What do most unemployed actors do -- sit around and mope? Maybe some do, but for an energetic, caring group of Los Angeles actors, they become more involved with the community. This is exactly what happened to the "West Wing" star, Melissa Fitzgerald.
In 1995, a group of LA actors found themselves out of work. While looking for work, they also started looking for ways to help their community. "Voices in Harmony" , a nonprofit organization dedicated to working with economically disadvantaged and at-risk youth, was founded by Melissa and her actor friends. This program provides positive adult role models and tutors to help them achieve in school and succeed in life. Through exploring the artistic expression of theatre, teens are encouraged to examine issues such as drug abuse, prejudice, racism, and violence.
The Voices team, led by co-founders Melissa Fitzgerald and David Ackert, is comprised of creative professionals, including actors, writers, and directors, who mentor children using acting exercises as catalysts.
The actress, because of her activism and humanitarianism, is always looking for ways to help others. In 2006, she traveled to Uganda, taking the Voices in Harmony program to the war-torn country, using expression and acting as a means of healing and forgiveness. In 2007, Melissa and a team from Voices of Harmony traveled with a camera crew to a camp in northern Uganda, working with the Ugandan youth over the course of a month to turn their stories into plays to perform for their camp. Inspired by this experience and the stories collected during this trip, she produced and was the co-artistic director for the film "Voices of Uganda", a unique and compelling documentary film revealing the situation facing the youth in Uganda.
Recently, in Philadelphia, Melissa had a mini-preview of the documentary "Voices of Uganda". All these teenagers know is war, soldiers, and overcrowded camps. Sobering statistics were included in the program -- such as 66,000 kids are abducted each year. As the Springside School and University of Pennsylvania graduate explained, "Northern Uganda is the biggest forgotten humanitarian crisis". At this showing, people were asked to read monologues from the film, and they all did a remarkable job in getting across the fear and crises that the Ugandan teens live every day.
The event was sponsored by "The Forum of Executive Women", an organization of 350 women of influence in the Greater Philadelphia region, whose mission is to leverage the power of executive women in the Greater Philadelphia region to expand the impact and influence of women leaders. It was obvious from the turnout, this organization was the perfect conduit for this event.
In addition to Melissa, she also has many "West Wing" contributing artists for the documentary including: Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Marlee Matlin, Janel Moloney, and Martin Sheen.
As she told the packed crowd at the Moore College of Art, "We have so many things to be thankful for". This documentary needs to be made to let the world know the crisis that exists in northern Uganda.
Hollywood may be what Melissa Fitzgerald now calls home, but for the Philadelphia crowd she was welcomed by family and friends, and also people who really didn't know much about the situation in Uganda but came because they were curious.
At the end of the evening, she hadn't given a performance; she spoke the truth from her heart. Passion is everything, and that is why this documentary will change the lives of all of us.
Take the time to be thankful for what you have, but then get involved and help others who have nothing. http://www.voicesofuganda.org
This isn't about politics -- it's about people who are crying out to have their voice heard -- all the way from Uganda to the United States. Let's tell them our ears are opened and they will be hearing from us!
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