Help Tanya and Michael Rebuild After Eaton Fire

I am reaching out to rally friends, family, and anyone moved by their story to help Tanya Gillette and Michael Ferguson rebuild their life in Los Angeles. Tanya and Michael recently experienced the unimaginable—they lost their home and all their belongings in the Eaton Fire. What started as an evacuation for a power outage turned into a devastating loss as the fire swept through their home.

Thankfully, Tanya, Michael, and their beloved dog Sophie are safe, but they now face a challenging journey of recovery, including securing long-term housing and replacing essential items.

In the immediate future, Tanya has a stage management job in Las Vegas starting next week and urgently needs to replace her work kit. This includes a suitcase, stage management supplies, a new headset, and some suits.

Tanya and Michael are two of the kindest and most generous people I’ve ever known. I met Tanya a year out of college when we were both stage managers at San Jose Rep. Michael had just transitioned from working at the Rep to being on staff with Theater Projects. We moved to NYC together at roughly the same time and have shared the ups and downs of working in the "business", as well as a dear friendship ever since.

For nearly 30 years, Tanya and Michael have been a constant source of support, kindness, and love to me—and I know to many others as well. Now it’s our turn to show up for them in their time of need.

Here’s how you can help:

Donate: Any amount, big or small, will help ease their burden and give them a foundation to start rebuilding.

Share Memories: Beyond financial support, I’m working to reconstruct some of the mementos they lost in the fire. If you have old photos (especially from pre-digital days), show posters, programs, notes, or any other scan-able memorabilia connected to Tanya or Michael, please send them my way. I’d like to create some physical albums and a secure digital archive to help replace some of their precious memories. This will be a long-term project, with the goal of giving these albums and archives to Tanya and Michael down the road, when they are more settled and able to receive them.

You can email me by clicking the contact button below or use familyarchive.wetransfer.com for data transfer of files in bulk.

Let’s come together to make this incredibly difficult time a little easier for two wonderful people who’ve given so much to others.

Thank you for your generosity and support.