Photo Coverage: Chenoweth, Finneran, Hayes, Morrison & More at CANY Gala

Tony Award-Winner Dick Latessa, and Chairman of the Board, brought together Broadway stars to help raise funds for Creative Alternatives of New York (CANY) which uses theatre to help New York's most vulnerable children and adults. This year's annual gala, Broadway at the Boathouse...Encore, was held at the Loeb Central Park Boathouse yesterday evening, May 17, 2010. The honoree was Dr. Sandra Bloom, creator of the Sanctuary Model® of trauma informed care and the Co-Director of the Center for Non-Violence & Social Justice at Drexel University.

Festivities began at 6:30 p.m. with cocktails, buffet dinner, silent auction, and gondola boat rides. The program included musical performances by Kristin Chenoweth and Sean Hayes, Katie Finneran and Cady Huffman. Special guest Matthew Morrison also joined the festivities.

For over 25 years, Creative Alternatives of New York (CANY) has been helping children and adults across the New York Metropolitan area whose lives have been fragmented by trauma and mental health challenges by using the art of theatre as a therapeutic tool - helping them to imagine and envision new possibilities and discover their potential for change. Working in partnership with leading social service organizations and health care institutions, CANY provides approximately 1,400 therapeutic theater groups annually in residential centers for children, special schools, psychiatric care facilities, domestic violence safe shelters and community centers serving at risk youth.

"As an artist, I strongly believe that theater can change lives," said Academy Award-winner and CANY Board Member Susan Sarandon. "At CANY this is being proven on a daily basis."

Photo Credit: Monica Simoes