PORT ANGELES — Dave Razowsky, Chicago-bred comic, has clearly identified his task in Port Angeles on May 3.
Razowsky, guest speaker at Peninsula Behavioral Health’s annual benefit, wants to help people forget the past and future — and drop into the moment. Laughing.
“Who doesn’t want to laugh at the end of a long work week?” asked Razowsky, who travels the world teaching improv comedy.
The dinner and program featuring Razowsky and mistress of ceremonies Laura O’Neal, a local comedian, will start at 5 p.m. May 3 at the Port Angeles CrabHouse Restaurant, 221 N. Lincoln St.
Tickets are $75, with proceeds to benefit Peninsula Behavioral Health, Clallam County’s provider of mental health services. Only a handful of tickets to the benefit are left.
Improvisation healthy
Being in the moment, improvising, working with one’s neighbors: that’s mental health, Razowsky quipped in an interview from San Francisco, where he was teaching an improv seminar.
When pressed for clues about his program, Razowsky grew cagey. This is improv, after all, and he comes from the Second City Training Centers in Chicago and Los Angeles, where he worked with Steve Carell, Amy Sedaris and Stephen Colbert.
“I don’t think too much about what it’s going to be,” he said.
“We’re really working without a net.”
He finds improvising with people “a tremendous amount of fun,” mind you.
This is the third annual benefit for Peninsula Behavioral Health, formerly known as the Peninsula Community Mental Health Center.
The May 3 dinner, supported by a $10,000 donation from First Federal with additional sponsorship by Port Angeles Hardwood, Moss Adams, Carol and Jack Barnes and Green Crow, is just one piece of the fundraising puzzle.
Peninsula Behavioral Health has set a goal of raising $35,000, said development coordinator Rebekah Miller, to be earmarked for “an all-too-familiar challenge: providing services for underinsured and unfunded clients.”
The 42-year-old agency serves a client base of 3,400 adults and children, noted Miller.
To make reservations for the May 3 event, phone Peninsula Behavioral Health at 360-457-0431, visit the main office at 118 E. Eighth St. or visit www.PeninsulaBehavioral.org.
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Features Editor Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5062, or at diane.urbani@peninsuladailynews.com.
