This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon: Growing up in a South St. Louis family of 11 kids, two-time Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz remembers his little sister Teresa rocking out to “Proud Mary.” Four years after her death, Butz keeps her memory rolling in the river city by performing the classic 1970s hit and other songs in her honor.
The May 8-9 “An Evening with Norbert Leo Butz” performances spring from the Angel Band Project, formed by Teresa Butz’s friends and supported by her family. Proceeds from The Sheldon and 560 Music Center events will fund a local music therapy program for survivors of sexual violence.
Teresa Butz died in July 2009 after being raped and stabbed by a man who crawled through a window of the Seattle home she shared with life partner Jennifer Hopper. Hopper was also attacked but survived.
At the funeral, as family and friends lifted their voices in song, the idea to memorialize Teresa Butz through music was born, Norbert Leo Butz told the Beacon.
“As clichéd as it may sound, it’s definitely about making something beautiful out of something ugly,” Butz said.
Music and laughter
Hopper, a trained vocalist, will join Butz on stage along with a half-dozen other singers and musicians. In addition to “Proud Mary,” the performances will include Teresa Butz’s favorite gospel tunes, some James Taylor and Patty Griffin, and Mark Brussard’s “Home.”
“‘Home’ has to do with returning to your cultural roots and the place where you started from, at least in a spiritual sense,” Butz said.
Most of the Butz siblings remain in St. Louis and other parts of Missouri. But even though others are scattered from New York to Pittsburgh to Seattle, sharing music has helped them grieve together.
“I’m very blessed to have that kind of support system,” Butz said.
Three generations of the Butz family joined friends to make a 2010 album, “Take You With Me.” The group included another actor brother Jim Butz, who played the lead in Shakespeare Festival St. Louis’ 2010 production of “Hamlet.” Sales of “Take You With Me” total $11,000. Profits benefit the Voices and Faces Project, funding a writers’ workshop for survivors of sexual violence.
The Angel Band Project was launched by Teresa Butz’s childhood friends Jean Fox and Rachel Ebeling.
Teresa Butz’s hearty laugh has been music to Ebeling’s ears since their days together at St. Stephen's kindergarten. “She’d start laughing, then hitting her leg and then hitting me,” Ebeling remembered. “You might get pummeled in these violent fits of laughter if you were near her.”
A free spirit, Teresa Butz enjoyed many years working in the cruise ship industry. But she found an anchor in Seattle when she met Hopper and fell in love. The date of her planned commitment ceremony to the woman she called J-Hop became the day of her memorial service.
“I felt that she finally succumbed to being settled and was happy in her life -- and then she was gone,” Ebeling said.
Teresa’s lasting gift
Ebeling hopes to launch the Angel Band Project’s local music therapy program in 2014, and to later expand it to Seattle and other cities. Organizers are working with partners including Maryville University’s music therapy program and the Safe Connections organization for women.
“To have survivors and advocates tell us that what we’re doing is helping is a tremendous gift that Teresa has left us,” Ebeling said.
Norbert Leo Butz, known for his roles in “Catch Me If You Can,” “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” and Broadway-bound “Big Fish” now on stage in Chicago, agreed.
“I love to sing, I love to make music, I love to perform,” Butz said. “And it’s a great gift to me to be able to do that in a way that’s not just self-serving but has a bigger purpose.”
Butz hopes that his St. Louis appearances will not only honor his sister’s memory but shine light on the often-hidden issue of sexual violence.
“The survivors of these attacks face a lifetime of rehabilitation,” Butz said. “But that takes resources: time and money.”
