Sloan Kettering's Visible Ink Program Hosts 11th Annual Visible Ink Live Performance

Last night, The Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Visible Ink program presented their 11th annual live performance, which featured award-winning actors such as David Hyde Pierce, a Four-time Emmy (Frasier) and Tony Award-winner (Curtains); Debra Monk, winner of the Tony Award for Redwood Curtain and an Emmy Award-winner for NYPD Blue; and Marc delaCruz - currently in the Broadway company of Hamilton and the first Asian-American actor to play Hamilton on Broadway.

Visible Ink is a writing program that offers Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center patients the opportunity to express themselves in varying forms of writing- from essays and memoirs, to poetry and screenplays. Each year, Visible Ink publishes an anthology of patient's works and then produces a live performance of select pieces.

"Visible Ink's mission is to promote creativity, stress reduction, and personal empowerment for people diagnosed with cancer," said Judith Kelman, Visible Ink Founder and Executive Director. "It is always incredible to see patient's works come to life on stage and have a strong impact on the community."

The 11th annual performance featured a powerful piece written by Shirley Reese, a patient at the Queens County Cancer Center. The performance also included a tribute to Marin Mazzie - an MSK patient and Broadway legend whose last stage appearance was in Visible Ink's 10th anniversary performance last April. The tribute was written by MSK Patient Catherine Porter - Marin's standby in Next to Normal .

A highlight of the 11th annual Visible Ink live performance was This is Why We're in Business, which chronicles Steven Kerner's experiences with Via, the rideshare service he took to and from MSK for the 78 days when his wife was hospitalized with terminal cancer. Having been a loyal Via customer, he wrote a heartfelt letter in response to a survey he received from Via about his experience. Shortly after he responded to the survey, the general manager contacted him directly and he received a gift of flowers, Via baseball caps and t-shirts, and a card signed by 20 members of the Via team's office. Two years later, in a twist of fate, he ended up in a Via car sitting next to the same General Manager who had responded to his initial letter. The GM reported that he now starts all off-site meetings by reading this grateful client's letter and telling his staff, "This is why we're in business." Omer Granot, Via's General Manager, attended the performance.

"When I received the letter and gifts from the Via team, I was moved to tears" said Steven Kerner. "Their kindness was a huge inspiration for my work and I am incredibly honored to have had Omer in attendance."

Since its inception in 2008, over 2,200 patients have enrolled in the Visible Ink program and they have produced more than 65,000 pages of written work, including essays, memoirs, fiction, podcasts, poetry, plays, personal journals, letters, lyrics, and blogs. The patients receive one-on-one support from a professional writer. The 200+ volunteer mentors include Tony and Emmy Award-winning writers & composers; NY Times bestselling authors; and editors and writers from Vogue, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Time, Cosmopolitan, Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone and US Weekly.

Over the past year, Visible Ink has piloted a program for patients in the public hospitals, funded by the Mayor's Office for Media and Entertainment (MOME) and H+H (the Health plus Hospitals Corporation). The success of the pilot at Queens County Cancer Center (QCCC) led to Visible Ink's further expansion to Kings County Hospital Center in Brooklyn and Coler Hospital on Roosevelt Island, with the goal of serving all sixteen city hospitals.

For more information on the Visible Ink program please visit: www.visibleinkmskcc.org.