Photo courtesy of Megan Montgomery Foundation
Left to right: Kelly Morgan, CEO, Grandview Financial, and Board President, Megan’s Foundation; Jennifer Hassett, UAB;Dr. Megan Lewis, Chair, UAB Theatre Dept; Meredith Montgomery-Price, Executive Director, Megan’s Foundation;Rod Clark and Susann Montgomery-Clark, Co-founders, Megan’s Foundation.
The Megan Montgomery Foundation, recently named the 2025 Nonprofit Business of the Year by the Vestavia Hills Chamber of Commerce, marked its fourth anniversary by recognizing its community partners and announcing a new $40,000 grant for relationship violence prevention education.
The foundation awarded the grant to the UAB Department of Theatre, which will produce "Red Flags" in cooperation with Soundproof Box of Leeds, United Kingdom.
"Red Flags" is an applied social justice theater production intended to help young people identify warning signs in relationships and prevent relationship violence before harmful patterns become established. Applied theater uses live performance as an educational tool to encourage discussion, reflection and awareness of real-world issues.
UAB Theatre plans to introduce "Red Flags" during its annual Showcase on Sept. 12 before taking the production to communities across Alabama through the department's touring program.
"We hope this production will introduce Megan's Foundation’s innovative mission to a broader audience of educators across the state, who could benefit from our grantmaking after the show ends," Executive Director Meredith Montgomery-Price said. "And we are so grateful to Medical Properties Trust for their generous support of this project!"
The production was created by Lisa Kaye Bell, founder of Soundproof Box. Foundation co-founder Susann Montgomery-Clark said she met Bell three years ago and the two had hoped to bring the production to the United States, but they needed the right partner to lead it.
That partnership came through Megan Lewis, professor and chair of the UAB Department of Theatre. Lewis is an award-winning theater scholar. Student actors participating in the project will be mentored by assistant professors Kelley Schoger and Mona Eldahsoury, whose areas of expertise include acting, directing, applied theater, and consent and boundary work.
The foundation also announced during its anniversary celebration that it has awarded $461,000 in grants across Alabama since its creation in July 2022.
The Megan Montgomery Foundation was established as a 501(c)(3) grantmaking nonprofit by Megan Montgomery's mother, sister and stepfather following her death on Dec. 1, 2019. Montgomery was killed by her estranged husband after she had escaped the relationship.
Six weeks before her death, Montgomery publicly expressed a desire to warn others about red flags associated with potentially abusive partners and help people navigate the legal system. Her family subsequently made that goal central to the foundation's work, with an emphasis on reaching young people while relationship patterns are developing.
In addition to its recent recognition from the Vestavia Hills Chamber, the foundation has received honors from the Women's Committee of 100, Birmingham Business Journal and Alabama Association of Fundraising Professionals, among other organizations.
