Ellyn Getz '13, vice president of musical theater club Tympanium Euphorium, is the organizer for Brandeis Cares, a charitable event that is being co-sponsored this year by the Brandeis Pluralism Alliance. The evening will consist of musical numbers, improvisational acts, a raffle and a silent auction. Held in Sherman Function Hall on Thursday, March 15 at 7 p.m., three-quarter seating will allow for an intimate experience. Read on to find out more about the cause and the exciting acts to come.

JustArts: How did Brandeis Cares get started?

Ellyn Getz: I know it's a very new program. ... It's only been around for four or five years at Brandeis. Broadway Cares, however, has been around for a long time and they have an educational outreach initiative to try to get college campuses, middle schools [and] high schools involved with holding these benefit concerts or gala functions at the schools and Brandeis has taken it under its wing and feels that in true form with the idea of social justice and with the idea of how important it is to have a community-building event, this is definitely one of those uniting events.

JA: Why are you so passionate about this event?

EG: I'm obsessed with Broadway and I would love to go into the Broadway world, whether it's having the honor of performing, whether it's working for a theater company within Broadway. I've always been obsessed by Broadway. So when I found out about this Broadway revue, it was very similar to cabarets that I helped put together in high school, and so my freshman year ... I did "Cell Block Tango," and seeing my friend Julie Stein '11 who put it together two years ago do it, I was thinking, "Oh my gosh, this is something I really want to do, too." ... [Later] we did Rent here and I played Mimi. And I'm a method actress, which means that when I pick up a role I really research different things that they go through. ... And Mimi dealt with AIDS. So don't worry, I did not pick up any virus, but I did a lot of research and spoke with people who have personally been affected by it and I learned that there are people in our community whose parents passed away from AIDS and who have had to deal with it and so ... the more research I did, the more passionate I became about the cause.

JA: Can you talk a bit more about Broadway Cares?

EG: The organization itself really helps to spread awareness, obviously .... and to raise money to find medications, but what's interesting about it too is that a lot of money that's raised also goes to specific people that are dealing with AIDS to help with the hospital bills, ... and a lot of actors on Broadway are affected by the virus so it's definitely very ... involved with the Broadway world.

JA: How does Brandeis Cares raise money?

EG: It is through ticket sales. Our admission is $3 in advance and $5 at the door. But we also have a silent auction and a raffle so all that money goes directly to Broadway Cares. We have a lot of really fun silent auction items, Broadway items; ... Culinary Arts club, Relay for Life ... they're all providing baskets to support the cause. We have Alumni Relations that's putting together a basket of some fun Brandeis paraphernalia. We also have for the raffle ... four Fresh City [restaurant] gift certificates ... and we have a bunch of other fun gift certificates, signed posters. ... You can buy raffle tickets when we're tabling in Usdan 11 to 2 Monday through Thursday, but you can also buy them [the night of the show]. I do plan to continue raising money and speaking to clubs who are putting on shows in the Undergraduate Theater Collective.

JA: What are some of the acts that people can look forward to?

EG: As a whole, all of the acts are really cool especially because we didn't want to do just singing acts. We have a bunch of different improvisational actors performing, we have Top Score performing. ... We have a cappella groups performing. I wanted to switch it up and include people that might not be as experienced in theater here at Brandeis and give people an opportunity to perform, so I think one of those numbers ... is In the Heights and that's a medley ... I know Usman [Hameedi '12] from [the Brandeis Open Mic Series] slam poetry has one of the roles and Kaos Kids are performing as the back-up dancers. Just seeing it as a collaboration and seeing it come together has been so exciting. And [to see] people who are in totally different circles bond over this act in particular has been really inspirational. I know that I personally have made so many new friends just by working on this number because I'm also involved. "Time Warp" [from Rocky Horror Picture Show] is going to be performed. We have the many of the Rent cast coming back to perform "Seasons of Love" and Top Score is playing some awesome medleys.