Shaye Eller is organizing a benefit show in memory of two former Vancouver residents who died in November after being swept off a jetty in Newport, Ore.
“Wish You Were Here: A Tribute to Mike and Katie Myers” will take place at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26-27 and 2 p.m. Aug. 27 at Magenta Theater, 606 Main St. Funds raised from $10 ticket sales will go to the Magenta Theater Academy and to the Mike and Katie Myers Youth Ed Scholarship Fund, established in their names by ComedySportz-Portland.
Mike Myers, who grew up in east Vancouver and graduated from Camas High School, performed with ComedySportz. Katie Myers worked as the troupe’s youth education coordinator. They lived in Washougal at one point but resided in Portland at the time of their deaths. Eller, a Portland resident, grew up in Camas and attended high school with Mike.
Eller and Katie met when the two starred in “Everybody Loves Opal,” the only show put on by short-lived Camas-Washougal area Grassy Knoll Productions, founded in 1997.
Grassy Knoll shuttered before they could perform “My Cup Ranneth Over,” as hoped. That one-act play will be the first half of “Wish You Were Here.” Eller will play Paula, a struggling writer. Vancouver’s Lynn Greene will play Paula’s folk-singer roommate — the role Katie Myers would have played had she been able to stage the show. The second act of the tribute show will feature a ComedySportz performance.
Eller, 32, hopes the benefit brings closure to the Myerses’ friends and also supports the performing arts — a passion of couple’s.
High school swimmer organizes fundraiser
Ariana Hoyer has felt the devastation from a lost battle with cancer on far too many occasions.
The 17-year-old Felida resident, who will be a senior at Columbia River High School this year, lost two grandparents and an aunt from the disease. It also killed the mother of one of her closest friends, she said. Rather than giving in to despair, she and four friends have decided to fight the disease their own way — by organizing a fundraiser for the American Association for Cancer Research.
“I’ve seen lots of people go through the treatments and through the pain that happens when they’ve lost somebody,” Hoyer said. “I wanted to do something.”
The event will be an open swim meet, with races and prizes, held at the Fisher’s Landing Cascade Athletic Club’s indoor pool from 9 a.m. to noon Aug. 27.
“I’m a swimmer, so that’s kind of why we picked a swimming thing,” she added.
The young coordinators have been talking to corporate sponsors to provide prizes and donations at the event, called Swim For Hope. Those who want to compete can pay $10 to swim in four events. They’ll get a raffle ticket for other prizes, and can buy more tickets for $1 each.
Visitors who don’t want to swim are also welcome to buy raffle tickets. More information is at Hoyer’s event blog, Swim for Hope.
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