SANTA BARBARA — The Unity Shoppe’s 38th Annual Holiday Celebration and Telethon, held on December 13, 5-8 p.m. and will be aired on KEY-TV. The telethon will feature appearances by Kenny Loggins, Brad Paisley, and Michael McDonald, along with other celebrity surprises.
Photos courtesy of Lit Moon Theatre Company.
Joining KEYT-TV News Anchors CJ Ward and Beth Farnsworth as a host this year is British actor and Santa Barbara local Duane Henry. Duane is best known for his roles in “The Dark Knight Rises” (2012), “Captain Marvel” (2019), and “NCIS” (2016-2018).
Henry returned last month from Macedonia where he took part in a world premiere performance of Shakespeare’s “King Lear” directed by John Blondell, which was developed specifically for the Ohrid Summer Festival in North Macedonia. This production, created by an international company of artists, brought a tailor-made rendition of Shakespeare’s great tragedy, about domestic and dynastic order, vision and blindness, aging and madness, to the rich setting of the Vestibule of the Church of Saint Sophia.
Founded in 1991, Lit Moon Theatre Company is a Santa Barbara-based collective of theatre artists. The company is an independent, laboratory theatre company that integrates aesthetic experimentation with cross-cultural interaction and understanding. Since 1992, Lit Moon has created 45 new theatrical projects, produced thirteen international theatre festivals, received dozens of awards for its artists, and developed numerous residencies with artists from eight countries, and has toured to Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Scotland, Canada, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Armenia, Georgia, and China.
The Unity Shoppe’s Client Service Center serves clients referred from one of 400 partnering agencies. These agencies identify families, children, adults, single-parent households, and seniors needing services such as free groceries. Clients can shop in a store-like setting for groceries that support a healthy and well-rounded diet, choosing foods they know how to cook and other household necessities, personal care products, and clothing. Money raised from the telethon will be used to run the Client Service Center and other programs, allowing the purchase of increased quantities of healthy and fresh perishable foods for Santa Barbara County residents. During the winter holiday, thousands of children and their families select their favorite toys and gifts from Unity Shoppe’s Holiday Store.
About the Unity Shoppe — Unity Shoppe is a Santa Barbara-based nonprofit organization dedicated to providing free essential services to residents impacted by temporary conditions of poverty, natural disaster, or health crisis. We provide residents with groceries, clothing, and other essentials, as well as job training – the things that help reinforce human dignity and encourage self-sufficiency and independence.