Latessa heads a panel of theatre artists, including long-time board member Academy Award winner Susan Sarandon and CANY honorary board members Olympia Dukakis, Arthur French and Elizabeth Wilson. Creative Alternatives of New York (CANY) "provides hope and healing through the art of theatre for children and adults with emotional and/or social challenges. Partnering with leading social service agencies and health care institutions, CANY provides 1,400 theatre groups annually to over 2,000 underserved children and adults in the New York metropolitan area."

The CANY method "combines the creative tools of the theater arts with group dynamics to help clients re-discover their innate potential while promoting resilience and the development of social and emotional health."

Applying theatre techniques of improvisation, music, poetry and movement, CANY-trained staff "guides clients to discover potential of the imagination, write new life stories and enact new roles for their future."

CANY works with children in residential treatment centers and alternative schools, survivors of domestic violence (both women and children), refugee youth from war zones, veterans with traumatic stress, clients in psychiatric treatment, persons with HIV/AIDS and seniors.

Latessa won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Hairspray. His Broadway credits include The Education of H*Y*M*A*N K*A*P*L*A*N, Damn Yankees, Broadway Bound, Chapter Two, Rumors, Proposals, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Awake and Sing!, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Cabaret and more.

For more information visit cany.org.