Tribute To A Young Life Taken By Depression

For the first time ever, nine of Sydney’s community musical theatre companies are holding a massive combined concert on 26 August 2016 at 7:30 pm, at the Sutherland Entertainment Centre to raise funds for mental health charities ‘The Black Dog Institute’ and ‘beyond blue’.

The reason for this concert is that earlier this year, the Sydney musical theatre community mourned the passing of one of its talented brothers, James Jonathan. James was a 27-year-old performer who engaged with numerous community theatre organisations in sharing his gifts and talents on stage. James was a talented young man who was well loved and respected among his peers. He gave tirelessly, always entertaining and creating happiness for those around him. His positive personality, beautiful bass voice and classic clean cut looks were just some of the wonderful qualities that contributed to his popularity, but tragically James was hiding a personal battle and took his own life. 

While this event will be a terrific night of entertainment, it also wants to embrace our broader community, honour James and aim to establish a regular means of helping those within our ranks who need our support and need to know that they are not alone. As a collective of creative people, performers may be more prone than most to mental health issues, and the musical theatre community want to address this in a non-stigmatising, safe and educational way. Marc Levinston from beyondblue and JJ’s sister Koren will address the audience briefly during the concert and funds raised from ticket sales will be shared between beyondblue, and The Black Dog Institute.

If we can learn anything from this tragedy, it is that we need to look deeper than people’s public persona; we need to connect with each other emotionally; we need to raise people up rather than put people down; and we should never take for granted how fragile life is and how quickly it can be taken away.

With leading performers across so many theatre companies, this concert promises to be a truly amazing event. There are also some terrific prizes from some generous sponsors on offer.

The organising committee, along with JJ’s family, invites everyone to come and support this very important event; it’s going to be a truly wonderful night for everyone to enjoy.

TICKETS $20 - click here to book.

You can find information about the night by following the Face Book page : https://www.facebook.com/aconversationworthhaving/

More Reading

More Community Theatre

Community Theatre Seasons 2016