Short Summary
In August of 2019, Shana Pennington-Baird found herself in Dingle, Ireland, traveling alone, when she had a major health emergency. During the course of this one-hour musical show, Shana will take you on a journey of aortic dissection diagnosis, emergency open-heart surgery, recovery and recuperation 5,000 miles from home. Broken Wide Open is a story about survival and resilience. A type-A aortic dissection, which is what Shana suffered, is where the aorta tears, causing immediate internal bleeding. This is a highly dangerous condition and incredibly life threatening. Recently the Netflix movie Tik, Tik Boom highlighted the aortic dissection death of Jonathan Larson. John Ritter, the actor from Three’s Company, died of aortic dissection. While rare, aortic dissection is often fatal and happy stories are few and far between. The main cause for fatalities is misdiagnosis. In Broken Wide Open, the quick diagnosis of this rare condition 5,000 miles from home saved Shana’s life.
The artistic team for this project include: Shana Pennington-Baird (performer/playwright) who has been working in the Pacific Northwest theatre scene for twenty-seven years. Shana’s performance credits include work at the Bathhouse Theatre under Arne Zaslove, 10-years with Cabaret Productions, the 5th Ave Musical Theatre, Oregon Cabaret, Seattle Shakespeare Company, Civic Light Opera, Okoboji Summer Theatre, and Book-It Repertory.
David Hunter Koch (director) who began his performing career as a singer, musician and bandleader, performing in various ensembles throughout the West coast and Canada and as an opening act for comedian Steve Martin, the Dave Brubeck Quartet and jazz legend, Jon Hendricks. David ran the Crepe du Paris and Cabaret Productions for 15 years.
Robertson Witmer (sound design, music composition, concertina, accordion) who is a musician, composer, and sound designer from Seattle, Washington. Theatrical credits include Dracula, Romeo + Juliet (ACT); Black Beauty, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, (Seattle Children’s Theatre); Tosca (filmed production, Seattle Opera); Comedy of Errors, Bring Down the House (Seattle Shakespeare Company).
Dave Pascal (bass, audio drama mastering) who plays bass with The Love Markets, Carrie Clark and the Lonesome Lovers, Show Brazil, and The Jazz Police. Dave has many album credits as a producer and engineer, and his work as a composer, producer, sound designer, and music director includes Emmy-winning TV projects, award-winning educational multimedia, and theatrical productions in Seattle and around the country.
Other musicians include: Jeff Caldwell-piano, Greg Fulton-guitar, Brandon Vance-fiddle and Chris Monroe-drums
Broken Wide Open will provide entertainment, awareness and artistic expression to a topic rarely discussed. This story and the music are healing – for everyone who has had to find a way home.
What We Need & What You Get
We need funding to complete and produce the audio drama, mount a live production in Seattle and tour the show to the Edinburgh Fringe Fest and Cork, Ireland. We have secured $12K in private funding and we still need all the help with can get! We need to pay venue/staffing costs, creative production costs (director, music director, charts, sound design, mixing) and there are SIX incredibly talented musicians who are part of the show with Shana.
Audio Drama: $25,000
Live Seattle Production: $18,000
Edinburgh Tour: $30,000
Don't worry -- we don't anticipate raising all of it through crowd-funding. We are approaching major donors, foundations and grants through a fiscal sponsorship partnership with Shunpike. If you wish to be a major donor or know others who have the ability to do so, please have them contact Shana directly: shana@shanapenningtonbaird.com.
Donor Perks:
$25- free electronic copy of Broken Wide Open audio drama
$75 - everything above and... physical CD of Broken Wide Open, plus digital downloads of all music at CD quality
$100 - everything above and...5 free copies of audio drama provided to Aortic Hope/Mended Hearts to help raise money for aortic disease awareness
$500 - everything above and....Broken Wide Open Ireland Basket (filled with all kinds of goodies from Dingle, Cork and more)
Major donors - $1000 or more.... private events (Seattle and online), access to musicians and early release of the show CD.
The Impact
Broken Wide Open is a story about survival and resilience. The artistic team feels it’s important to tell a hopeful aortic dissection story. A type-A aortic dissection, which is what Shana suffered, is where the aorta tears, causing immediate internal bleeding. This is a highly dangerous condition and incredibly life threatening. Recently the Netflix movie Tik, Tik Boom highlighted the aortic dissection death of Jonathan Larson. John Ritter, the actor from Three’s Company, died of aortic dissection. While rare, aortic dissection is often fatal and happy stories are few and far between. We tend to hear about the deaths. The main cause for fatalities is misdiagnosis. In Broken Wide Open, the quick diagnosis of this rare condition 5,000 miles from home saved a life.
This show serves to remind all of us to go to the doctor if we feel something is off. It helps to remind medical professionals to perform a CAT scan of the aorta when there is fluid around the heart. Awareness saves lives. In addition, when there are survivors, often they are disabled and feel apart from society. Broken Wide Open, written and performed by a dissection survivor, shares hope to all survivors after major heart surgery. It adds humor and provides deep empathy to anyone facing a life-changing diagnosis. It tells the story from her point of view and from her family’s point of view, including her eight-year old daughter who was 5,000 miles away from her mom while all of this was happening.
Risks & Challenges
Theatre is never easy, in the best of times. But Shana knew this was a story worth telling. (Many ER nurses/doctors asked if these stories were being written down! She workshopped most of the material in various ERs once she got back from Ireland). Shana has a background in fundraising and development for the arts and environment. That said, she is now a survivor of an aortic dissection and there are limits in what she can do each and every day. Her mechanical aortic valve is a great work horse and beats away at -57dB all day and night.
Due to her situation, the performance schedule will be carefully scheduled so that rest, blood pressure and heart rates are well within her cardiologist's recommendations.
Any donations will definitely serve to keep her heart rate down! So thank you in advance for that!!
Other Ways You Can Help
Get the word out about Aortic Disease! Here are great non-profits -- help amplify their messages!
https://www.aortichope.org
https://www.heart.org
Get out there and cycle, run, walk for healthy hearts.
Thank you so much!
