Raising Funds and Spirits Through Theater: The Story of Boston's Voices of Hope

In the world of theater, the power of storytelling goes far beyond the stage: it unites, heals, and inspires. Voices of Hope Boston is a shining example of this, transforming performances into a force for good in the fight against cancer.

Founded by Greg Chastain in 2009, the organization has grown from presenting single-night benefits into a thriving community of artists dedicated to raising funds for cancer research. Their impact is measured not only in dollars, but also in the lives they’ve touched through music, support, and unwavering compassion.

Now, as Voices of Hope revisits Jesus Christ Superstar — the show that marked their transition from concerts to full productions — Broadway’s Allison Case (Hair) joins the company as Mary, bringing her talent and personal connection to the cause.

In this conversation, Chastain and Case reflect on the heart of the organization, the strength of community, and the show itself, which will take place on March 27 and 28 at Bill Hanney’s North Shore Music Theatre.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Greg, tell me the origin story of Voices of Hope Boston.
In 2009, I was in Aida at Arlington Friends of the Drama. My mom wasn’t well, but she was like, “Go do the show.” Halfway through, she got worse, and I had to drop out. I went home, stayed with her until she passed away, had the funeral, and then I came back, and they forced me to be in the last weekend of the show. They restructured the choreography so I could fit back in and didn’t have to learn anything advanced. During that week, everyone consoled me and told me their stories about siblings or parents or friends who had passed away from cancer.

At the time, I was working in finance, and my firm gave money to Dana-Farber. I wanted to do something like that, too. I got 20 friends together and we did a one-night show to give back to the doctors and researchers and the people who stayed with my mom and tried to save her. We raised $17,000 in a little 75-seat theater. It was truly supposed to be a one-night thing, and here we are 16 years later. We just sort of blossomed from there.

We grew from 20 people to 250. At any one time, we have over 100 active members working on shows, and not just on stage. We have lighting people, sound people, people building our sets. And the most humbling thing is that everybody volunteers. Hundreds of hours a year these people put in. Even the orchestra members donate their time, which is unheard of in the community theater world. And after we pay our expenses, every dollar goes to cancer research at Mass General.

We’ve been working with Mass General for so long that we were able to start a ride share program for people who can’t afford to drive or pay or get parking. We also have a research grant program for nurses. We just bought chairs for the waiting room for families. We go there at Christmastime and carol through the hallways. We try to do as much as we can.

At what point did it blossom from concerts to full productions?
At some point, someone said, “Why don’t we do a musical?” We all do musicals, anyway, working in community theaters. Someone knew [general manager] Karen Nascembeni at North Shore Music Theater, and they said they’d host us. We did our first show in 2013, which was Jesus Christ Superstar, and now we’re doing it again as a sort of retrospective. We just donated our millionth dollar, and we’re starting over for our next million, so we decided to go back to our roots.

What does it mean to you to be at this point?
It means a lot. The millionth dollar was incredible. We should have been there two years ago, but Covid hit us really hard. But it means that people enjoy what we do. They keep coming to the shows, and they keep dedicating their time to increasing those dollars. Some people ride bikes, some people run marathons, and most of us can’t do that. So this is our way. It also means we have sponsors who believe in us. We have grant writers that helped me write grants. It is the cumulative effort of everybody’s blood, sweat, and tears over the last 16 years to get there. And it was a very proud moment when we were able to do it.

Allison, how did you get involved?
A friend of mine who is a musical director with Voices of Hope introduced me to them in time for their fall gala. They were doing a tribute to Gavin Creel, so she said “If you’re around and you want to come sing…” We did a Hair medley, and it was a little bit overwhelming. It was before his memorial, and I haven’t sung those songs in a while. I walked into rehearsal one day and everybody was ready to sing those songs, bless them. I just kept crying. They’re the most open, kind-hearted humans. So that was my first introduction to Voices of Hope. And then I saw that they were doing Jesus Christ Superstar and I was like “You know what?” I would love to be involved.” I auditioned and Equity gave me clearance to do it.

Honestly, I just feel so thankful to be in this community and to have this family. In the past year, my sister-in-law and father-in-law got diagnosed with cancer a month a part, and then it was Gavin. Everybody has their story, and it goes on and on and on. But I really think that there is strength and power and love in community and putting them together is just wonderful.

The unexpected part for me is that I forgot what it was like to be in a room of theater people. It’s a joy to be at play practice and sing these songs with a new community of friends that I’ve made.

It’s all about community.
Greg: That’s what we are at the core. We’re a community of people who belong to a club we never wanted to belong to. We grieve together, we laugh, we cry, we eat snacks.

Allison: And everybody is there singing for someone. In this weird way, it’s almost like there’s an unseen cast with us, which adds to the depth of the whole thing.

Greg: There’s always somebody we’re singing for. We have a couple of cast members going through some hard times, and we always make sure we recognize when things get stressful. And anybody’s welcome who’s there for the mission. We have generations of families in our group. You don’t have to be able to sing or dance; you just want to be there and be part of it.

Click here to purchase tickets for Jesus Christ Superstar.