churches, workplaces, community events, support groups, and on social media. Upon winning the yearlong job of Miss Whatcom County 2018 in the Miss America Organization, Alyssa took to action to promote her platform, “Mental Health: Breaking the Stigma.” She was proud to stand as a mental health advocate during the Miss Washington pageant, and stress the importance of bringing awareness to the topic.

Alyssa enjoys sharing her vulnerable and ongoing story with mental illness which began 7 years ago. She speaks on her experiences with generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder, along with depersonalization and derealization disorder. Alyssa has the hopes of making personal connections with those that hear her, and educating others regardless of their background with mental health issues.

Extending past her advocacy work, Alyssa was trained in ballet for 14 years, and spent her last 4 years dancing in a pre-professional company. She still enjoys the artistic and emotional outlet that dance provides, and continues to perform on stage during pageants in the Miss America Organization. Alyssa will be graduating in June of 2019 with her bachelors of psychology, and a philosophy minor. She will continue on with her education to earn her Doctor of Psychology in Counseling Psychology.