Dinner Theater for Mental Health

There was show last night at the Carbondale Civic Center. A Dinner Theater. The Tuna was Greater, while the salmon and roast beef served up by Heartland Catering was succulent and tender, and the room was filled with hungry Friends of Southern Illinois Regional Social Services, craving crazy entertainment. They got it. Stan Hale's production of Greater Tuna, about functional "mental cases" in a small Texas town was something the audience could relate to.

The event was hosted by Paul and Patti Simon prominent friends of SIRSS. Noticably absent were any mentally ill people in the crowd (except possibly one guy asking Harvey Welch the name of the greatest athlete in Carbondale history), but there were photographs of many success stories, including someone who's been seeing my daughter! Not the guy pictured above with Patti and Paul, that's Prof. Sam Goldman, another community leader and Friend of SIRSS.

Stan Hale's production of Greater Tuna was marvelous. Like "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" set in small-town Texas. Great performances by actors Ryan Patrick and Tim Robinson, of whom more later.

now, back to the future.