Rep actress' program bio makes plea for her native country
A theater critic reads hundreds of actor bios in programs every year, and the best are simple and informative. Do we really care that the actor is sending his/her love to Pookie (use email) or is thanking the director for this job?
Milwaukee Rep resident actor Lanise Antoine Shelley did something I have never before seen in her bio for the current Stiemke Theater production of "I Just Stopped By to See the Man." She is asking the audience to become involved with Haiti, her native country, by including the website addresses of two Haitian charities. By going here you will learn about the orphanage where Lanise and her sister lived until they were adopted by an American woman when Lanise was 4.
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The orphanage has moved and expanded since she left in 1985, and she returned last summer to paint a mural with the help of the children.
The other charity mentioned in the bio, Youthaiti, was founded and is run by Milwaukee nurse practitioner Gigi Pomerantz, and most of the organization's leadership is based here. Youthaitifocuses on the rural areas of Haiti. Its goal is to foster ecological and sustainable development by building composting toilets and promoting organic gardening.
Pomerantz explains that public sanitation is so poor in Haiti, 12% of the country's children under age 5 die from diarrhea. More than 80% of rural Haitians don't have access to sanitation systems. The composting toilets address that problem, and organic gardening is a natural result.
