Listening Post - Kansas City Jewish Chronicle

Ursula Terrasi (from left), Sharon Hoffman and Sandy Geduldig are three of the people involved in next month’s 80th anniversary celebration of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri.

HOFFMAN TO BE HONORED BY PLANNED PARENTHOOD — Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri will celebrate its 80th anniversary on Oct. 16 at “THE event,” to be held at Pennway Place at Studio Dan Meiners. Co-chairs of “THE event” are Sharon Hoffman, Kristin Amend, Sandy Geduldig and Ursula Terrasi. During the evening, Lizz Winstead, co-creator of “The Daily Show, will share special remarks. With a nod to its founding in 1935, entertainment will be provided by The Count Swingin’ Orchestra, featuring Count Basie Orchestra guitarist Will Matthews and Basie Band vocalist Chris Murrell. Sharon Hoffman will receive the PPKM Champion Award and Harry S. Jonas, M.D. will receive The Suzanne E. Allen Lifetime Achievement Award. To be a part of “THE event,” visit http://theevent.ppkm.org/.

This summer Samantha Ball (center) interned at Komen Kansas City. With her is her mother, Debbie Ball (left), member care coordinator at the Jewish Community Center and Executive Director of Komen Kansas City Carli Good. Debbi Ball has been a breast cancer survivor since 2007 and this was the eighth year she participated in the Race for the Cure held earlier this month at Worlds of Fun. ‘I have been supported by my family, friends and co-workers in my fundraising efforts so much that I have been on the Pink Honor Roll each year, which are the top fundraisers in the Kansas City area. But more help is always needed,’ Debbie Ball said. One in eight women will be affected by breast cancer in their lifetime and Jewish women of Ashkenazi descent have a higher incidence of an occurrence than the general population. Donations are still being accepted. To make a donation to Ball’s teams, visit http://kansascity.info-komen.org/goto/Debbie_Ball.

QUALITY HILL TO FEATURE JEWISH COMPOSERS — Quality Hill Playhouse opens its 21st Season on Oct. 2 with “TIN PAN ALLEY,” an intimate cabaret revue celebrating the first 50 years of American popular music.

This original production, conceived and arranged by Producing Artistic Director J. Kent Barnhart, is a salute to America’s popular music composers who promoted their sheet music by way of “song pluggers” in New York City’s Tin Pan Alley. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}During the first half of the 20th century, this famed block of West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue was home to the music of ragtime composers such as Scott Joplin and Irving Berlin, blues and jazz composers the likes of Harold Arlen and George Gershwin, and film score composers like Johnny Mercer. Berlin, Gershwin and Arlen are Jewish.

“TIN PAN ALLEY” runs through Nov. 1 at Quality Hill Playhouse, 303 W. 10th Street, Kansas City, MO. For tickets, call 816-421-1700.{/mprestriction}