Community Corner
'Out of the Mouth of Babes' to Benefit Gloria Gemma this Sunday
Tickets for the performance at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet are available.
"Out of the Mouths of Babes," an evening of theatrical readings by women, for women, and about women, will take place on Sunday, March 24 at 7:00 p.m. at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston, Rhode Island. Tickets are $20.00. Proceeds benefit the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation and Rhode Island Crisis Assistance Center. The Foundation is currently providing free tickets to breast cancer patients and survivors on a first come, first served basis. For details, please call 401-861-HERO (4376).
Local women will take to the stage to share moving stories about their lives, their challenges and triumphs; their weaknesses and strengths; and their joys and sorrows. The performance will also feature readings by celebrated female writers including Eve Ensler, author of “The Vagina Monologues.”
The women on stage are not all actresses, and seven of them share an especially formative experience—that of being diagnosed with, and surviving, breast cancer.
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One of those women is Sue-Ellen Jimenez, a Cranston resident, who remembers her diagnosis well. It was Friday, September 16, 2011 and she was only 31 years old.
"I originally just thought, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ I was scared" Jimenez said. “I didn’t know how long I was going to live or if I was even going to see tomorrow.”
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Jimenez said the diagnosis hit her “like a ton of bricks.”
During her treatment at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence, Jimenez joined a young women’s cancer support group. It was there that she met another young breast cancer survivor, Mandy Zito, then a student in human development and family services at University of Rhode Island. Until then, Jimenez didn’t talk much about what she called her “secret.”
In 2012 Zito became the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation’s young survivor coordinator and invited Jimenez to appear in the Foundation’s 2013 “Celebrate Hope, Celebrate Life” Calendar. Jimenez was happy to oblige—she’s the September survivor model—and, since then, she’s made an effort to participate in Foundation programs and events in an effort to raise breast cancer awareness among young women.
Both Jimenez and Zito will appear in “Young Survivors,” the first episode in a new Foundation-produced nonfiction television series called Behind the Ribbon, which premieres on Rhode Island PBS on March 30 at 7:00 p.m.
In “Out of the Mouths of Babes” on Sunday, Jimenez will be performing an original autobiographical monologue. Creative storytelling is a central element of the Foundation’s programming and services it offers to breast cancer patients and survivors.
“It’s been therapeutic,” said Jimenez of writing and rehearsing her story. “Its been hard for me to process and cope with the fact that I did have cancer, being so young and having so many things going on in my life.”
The women featured in “Out of the Mouths of Babes,” in telling their stories, will share their most vulnerable moments, their pain, their fear, and, most importantly, their hope. The evening's program will be woven together with this common thread of hope and humor, the eternal notion that “laughter is the best medicine.”
Despite the show's seemingly serious subject matter, audience members can expect an evening filled with laughter, sprinkled with tears, and topped off with a delicious dessert buffet. The event is a celebration of all women and a wonderful opportunity to enjoy a night out with the girls, all for a good cause.
“Out of the Mouths of Babes” closes the Rhode Island Red Tent, a full day dedicated to nurturing Rhode Island's women. Both events offer an opportunity for Rhode Island women to connect with themselves and each other, in a soothing and soul-nourishing setting. For more information, please visit www.redtentri.com.
The evening includes a complimentary dessert buffet catered by Rhode Island's Russell Morin Fine Catering and a cash bar. For more information, please visit www.ribabes.com.
About the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation
The Gloria Gemma Foundation was established in 2004 in loving memory of Gloria J. Gemma and to honor her courageous fight against breast cancer. The organization’s mission is to raise breast cancer awareness; increase breast health education; enhance the quality of life for breast cancer patients, as well as their families and friends; and generate funding for local breast health programs. For more information, please call 401-861-HERO (4376) or visit www.gloriagemma.org.
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