Alumni use stage, voices to #giveback to abuse survivors

Musical theatre alumna Jessica Ryan (‘03) has a message to spread: Each year one in six people in the U.S. will be victims of violent crimes.

Broadway Unlocked helps fund survivor support programs

Armed with this message, Ryan founded Broadway Unlocked and its annual #GiveBack Concert to raise money for survivor support organizations like the Crime Victims Treatment Center of New York.

Ryan was inspired to start Broadway Unlocked because she has several friends who are survivors of childhood abuse, including alumni Avery Ragsdale and Antuan Raimone, who were treated at CVTC.

CVTC provides free treatment, therapy and services to survivors of violent crime. Their clients are typically survivors of rape, domestic violence and childhood sexual abuse.

BroadwayUnlocked-blog — Several MSU alumni participated in this year’s #GiveBack Concert. (Front row, from left: Jermaine Blackwell, Mattie Jo Cowsert, Carl Glenn, Avery Ragsdale, John Sims and Jessica Ryan; Back row, from left: Nathan Tysen, Alana St. John, Kyle O’Brien, Kayleigh Greenwood, Tyler Whiteman, Carly Schneider, Sarah McGowan and Elsa Scott)

#GiveBack concert raises $50,000

The #GiveBack Concert is an interactive concert live-streamed on YouTube, featuring a star-studded list of performers, writers, digital creators and volunteers — including more than a dozen MSU and Tent Theatre alumni.

By Feb. 23, the group had raised more than $50,000 to be donated to CVTC and Kansas City’s Metropolitan Organization to Counter Sexual Assault. Ryan said the funds were mostly made up of small donations from people on the Internet from around the world.

Broadway Unlocked will continue to fundraise online throughout the year. To donate, subscribe to the group’s YouTube page and click on the “donate” card on their videos.