Denver Actors Fund in Action: Peter Trinh

Actor runs out of medication, into expensive hospital stay

Aid recipient: Peter Trinh is a longtime Denver-based actor, playwright and budding stand-up comedian who most recently appeared in Colorado Springs TheatreWorks’ “Around the World in Eighty Days” and The Catamounts’ “Everybody.” Before that, he was the Assistant Artistic Director for Theatre Esprit Asia, where he starred in “Dust Storm” and has twice performed his one-man play, “Boat Person,” based on his parents’ escape from Vietnam in 1982. He also performed “Boat Person” at Bas Bleu Theatre in Fort Collins. Peter is the first person on either side of his family to be born on American soil.  Peter also has appeared with the Aurora Fox (“Chinglish”), Vintage Theatre (“The Oldest Boy,” “Joy Luck Club”) and others. Peter graduated from Arvada West High School and Metropolitan State University, and is the father of two boys.

Peter Trinh performs his one-man play ‘Boat Person’ for Theatre Esprit Asia.

His medical story: Peter was diagnosed with hypertension when he was 27, but the blessing and the curse of having recently graduated to a full-time life as an actor included no longer having a job with health insurance. At the end of 2019, having been off his medication for a time, Peter landed in the hospital with dangerously high blood pressure. He is now better and on a new prescription, but after paying a number of bills on his own, he was still left with an unpaid out-of-pocket obligation for prescriptions and services that added up to $1,049.14.

How we helped: The Denver Actors Fund Board of Directors has voted to pay the $1,049.14 in direct medical expenses Peter presently faces.

A message from Peter: “Thanks to The Denver Actors Fund, my bills will not spiral and pummel my credit as I scramble to chip away at them, bit by bit. My gratitude swells, knowing that The Denver Actors fund provides answers where people in our industry usually find dead-ends. The Colorado theatre community is blessed to have The Denver Actors Fund.”

How you can help us help us help more Colorado theatre artists: The Denver Actors Fund now has made more than $552,000 available to Colorado artists in need. The DAF has paid out a record $130,000 in direct medical relief in the first five months of 2020 alone, including more than $55,000 through our new DEAR Fund to support Colorado theatre artists who have lost the ability to earn income during the COVID-19 shutdown. If you would like to make a donation to The Denver Actors Fund, simply mail checks in any amount made out to Denver Actors Fund to P.O. Box 11182, Denver, CO 80211. Or use this donation link, with our humble thanks.

Read testimonials from other Denver Actors Fund beneficiaries here

Note: At The Denver Actors Fund, anonymity of aid recipients is presumed and fully protected, unless and until the recipient chooses to have their story told.

From left: Bernadette Sefic, Jason Maxwell, Hossein Forouzandeh and Peter Trinh in The Catamounts’ ‘Everybody.’ Photo by Michael Ensminger.

HOW TO MAKE A DONATION


ABOUT THE DENVER ACTORS FUND:

The Denver Actors Fund is a modest source of immediate, situational relief when members of the local theater community find themselves in medical need. In addition to $552,000 in financial relief, a team of more than 60 Denver Actors Fund volunteers have offered good neighborly assistance to more than 100 beneficiaries including meal prep and delivery, child care, transportation, errands, construction, pet-sitting and more. For more information, visit our web site at DenverActorsFund.Org.


HOW TO APPLY FOR AID:

To apply for Denver Actors Fund aid: Fill out this brief online form here


GET INSTANT, FREE MEDICAL ADVICE: The Denver Actors Fund has launch of a major new FREE medical service for qualified Colorado theatre artists: We are partnering with Hippo Health to provide access to emergency medical evaluations via video conferencing with a Board-certified physician. Click to read more about this wonderful, innovative new partnership that will further improve the lives of artists!


MORE WAYS TO HELP:

DONATE ONLINE:

Go to our online giving site at: ColoradoGives.Org

DONATE BY MAIL:

Send checks made out to The Denver Actors Fund to:
P.O. Box 11182
Denver, CO 80211

VOLUNTEER:

Ever thought about taking a more active role in The Denver Actors Fund? Click here for more information


SHOP AT KING SOOPERS

Sign up for King Soopers’ Community Rewards Program and raise money for The DAF just by shopping for your groceries – and it doesn’t cost you an extra penny. It’s like the Amazon Smile Program. To sign up, simply go here and designate The DAF as your preferred non-profit. Each quarter, King Soopers sends us a donation based on how much our supporters have spent. Thanks to all of you who are shopping for The DAF.


VISIT OUR ONLINE MERCH STORE:

Click here to see how you can buy DAF products such as T-shirts, key chains, puzzles and much more.

By John Moore

Award-winning arts journalist John Moore was named one of the 12 most influential theater critics in the United States by American Theatre Magazine during has 12 years at The Denver Post. Hen then created a groundbreaking new media outlet covering Colorado arts an culture as an in-house, multimedia journalist for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. He also founded The Denver Actors Fund, a nonprofit that has raised more than $600,000 for theatre artists in medical need. He is now a journalist for hire as the founder of Moore Media Colorado. You can find samples of his work at MooreJohn.Com. Contact him at culturewestjohn@gmail.com