Opree variety show benefits cancer victim

The same stage that Ann Wilson helped decorate with colorful costumes will return a loving favor Saturday night when the Globe Theatre pulls out all the stops for one of its own.
Uterine cancer may have weakened the 64-year-old Odessa woman, but Wilson said she hopes to continue her long history with the theater. Meanwhile, Odessa performers are lending a hand to relieve her financial burden from recent medical bills.
Wilson, the Globe's longtime office manager and costume seamstress, had an emergency hysterectomy on Sept. 17 to remove a cancerous tumor. She doesn't have health insurance.
The Odessa Brand New Opree, normally a Country and Western, Gospel venue, will have a variety show benefit on Saturday at the Globe to help pay the bills and assist Wilson's recovery.
"I'm getting a little better every day - it was cancerous, but they think they got it all," she said. "I'm rather overwhelmed to think there's that many people who want to help me."
Wilson said she knew something wasn't right physically, but her lack of private insurance or government health care delayed diagnosis until late August. An emergency operation followed just a few weeks later.
"I've known for quite a while that something's wrong, but I was just putting it off," she said. "It kind of got to where we either pay the light bill or get insurance."
With more than 10 years of work at the Globe, Wilson said she's seen her share of acting duds and loved playing a behind-the-scenes role to the performances there.
"The festival costumes are much more complicated than the others," she said. "Somebody shows me what they want, and I figure out how to do it."
Globe Artistic Director Anthony Ridley said Wilson's history with the theater - she was there when he was hired in 2000 - has been an asset to the organization, and he hopes the benefit will help with the medical bills.
"She was kind of the glue when I got here, and still is - she was holding the place together," he said. "She's irreplaceable - we're just trying to raise as much as we can."

WHO'S PERFORMING?

>> Bruce Beaird and New Country.
>> David Corman.
>> Odessa College Choir.
>> Tracy Alexander from Midland Community Theatre.
>> LuAnne Lane.
>> Christie Kid.
>> Eli Katz.
>> Jonathon Horne.
>> Maija Johnson-Horne.
>> Cast of Permian Playhouse's ‘You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.'
>> Westminster Presbyterian Church Choir.

WANT TO HELP?
>> The Odessa Brand New Opree will have a variety show benefit for Office Manager Ann Wilson at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Globe Theatre, 2308 Shakespeare Road.
>> Intermission will include an ice cream social.
>> Ann Wilson had surgery on Sept. 17 to remove a cancerous tumor, and the bills are piling up without health insurance.
>> Donations will be accepted as admission.
>> Call 580-3177 or 332-1586.

ON THE NET:
>> The Globe Theatre of the Great Southwest: www.globesw.org