International Mental Health Foundation Launches with Variety Show

The International Mental Health Foundation has announced its official launch on World Mental Health Day. With a mission of bringing awareness to mental health and disabilities through the performing arts, IMHF is having a live in-person and online streaming extravaganza on Tuesday, October 10th, 9:30 p.m. EDT from the Triad Theatre, 158 W. 72nd St., New York City.

Step Forward for Mental Health variety show is being produced by Robert R Blume and Pat Labez for Step Forward Entertainment and features international talent across genres, from musical numbers in song and dance, to acting, comedy, storytelling and inspirational speaking.

John Easterlin is a four-time Grammy Award winner and opera star with global credits, including the Metropolitan and Sydney Opera Houses. He's a Master Puppeteer, Certified Magician, and has made his Broadway debut in The Phantom of the Opera. Soara-Joye Ross is a multi-talented actress known for roles in Broadway hits like Hadestown and Les Misérables. She's a Lucille Lortel Award winner, Drama Desk nominee, active in film and television and is currently performing in A Little Night Music with the Denver Center for the Performing Arts.

Known as the Mental Health Comedian, Frank King, former writer for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and other celebrity comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Ellen, Rosie and Steve Harvey, brings his 37 years of industry experience and joins us from the West Coast to share the role of laughter and suicide prevention. He has also turned his own battles with depression into 11 TEDx Talks.

Many people are surprised to learn that Argentine tango has been linked to therapeutic effects on mental and physical health. See Iakof Shonsky, Argentine Tango Maestro, actor and choreographer. He’s the Founder of  the Tango Academy Batumi and Tango Academy Tbilisi, both in the country of Georgia, as well as the Founder of the New York Tango Academy. 

Other stage, film. television, and cabaret artists are: Kea Chan who has performed for international dignitaries and won multiple awards, including the Philippines’ 2022 Best Performing Artist Abroad; Marilyn Forward, actress and brain health/functional medicine coach and Founder of Helping Heal Hearts; Adam Ross Glickman, a NYC-based singer, actor, and vocal coach with national tours like The Sound of Music and Disney On Classic in Japan; the Anthony-Emma-Shiloh Lewis family, a powerhouse in arts and entertainment with all three having been on stage and television shows; Justin Senense, a proud gay Filipino American award-winning speaker, personal trainer, performer, storytelling coach, and co-founder of May I Be Kind social movement; Sal Sinatra, from finance to homelessness to writer, speaker, singer and actor with an online commercial sensation and upcoming feature films; Ronnie Tsunami, multi-talented, multi-award-winning artist including “Single of the Year” at the Hawaii Music Awards and “Top Beach Band in North America” at the Rising Star Awards, he co-wrote the musical comedy Mixed Nuts & Margaritas with Frank King, showing at the Producers Club Grand Theatre in New York City on October 11th; Lorli Villanueva is a 30+-year veteran actress, writer, director and producer in Philippine theater, TV, and film, winning Best Supporting Actress in 1972, who’s sharing the stage with The Tres Rondalistas, a Philippine string instruments musical band; and  Xiaoqing Zhang, an organizer for Tony Awards China and a musical theatre festival in Shanghai who’s also a VP of The World Chinese Culture and Arts Foundation and Artistic Director of Broadway China. 

Musical Director is Michael Lavine on the piano who’s also known as a Broadway vocal coach, collaborating with industry luminaries like Idina Menzel, Lea Michele, Sutton Foster, Matthew Morrison, and Kristin Chenoweth.

Guest speakers include mental health advocate and international speaker Dr. Marie Cosgrove, author of Greater Fortune: Essential Lessons from the Entrepreneur Who Bought the Company that Fired Her. Pro-golfer-turned-writer/actor Chris Fuller speaks of his journey in living with bipolar disorder, the difficulties he experienced competing in tournaments with a mind racing out of control, and leading up to his upcoming world premiere residency production of Cheese Fries and Chili Dips at the Seven Angels Theatre in Waterbury, CT.

The world is grappling with a mental health epidemic that affects one in eight people globally, with staggering numbers upwards of 800 million people. There has been an increase in mental health conditions across the board from our youth to older adults, in the workplace to retirees, and recent studies have shown up to 50% of the world population will experience some form of mental health disorder in their lifetime.

From advocacy to hosting and sponsoring artistic and educational events, to community engagement, building bridges to thrive, fostering connections between hearts and minds, celebrating human resiliency and empathy, the IMHF aims to bring awareness to mental health challenges and disabilities through the performing arts. Tickets start at $25 for the live in-person event, $15 for online streaming. Visit www.stepforwardformentalhealth.com . 

For more information about the International Mental Health Foundation, how to get involved, support and see other upcoming events, please visit www.intlmentalhealth.org/events or contact media@intlmentalhealth.org.