American Stage explores mental health issues in new play fest
The Herald-TribuneJan 10, 2021
Jan. 10—Like many theaters across the country, American Stage in
The new formats have worked better in some productions than others, said
"The production elements are stripped away. We don't have a fully realized set. We don't have actors move about the space," she said. "The staged reading is about hearing the story, hearing the words and experiencing the performances and interpreting what is happening. We can do that really effectively digitally."
The annual series is part of the theater's commitment to help playwrights develop new work that will hopefully find its way into future seasons at the
"That's an important part of the responsibility of professional regional theaters, not just to produce plays in their full form once completed but to work with the playwrights and help them get the new plays there," she said.
For the first time, the festival will focus on a specific theme, mental health, which is the subject of the four plays, the post-show discussions that will follow each reading and a series of wellness workshops and panel discussions addressing different aspects of the wide-ranging subject.
Gularte said the impact COVID-19 has had on mental health "has influenced the festival in every step along the way." She hopes the four plays provide an "opportunity to destigmatize the issues raised in the plays because there's so much more sensitivity to these issues."
The decision for the mental health theme came after American Stage had to cancel its summer production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "Next to Normal," about a woman battling bipolar disorder.
"We had created some great community partnerships around that and we were looking forward to some discussions," Gularte said. "We started thinking about the new play festival and the 2020-21 season and decided to focus the submission process on plays with specific themes on mental health."
There was no shortage of contenders. The theater selected four plays from a pool of more than 200 submissions.
"One of the things I love about the theater is that playwrights are always writing about he things we want to start talking about," Gularte said. "That's why developing these works is so important. That's where it starts."
This year's festival was expanded from one weekend to two, running
The festival opens at
At
The final play "Gated" is by
Each reading will be followed by a discussion featuring the director, playwright and a mental health experts in the field related to the play's subject.
Runs and
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