Stage & Screen Star "Tanna Frederick" Returns for a Cause

Tanna Frederick, currently starring in Henry Jaglom’s “Irene in Time,” has a story right out of an old Hollywood fairy tale. A young actress from Iowa hoping for a break writes a letter to a famous director, which earns her an audition that leads to the part of a lifetime and rave reviews. Tanna will run in the LA Marathon on March 21 to benefit these charities. Her goal is to run the marathon in 3.20. She is running on behalf of two charities which have personal meaning to her, namely, the North Iowa Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NIAMI) (http://watchdog.net/ein/421237495/north-iowa-alliance-for-the-mentally-ill), and the North Iowa Transition Center (http://www.northiowatransitioncenter.org/). An Iowa native, Tanna selected NIAMI because "their financing is not adequate to allow for the programs they offer providing education, support and encouragement free of charge to families and loved ones of those with a mental illness." Tanna's mother, a psychiatric nurse and psychiatric mental health teacher at a college in north Iowa, has been a past President and active member of NIAMI for 20 years. "I grew up educated and empathetic about mental illness as biochemical and neurobiological disorders . I know that funding for the mentally ill is inadequate and that their needs are great. With 1 out of every 5 children and adults in the U.S. suffering from a diagnosable mental illness at some time in their lives, I feel a passion for this cause knowing that it could someday affect myself or someone I love."