update August 7, 2025:

Hello!!

Let us introduce ourselves, we are Sharmila Mali and David Ker Schermerhorn, or from the storytelling world, Michael David Ker. And we founded our new non-profit, Shine A Light Theatre, Inc. We initially ran this fundraiser during our wedding earlier this year. We asked our friends and family to donate to produce our plays, The Seatbelt and Call My Son as wedding gift, instead of a registry or funding a honeymoon.

We're still fundraising to keep the show going. The funds will go toward expanding our budget and to be able to perform this in high schools in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles Counties. Our budget is for cast, crew, transportation, per diems, set building, set transporting, food for cast and crew, even, paying the producers (us), marketing, advertising, theater rentals, graphic designers, website programmer, subscriptions for website, etc, etc, etc. If you would like to see our complete budget, we're more than happy to put that on our website.

Please read below, we didn't want to delete to keep transparency about our wedding fundraiser.

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Thank you for coming to our wedding! We're so excited to be with everyone again!

In lieu of gifts, YOU all being there on our special day is gift enough, but if you want to give us something for the wedding, this is it.

We have a nonprofit 501(c)(3) we just started called Shine-A-Light Theatre. Our mission is to harness the power of live theater to "shine a light" on two important subjects that are close to our hearts, 1) suicide prevention & intervention & 2) family members who are living with a loved one who has Alzheimer's.

We believe that theater can ignite healing conversations that can bring awareness to unexpressed emotions and feelings.

Our first production is called "The Seatbelt", written by David. This one-act is set in Ventura, about a teenager struggling with suicidal ideation. The play has a hopeful message in the end, but is designed to open up a healthy conversation about suicide intervention/prevention.

"The Seatbelt" debuted at a theater in Rosarito Beach, Mexico in 2023 for the expat community to a roaring success.

Our plan is to have this play performed in local high schools. The play is 40 minutes and after, we'll have a licensed mental health professional to facilitate a talk-back/Q&A with the audience, discussing mental health awareness and suicide intervention/prevention. Eventually, we will expand the program to have it performed at assemblies in high schools all over the U.S.

We feel that shining a light on this issue in a safe space can open up a healthy dialog about this subject & help teens struggling with depression. There will also be information shared about local mental health resources.

We are going to put up the play in mid-August as part of a fundraiser for Shine-A-Light Theater. We will be doing it at the Art Center Theater, right where we're getting married!

So if you are asking what to give us for our wedding, we would love for you to give a donation for something meaningful and worthwhile to us, and to our community.

This money will go to paying a modest honorarium to cast and crew, plus theater rentals, marketing materials, ads, and expenses that come with putting up a play.

And no amount is too big or too small!

For more about our program, here's the link:
https://shinealighttheater.com/

Can't wait to you see all on the big day!

Lots of Love,
Sharmila & David

Hope & Courage: The Seatbelt and Call My Son with Storytelling

Please donate to our new non-profit: Shine A Light Theatre, Inc