Cohen and Savage will be joined by members of the Wicked company for a post-performance talk-back to discuss what can be done to help stop the prevalence of bullying.
The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation, Inc. is the world’s first foundation dedicated to "raising awareness of the long-term, damaging effects of bullying, and funding those doing real-world work to stop it. The organization stands up against bullying regardless of to whom it happens. Because lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people are often targeted by bullies, the foundation gives particular attention to this community. They include removing homophobia from sports as central to their mission." For more information visit www.standupfoundation.com.
In September 2010, syndicated columnist and author Dan Savage created a YouTube video with his partner Terry Miller to inspire hope for young people facing harassment. In response to a number of students taking their own lives after being bullied in school, they wanted to create a personal way for supporters everywhere to tell LGBT youth that, yes, it does indeed get better. The It Gets Better Project has become a worldwide movement, inspiring more than 50,000 user-created videos viewed more than 50 million times. Visit www.itgetsbetter.org.
Tickets for the upcoming special event, which is being held on National Coming Out Day, includes that evening’s 8 PM performance of the Stephen Schwartz-Winnie Holzman musical as well as access to the talk-back. For tickets visit http://standupitgetsbetterwicked.eventbrite.com. (A portion of the ticket price will be donated to The It Gets Better Project and The Ben Cohen StandUp Foundation.)
For more information go to www.wickedthemusical.com. Wicked plays the Gershwin Theatre, 222 West 51st Street.