Spokane mental illness program stages musical

On Stage! will present its musical theater company, Theatre Extraordinaire, in its 17th annual production at 7 p.m. Wednesday, June 8, in the Metropolitan Center for the Performing Arts, 901 W. Sprague Ave, Spokane.

A recovery program serving mental health consumers, On Stage! is housed in the Washington Institute for Mental Illness Research and Training at WSU Spokane.

Free to the public, the musical variety show, “Fascinating Rhythms,” will highlight the talents of the cast in selections from the Producers, Cabaret, Sweet Charity and Chicago.

For information and group reservations, call 358-7676. Donations to support the program will be accepted at the door.

Guest artists will include the Celtic Nots, a local folk music group; Annie O’Neill, jazz vocalist; the O’Neill Sisters; and children from the Columbia Ballet Theatre. For the first time, family members will perform with the On Stage! cast, joining their sons, daughters, siblings and parents.

“This performance is an opportunity for the cast to display their talents and abilities and the accomplishments they are achieving on the road to recovery,” said Donna Douglass, director of the On Stage! program. “In addition, this event educates the public through reducing stigma and dispelling the myths that are so often associated with mental illness.”