Community

Los Angeles police say a man who apparently shot himself after

GILROY

The Gilroy Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution

Measure A, Morgan Hill's effort to revitalize downtown, appeared

Gilroy Police arrested a teen who was allegedly involved in an armed robbery in which a victim’s vehicle was stolen on Railroad Street. The incident is under investigation and authorities say more suspects may have been involved.  About 8pm Aug. 27, Gilroy Police responded to...

Braving chilly temperatures, a long line of expectant children and their families formed down the center of San Ysidro Park last Saturday, eagerly awaiting their chance to meet and take a picture with old Saint Nick himself, the one and only Santa Claus, at the second annual Winter Wonderland and gift giveaway hosted by Victory Outreach Ministries with support from agency partners including the City of Gilroy, Gilroy Police Department, Santa Clara Federal Credit Union, Gilroy Youth Task Force and South County Task Force.

What happens when 52 nuns fall fatally ill with botulism? Hilarity. A bizarre combination perhaps, but one that can only be found at Limelight Actors Theater’s newest show, “Nunsense”. The 1985 musical-comedy has been a tremendous success off-Broadway. The show made its debut in Gilroy last Friday—appropriately enough, on April Fools Day.Nunsense tells the story of the Little Sisters of Hoboken, who are in dire straits after the death of most of their order at the hands of some tainted soup. Five of the surviving nuns decide to put on a show to raise money for the convent. The money, in a hysterically morbid twist that comes to characterize the show, is needed to bury four botulism-stricken nuns in the convent’s freezers. What proceeds is part-cabaret and part-vaudeville, featuring singing and dancing numbers, a quiz for the audience, and moments in which the cast comically break the fourth-wall.“This show was on my bucket-list,” director and Limelight owner Kevin Heath said. “I know that it’s been done a lot but I just really love the show and I wanted to put our twist on it.”Heath enlisted the help of three veteran actors of the show. Carol Harris plays Sister Hubert, the wisest and most humble nun of the group. Sister Mary Amnesia, whose comedic fodder comes from her forgotten memory, is played by Rosalind Farotte. Sister Robert Anne, the mischievous and daring nun of the group, is played by Betsy Andrade.Limelight’s production of the show marks the fifth time Farotte has played Sister Mary Amnesia. Farotte also had the opportunity to work with her daughter, Elizabeth Farotte Heenan, who served as the choreographer for the show.“I think that you become more confident,” Farotte said. “You become more comfortable throwing stuff in there. Before, I’d worry about it or hold back.”During one part of the show, Farotte plays with the audience, walking around the dinner tables of the theater, throwing zingers here and there and making pop-culture references that a pious nun shouldn’t know. Heath said that only 30% of Farotte’s antics were scripted, with the other 70% improvised on the fly by the actress.Andrade, who has also played her character for the fifth time, said she identifies most with Sister Robert Anne.“She’s kind of rough around the edges but I think she’s got a really big heart,” Andrade said. “And I went all the way through Catholic school, from kindergarten through college.”The five are led by the demanding but light-hearted Sister Mary Regina, played by JoAnna Evans. Finally, Sister Leo, the naive novice of the group, is played by Roberta Vinkhuyzen. Limelight’s “Nunsense” is the first production in which Evans and Vinkhuyzen have been cast in the play.“Kevin calls up and says, “Please, please be Mother Superior!,’” said Evans. “I’ve directed for several years now and it was a chance to get back into acting and singing.”Evans describes her character as having the illusion of being in control while simultaneously prone to fun and mischief like the other nuns. At one point during the show, Sister Mary Regina finds contraband from one of the nuns, which launches the group into the uproarious song, “Tackle That Temptation.”“As a group of actors working together, we bond very closely to each other and it's a very supportive atmosphere,” said Roberta Vinkhuyzen of the all-female cast in “Nunsense”. “It makes it a lot easier to bury your soul on stage.”“Nunsense” is Vinkhuyzen's first musical at Limelight, although she has performed in other shows at the theater, such as “Steel Magnolias” and “The MOMologues.”The supportive atmosphere Vinkhuyzen describes is an important factor in the production of the show. The cast of “Nunsense” never wavers. Their confidence is palpable and every part of the performance is organic, so much so that one has to wonder if these women don’t have a little bit of their characters’ qualities in them. “The people that walk up on our stage are all A-list actors,” Heath said. “And the play is never offensive and always humorous.”Heath hand-picks each of the cast members for a production. He knew that when he opened Limelight in 2011, “Nunsense” would eventually hit the theater.“Nunsense” is for the zany and eccentric part of all of us. Its broad appeal comes from its mixture of low-brow and high-brow humor. It is irreverent, yes, but it has a certain charm that reminds us that everyone likes to laugh. Even nuns.“Nunsense” is playing at the Limelight Actors Theater, at the Gilroy Center for the Arts on 7341 Monterey St, through the end of April. For a schedule of performances and ticket-prices, go to limelightactorstheater.com.  

So you lost your job and times are tough; maybe the kids wear threadbare clothes because this week the choice was food or shoes.The Keeper’s Closet is here to help. And it’s free.Almost a year old, the Gilroy nonprofit serves the clothing needs of newborns to six-year-olds, a segment of the population its founder said was not being served in Gilroy when it comes to free clothing for the needy.The founder and board president of The Keeper’s Closet is retired attorney and former city councilman Brian Cunningham, 73. He has long been involved in charity work, including a stint as president of Martha’s Kitchen and as a leader in the St. Vincent de Paul Society of South County in Morgan Hill.In was while with the latter organization that he saw the unmet need that led to the founding of The Keeper’s Closet last February. It’s part of a larger nonprofit called Life Advocates that helps young women facing unplanned pregnancies, young people contemplating suicide and those in need of food and clothing.It costs about $50,000 a year to run The Keeper’s Closet, including rent and a half-time outreach manager. Cunningham pays for it all out of his own pocket.“He not only has a heart for helping and serving people, he definitely is a dreamer and a doer,” said Rochelle Henson, 25, the group’s outreach manager and only employee.The mainstays among the volunteers are Julie Gozzo, Cunningham’s legal assistant, Debbie Molyneaux, Mary Fierro Lisa Menge and Lisa Dimas Jessen.The mission of The Keeper’s Closet is “to serve families who can’t afford clothing,” to provide it for free and to unite the community to recycle and reuse clothing, according to Henson, an Aromas resident.“By doing that,” she said, “we are helping families who are going through tough times.”The group takes donations of clothing and shoes typically in large plastic bags, then sorts and stores the clothes by type, gender and size.Two of its greatest needs are consistent donations and increased visibility. For now, their go-to outreach tool is Facebook, at facebook.com/TheKeepersCloset/.In its 1,800-square-foot headquarters in a modest Gilroy office building on West First Street, Henson has created an elaborate but simple and orderly system that uses stacks of cardboard file boxes to store and easily find each category of clothing. Nearby shelves hold scores of shoes, while dozens of colorful jackets and coats hang on racks. In another room are dozens of bags of donated clothing awaiting sorting.The clothing is handed out, no questions asked, every few months at distribution events at the office. Those in need also can drop in during the week but must call ahead and make an appointment. The same goes for donors, because the office is not always staffed.“Because this is our first year it has been kind of a trial year and we still are planning which days are best,” Henson said, regarding the big distributions.“For our very first, nobody knew about us so we only had eight kids but at our second we served 92 and the third it was 75,” she said.The next events will be Feb. 22 and April 2.Needy families can receive shirts, shoes, pants, shorts, sweatshirts, jackets, dresses, socks and underwear. The Keeper’s Closet often also has a selection of strollers, high chairs and toys. Sometimes there are diapers and cribs.And all of those are the items that the group encourages people to donate, preferable gently used, clean and in large plastic bags.The group accepts sizes up to 8-year-olds because some 6-year-olds are bigger than average, Henson said.The biggest need is for boys clothing, according to Cunningham.“We are always running out of clothes, especially for young boys, sometimes we have to buy then from the Salvation Army,” he said.He hopes people who dump clothing in street bins around town will consider The Keeper’s Closet and its collection bins instead. They are located in USA Gymnastics and Strandz Beauty Salon in Gilroy, Artistry Hair Salon in Morgan Hill and at Aromas Free School in Aromas.Cunningham would like to hand out modest, free food packs with nonperishable staples such as beans and rice, for families really in a bind. He hopes someone in Gilroy’s food industry will come forward and help with that idea.The name, The Keeper's Closet, was inspired in part by the divine and in part by the whimsy of word play, Cunningham said.“The idea was that Keeper refers to God the Father and how He cares for us, and Closet was just sort of alliteration,” that they liked.Henson and Cunningham voiced similar sentiments when asked what they get out of the services provided by The Keeper’s Closet. Cunningham put it this way: “There is a certain uplift I get and others that join me get in helping others,” he said.“It’s a dramatic life lift you feel. There is no other human activity that matches helping others; in the autumn of my life I have found it to be one of the most rewarding things I have done.”To donate or receive clothing, The Keeper’s Closet is at 1335 First St., Suite C, across from Mama Mia’s restaurant. The office is on the second floor. Call ahead at (408) 847-2018 or contact them via email atinfo@keeperscloset.com.