CT Theater Hosts Food Drive to Benefit AIDS Project

For those of you who might be in the New Haven, CT area, here's a chance to make a difference while enjoying a night at the theater.

Long Wharf Theatre will hold a food drive to benefit AIDS Project New Haven during the run of Coming Home, a world premiere by Athol Fugard.

AIDS Project New Haven’s Food Pantry is currently experiencing a shortage of many necessities, and Long Wharf Theatre staff and patrons have the opportunity to offer a contribution that may make a difference for many families.

Donations will be collected in the Mainstage lobby from Jan. 14 through Feb. 8 and can be dropped off between 10 am and 5 pm and at evenings of performances Tuesdays through Sunday. Suggested items for donation include canned protein items (tuna, chicken, chili, beans, beef stews & chunky soups), canned fruits and vegetables, packaged items (cereal, nonfat dry milk, oatmeal, trail mix, granola, ramen noodles, stuffing mixes, and condiments such as salad dressings, gravy, and mayo); low-salt, healthy varieties are encouraged.

99 percent of people who use the Food Pantry are living in extreme poverty, in addition to facing chronic illness, juggling multiple doctors’ appointments, and often have few resources to feed themselves or their families. According to a Connecticut Food Bank survey of pantry clients, 42 percent had to choose between paying for food or utilities, 34 percent had to choose between food and paying rent and 30 percent had to choose between food and medical care.

For more information or to purchase tickets, call 203-787-4282 or visit www.longwharf.org.

COMING HOME by Athol Fugard runs Jan 14-Feb. 8 on the Mainstage Tuesdays at 7 pm, Wednesdays at 2 pm and 7 pm., Thursdays and Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 3 pm and 8 pm, and Sundays at 2 pm and 7 pm

Symposium on AIDS in South Africa
In addition, A Yale University pediatric doctor and a documentary filmmaker will join together to discuss the scourge of AIDS in South Africa in the upcoming installment of the Long Wharf Theatre’s Symposium series.

The symposium, entitled “The big disease with the little name: South Africa, AIDS, and the healing power of stories,” will take place on Sunday, Feb. 1 following the 2pm matinee on Long Wharf Theatre’s Mainstage.

Dr. Brian Forsyth is professor of pediatrics and Yale Child Study Center at Yale University. He has provided clinical care to children with AIDS from the beginning of the epidemic in the U.S. and since 2002 has been conducting HIV-related research in South Africa. He is the principal investigator of a study in South Africa funded by the U.S. government to examine the effects of a support intervention aimed at building resilience among young children of HIV-infected mothers in South Africa.

New York based filmmaker Sarah Friedland is director, producer and editor of "Thing With No Name," a film about two HIV-positive Zulu women in rural South Africa