‘The Boys Next Door,’ a New Beginnings Fundraising Production

New Beginnings nonprofit provides integral services to county residents in need of housing and mental health services. The organization runs programs that offer accessible, affordable counseling; support for veterans; safe parking lots for those sleeping in their cars overnight; and rapid rehousing assistance for people and families experiencing sudden homelessness. Mental health and housing have both become massive crises in our community and beyond, and New Beginnings is focusing its efforts on keeping Santa Barbara County’s most vulnerable citizens enfranchised.

As a nonprofit, the financial engine of New Beginnings thrives on contributions from generous community members who believe in the organization’s work. Sponsorship opportunities are currently available to support the New Beginnings annual fundraiser, a theatrical presentation illustrating the organization’s mission, happening this year on November 2. This year’s production is Tom Griffin’s The Boys Next Door, a play about four men in a group home who live with various developmental disabilities and mental health struggles.

Director Jenny Sullivan suggested this dramatic work to highlight New Beginnings’ focus on permanent supportive housing and mental health services. 

“The thing we realize,” says Sullivan, “is that if we present it in a theatrical form, that gets the conversation going about the issue, and it’s much more impactful. It gives New Beginnings an opportunity to talk about how they are approaching this issue.” 

Dramaturg Rod Lathim (who has also directed the show in the past) describes the play as “shedding light on the inner world of people with disabilities who need housing, who need structure, who need social and mental health support. It’s totally in line with what New Beginnings does.”

Linnea Haskett, Community Engagement and Development Manager at New Beginnings, calls the play a poignant exploration of the complexities of these issues. “New Beginnings staff collaborates closely with the Housing Authority and the City of Santa Barbara to support two different Permanent Supportive Housing programs,” she says. “One … provides housing for veterans who have experienced homelessness, while the other serves low-income seniors and individuals with disabilities, many of whom have also faced homelessness.”

The Boys Next Door, however, is more than a conversation piece — it’s also an entertaining journey through the comic mayhem of communal living. “The way Griffin constructed the script — in some scenes, the timing is a roller coaster! You have four or five people coming from four or five angles, converging into this firework show,” says Lathim. “The humor and rawness and reality of the characters is what grabs me. It is ultimately a beautiful story about the simple needs of love, acceptance, having hopes and dreams, and surviving in a world that is not really designed to make life easy for a person living with a disability.”

You can also support New Beginnings and their mission beyond the annual fundraiser. For instance, says Haskett, community members can be hugely impactful by connecting New Beginnings with potential available parking lots they can add to the Safe Parking Program; or connecting them with landlords interested in being a part of the Rapid Rehousing Program.

Also crucial, says Haskett, is continuing to dismantle the stigma surrounding mental health and homelessness. “We need to foster understanding that homelessness can affect anyone, including individuals who may hold one or two full-time jobs,” she says. “The ongoing housing crisis in Santa Barbara significantly contributes to the increasing number of individuals, families, and seniors facing eviction and living on the streets — many for the first time.”

As for mental health services, anyone who has tried to find a therapist lately understands how backlogged the system is — and that’s if you have insurance or can pay exorbitant out-of-pocket fees. New Beginnings is picking up some of that slack with their affordable counseling services, which Haskett calls a vital resource for Santa Barbara County. “In recent years, we’ve seen a significant increase in mental-health needs and requests for our low-cost/no-cost services. Many clients are now engaging in services for extended periods, often due to higher acuity levels following the pandemic. This underscores the growing demand for accessible mental health support in our community, and New Beginnings continues to serve as a critical safety net.

“Addressing mental health issues and homelessness is possible, but it requires a collective effort,” says Haskett. “Together, we can make Santa Barbara a better place for everyone.”

Support New Beginnings by attending The Boys Next Door. Individual tickets and sponsorship opportunities are still available for the fundraiser and the production — visit the New Beginnings website to get involved. The Boys Next Door runs on November 2, at 7 p.m. at the New Vic (33 W. Victoria St.). For tickets, see store.ensembletheatre.com/20190/20191. For more information about New Beginnings, see sbnbcc.org.