Founder and chairman of the Cancer Treatment Centers of America Richard Stephenson and his wife, Dr. Stacie Stephenson, were thrilled to tears when they experienced Shen Yun Performing Arts. Richard was captivated by the spectacle on stage but was also touched by the messages it portrayed, saying that it was an “expression of the human spirit that you don’t see on stage, screen, or elsewhere.”
“[Shen Yun] couldn’t have done a better job. This needs to be better understood and more widely displayed,” he said.
Richard is also a global merchant banker. He said he founded the Cancer Treatment Centers of America in the memory of his mother, who died of cancer. Meanwhile, Stacie is a family physician, lecturer, a practitioner of functional medicine, a certified acupuncturist, and a philanthropist.
The Stephensons attended the performance at the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix on Feb. 24. Richard bought tickets to the traditional dance and music production as a surprise for his wife, who was captivated by the performance.
“The cultural experience, I can’t imagine that anyone should ever miss it,” Stacie said, adding that Shen Yun spoke to her heart.
“The beautiful classical dance, the beautiful classical blending of emotion, and freedom, and caring, and human beings taking care of each other, even when someone was wrong, they still help the person that hurt them, and that just made me cry,” she said.