AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
From surviving to thriving to grieving… Award-winning artist and playwright Aoede shared stories, music and films illustrated how creating music and art has been her lifeline during her 14-year journey battling a rare chronic illness.
Watch here:
To SIGN UP for any of our AnCan Virtual Support group reminders, visit our Contact Us page.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
On December 22nd, we closed out our 2021 season of Solo Arts Heal with Alex Kaplan! (and on that note, we have even more fun to come in 2022!)
Alex, a Philadelphia native and LA transplant, was trained as an actor in the University of Miami’s conservatory and transitioned to a career behind the camera as a producer and director for the past decade.
Today, Alex is the Co-founding Executive Director & Chief Vision Officer at Of Substance (OfSubstance.org), an innovative non-profit revolutionizing addiction and mental health treatment, education, and support, using premium entertaining short films as a tool for deeper healing, growth, and transformation.
After surviving his own battles with addiction, Alex recognized the power of story as a tool in his recovery and found an exciting way to use his filmmaking experience to help others on their paths of overcoming struggles of shame & isolation. The biggest thing he learned on his journey is that his issue was far less about using substances than it was about WHY he used substances; It was about shame, isolation, a fear of not belonging, and a fear of not being good enough.
Alex and his co-founder Brian Gallagher built Of Substance to help us all recognize that we’re not alone in these feelings and to positively transform people’s relationships with themselves, others, and their beliefs in what’s possible.
“Our film “Trapped” is not simply for those of us who struggle with substance use, it’s for all of us who feel trapped sometimes. Hopefully Trapped will help us all better empathize with one another, recognizing and relating to the feeling and experience. This film helped my mother stop asking me “Why can’t you stop drinking?” and finally move our conversation forward to “I see you, I love you, I’m with you.” Our hopes are that this film can do that for you and your loved ones as well.” – Alex
Watch the performance here:
To SIGN UP for any of our AnCan Virtual Support group reminders, visit our Contact Us page.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
On November 24th, we were so thrilled to host Nire Nah!
Nire is a singer-songwriter, visual artist, mental health advocate, and human of substance (who happens to also be substance-free). Since 2014, she has been living, learning, creating, and performing in Chicago, Illinois. Her work spans multiple disciplines and mediums, from painting to performance to psychological upkeep. Guided by the principles of rigorous honesty and kind curiosity, Nire aims to invite audiences into a space where they are safe to feel their feelings without restraint. She strives to make people laugh, cry, and think – preferably at the same time.
As a creator in recovery, Nire’s work is tightly intertwined with her own healing and personal growth. Her debut album Coeur Age (2018) is a rollercoaster of story-songs, anthems, tantrums, lullabies, and laments, mapping the wilderness of active addiction and mental illness from the inside out. Her latest release Everything Stands Back Up (2020) balances the scales with a series of earnest reflections on the grueling but grounding work of long-term emotion regulation and mental maintenance. In these songs, Nire explores the nonlinearity of recovery and emphasizes the important connections between individual and communal healing.
Nire shared songs and an animated video from her latest album, Everything Stands Back Up.
Watch the show here:
To SIGN UP for any of our AnCan Virtual Support group reminders, visit our Contact Us page.
AnCan and The Marsh (well renown, long-established theater company with a large following in the Bay Area and venues in San Francisco and Oakland) collaborateevery 4th Wednesday of the month for Solo Arts Heal!
On October 27th, we had our beloved friend Elliott Kerman!
Elliott was a founding member of the a capella group, Rockapella. Over the18 years that he was the group’s baritone, they toured extensively throughout the US and Japan, made numerous records, appeared on a number of TV and Radio commercials, and were the house band on the 295 episodes of the hit PBS kids TV show “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”
His first love was jazz; he grew up listening to his Mom’s extensive jazz record collection. After he left Rockapella, he fronted a jazz combo for several years, performing a mix of his original compositions and jazz standards. Since then, he’s been working as an accountant in the Film & TV business.
Elliott preformed some jazz standards, and some of his own original compositions live on the piano.
Watch here:
To SIGN UP for any of our AnCan Virtual Support group reminders, visit our Contact Us page.
On September 30th, we had the absolute pleasure of spending the evening with Nancy Novack, founder of Nancy’s List. Nancy’s List is a comprehensive listing of integrative, financial and complementary listings to ease the burden for patients and caregivers navigating the cancer path.
In the 15 years Nancy Novack has been compiling numerous linked resources on Nancy’s List, no one has ever asked Nancy about her own personal favorites, until AnCan did! We had a wonderful evening of sharing resources (many of them free!), stories, and wait until you hear what Nancy thinks the oncology community needs more of.
