Home > Out of the Cage! > April 2005 > Featured Fundraiser: Off-Broadway-Bound Heartworm Supports Picasso Veterinary Fund

Featured Fundraiser

Off-Broadway-Bound Heartworm Supports Picasso Veterinary Fund

The producers of Heartworm, a new romantic comedy scheduled to open Off-Broadway in June 2006, have teamed up with the Picasso Veterinary Fund through the Mayor's Alliance to help two worthy causes — the animals and the arts.

The animals benefiting from the collaboration are special little New Yorkers — cats and dogs who are taken in by NYC's Animal Care & Control and require medical attention after they are transferred to one of the Alliance Participating Organizations. The fund pays for the necessary medical care and gives each of these animals a second chance for a good life with an adoptive family.

To set more of those good lives in motion, Heartworm's producers have created a national fund-raising campaign — the I My Dog Contest. The contest will run through October 15, 2005, and culminate in the selection of a dog who will become the Heartworm Mascot. To enter, contestants are asked to submit a photo of their pooch, along with a tip their dog has taught them. The cost of entry is $20, and $10 for each additional entry.

The winner, selected by the director and producers of Heartworm, will receive unusual theater-related prizes along with cash and doggie-goodies. Every two months leading up to the winner selection, twenty Top Dogs' photos will be selected by a national panel of veterinary staff and posted on Heartworm's web site. The winner will be selected from among those photos.

In addition to entering the I My Dog Contest, the public is invited to donate to the production of this delightful new play. To entice web site visitors to donate, Heartworm Productions offers an exciting donation program that provides donors an array of doggone fun acknowledgements  — from having your name listed in the Playbill to appearing for one night only on-stage with the play's cast. Heartworm Productions is donating 10% of contest entry fees and also 10% of all donations received throughout the run of the contest to the Picasso Veterinary Fund.

"For the past decade the Mission of Actors Loft Theatre Co. has been to link our plays to various charities," says Maggie Maes, Artistic Director of Actors Loft and Executive Producer of Heartworm. "Our connection with the Picasso Veterinary Fund has added a higher purpose to this production."

To learn more about the play, the contest, and the donation campaign, please visit www.heartworm-play.com.