Keeping the Gremlins Away

COVID-19 has burdened the theatre community. Certainly, the professional and commercial theatre has suffered commercially and psychologically. But in many ways, community and educational groups have been hit perhaps not hardest but in unique ways.

These groups often function as a source of self-expression, emotional healing, and community support for their participating members and their audiences. In a safe environment, young actors, directors, and crew can explore a multitude of emotions and challenging experiences. Adults participating in community theatre have a means of expressing and sharing feelings of frustration, anxiety, and loss as performers or as audience members.

Theatre and Mental Health

Now that we’re regaining some ground after isolation, let’s take time to think about why theatre is such a staple of our mental health.

The most obvious reason is that theatre (and film) allows us to explore and experience the absence of mental health vicariously.

The 1948 film The Snake Pit recounts the tale of a woman who finds herself in an insane asylum and cannot remember how she got there. (Wikipedia) The Days of Wine and Roses in the ’60s depicted a struggle with alcoholism.

More recently on the stage we’ve seen Grey Gardens, Water by the Spoonful, and Next to Normal.

Our own catalogue has several plays that deal with mental dysfunction directly. Sniper by Bonnie Culver is based on the first school shooter and his social environment. PTSD and Me! by Erika Lane is a spoken-word one-person show exploring this veteran’s experience with war and social trauma. Drowning Ophelia by Rachel Strayer puts a microscope to the issue of family incest.

Unmasking Social Dysfunction

Other plays deal with the psychological more indirectly. Plays don’t have to be about mental health or illness to deal with psychological issues of acceptance and rejection; feelings of anxiety and despair; questions about finding one’s own place in a world that is often unfair and unkind.

The LTGBQ movement has made progress in social acceptance of variations of sexual and gender identity. Gregory Fletcher’s Tom and Huck: Breakin’ the Law raises the interesting question of what if this relationship had a homosexual underpinning.

Leaders in search of dominance, power, and autocracy have emerged with stunning force in the 21st Century across the globe, identified by their followers who can find no fault with their most egregious actions. Historically, Rasputin was a prime example holding religious and political sway over the Russian aristocracy. Robert P. Arthur’s stage play Rasputin: The Libertine is a chilling exploration of the dynamics of power politics. Arthur’s play Floyd Collins and the White Angels of Sand Cave examines Groupthink in a small town facing a tragedy.

But exactly how does theatre contribute to our well-being as individuals and society. It’s one thing to give anecdotal evidence and another to comprehend the underpinnings.We’re going to start a series of weekly blogs focusing on

• finding plays that are guides to mental health;
• using theatre to promote mental health;
• using casting to increase awareness of personality types; using the Johari Window to analyze character;
• using the MBTI as a character guide; 6) finding drama games to increase awareness of mental health/wellness;
• examining how drama and therapy inform each other.

If anyone is interesting in adding to these topics or in contibuting relevant information or blog, please contact us at info@bluemoonplays.com