Only Make Believe Brings Real Joy to Chronically Ill Kids

Founded in 1999, Only Make Believe is a non-profit organization that organizes and performs interactive theatre for chronically ill children in hospitals and care facilities. Currently bringing joy and inspiration throughout New York City, Only Make Believe plans to reach as many kids as possible by eventually expanding across the United States and around the world. Only Make Believe began as a project of The James and Dena Hammerstein Foundation, with its first event taking place at Rusk Institute's Pediatric Unit, NYU Langone Medical Center. Dena started Only Make Believe in memory of her husband James, theatre director and producer and son of renowned librettist Oscar Hammerstein II.

Believing that freeing a child's imagination played an integral role in the healing process, Dena decided to bring the magical world of theatre to kids living with chronic illnesses and disabilities, as having them travel to the theatre would be too overwhelming for many of them.



What makes Only Make Believe different from other charities that perform at hospitals and care facilities is its six-week interactive program. Performances are conducted once a week for six weeks, allowing the actors and children to bond and get to know each other. And because the kids get to participate in the show, they're engaged, inspired, and empowered. At present, Only Make Believe has eight scripts, with two more in the works.

During its first year, Only Make Believe served only one hospital and reached 132 children. Since then, the organization has visited about 50 hospitals and performed with more than 25,000 kids in the NYC metropolitan area. In March of 2011, Only Make Believe conducted a trial in Washington, DC. The trial was a success, leading the non-profit to recently start performing at Children's National Medical Center, The Children's Inn at NIH, and the Psychiatric Institute of Washington.