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Need help with a play

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harrisbenjaminco
#1Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:04pm

I am planning on writing a play about mental illness and its effects on the individual units of a family. I want to analyze theater that addresses similar ideas of mental illness or just mental illness in general so I have an idea on how to write about this taboo subject. I KNOW NEXT TO NORMAL IS GREAT, but I'm looking for straight plays. I don't have have the musical capability to write something like that ?? so far I have proof by David auburn, Equus by Peter Shaffer, the glass menagerie by Tennessee Williams, and a streetcar named desire by Tennessee Williams.  This is a very personal subject to me and I want to make this piece really good so thank you in advance. Also, just want to say all of you give me life. i Look at these forums every moment of the day and am very appreciative of all of you. Alright then. GRACIAS ??

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harrisbenjaminco
#2Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:12pm

The question marks are smiley faces :)

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JPeterman
#3Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:19pm

A couple things that come to mind quickly are Lady Macbeth and Macbeth in Macbeth, Ophelia and Hamlet in Hamlet, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (one of my very favorite plays), the musicals Don Quixote/Man Of La Mancha and American Psycho, and a new play I heard about recently called The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland.

Updated On: 11/25/15 at 03:19 PM

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harrisbenjaminco
#4Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:29pm

Thanks for the awesome suggestions jpeterman but I don't want to villafy mental illness. The play is going to be semi autobiographical and I don't want my brother to be a villain :). I'll look into the others though

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GavestonPS
#5Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:30pm

I think it's questionable whether MENAGERIE or STREETCAR is about mental illness per se. Yes, Blanche is sent off to a sanitarium, but that is mostly to silence her claim that she was raped by Stanley. Despite Williams' fame for writing neurotic women, he was actually concerned with the plight of women in a world that confined them to rigid roles as sweethearts, wives and mothers. Are his characters sometimes agitated? Sure, but no wonder! See SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER for another example of a female character who is accused of being mentally ill when she is merely telling the truth.

 

I don't mean this post to be negative; I just think seeing those plays in terms of mental illness is misleading. It sounds like you might be better off just writing what you know. Don't worry whether every scene you write will end up in the final version of the play. Write a number of scenes, then reread them to see what you've got. (You've certainly set yourself a big challenge for a first play.)

Updated On: 11/25/15 at 03:30 PM

JPeterman Profile Photo
JPeterman
#6Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:34pm


I definitely agree with something Gaveston just said ... write what you know. It sounds like you have a fertile base of experience to create something beautiful. Good luck.

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harrisbenjaminco
#7Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:38pm

I was just looking at ways to right mental illness, and I'll definitely use a lot of my experience I just wanted to get ideas from other playwrights to see how they do it. I picked up the Tennessee Williams books cuz I looked up plays about mental illness and those showed up :) . again, thanks for all the help. I'm also documenting the process and I needed some resources from other plays. That's why I'm reading all these. It's a school project but I wanted to do it before I was assigned this thing so im doing it with my heart but also have to analyze some things cuz school Need help with a play

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LuminousBeing
#8Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:42pm

I don't remember the playwright's name, but there's a wonderful play entitled "Falling" about a young man with autism and how his challenges affect the family.

I've worked with families and children with autism for nearly a decade, and yes, I know know it's not classified as an Axis I mental illness. But the play shows how one family member's unique challenges have an impact on the family.

 

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LuminousBeing
#9Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:42pm

Double post.

 

Updated On: 11/25/15 at 03:42 PM

Charley Kringas Inc Profile Photo
Charley Kringas Inc
#10Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 3:50pm

The plays you list are fine plays, but also mostly melodramas that have nothing real to do with mental illness (Equus is particularly egregious, as much as I love it). I would consider reading about real case studies of mental illness, as well as treatments and modern practical applications. Oliver Sacks mostly wrote about particularly exceptional cases but I'd definitely suggest taking a look at some of his work for a nice example of how real mental illnesses can be discussed in ways that are both engaging to read and enlightening to consider.

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harrisbenjaminco
#11Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 4:00pm

Thanks so much Charley kringas Inc :). Do you have any specific books of his you would recommend I'd read?

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harrisbenjaminco
#12Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 4:01pm

Also thanks luminous. I'll check that out

Charley Kringas Inc Profile Photo
Charley Kringas Inc
#13Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 4:14pm

"Anthropologist On Mars" would be a good place to start, as it spends a good amount of time dealing with how the people he interviews and discusses manage their lives around his subjects. He is, of course, out of date (and dead) but his writing style is really entertaining and he has a great deal of passion and compassion for the afflicted in his books. "Anthropologist" also features a long segment on Temple Grandin, who is herself a totally fascinating person.

 

edit: here, in full, is Sacks's essay on Temple Grandin, which covers a lot of ground on her life and obstacles as a person with autism: http://harrisocac.pbworks.com/f/Sacks_Anthropologist_Mars.pdf

 

Note, too, that if you're going to be telling a story about mental illness, don't write it as a sideshow unless you're making a very particular and necessary political point. There've been many, many plays in which mentally ill people are bandied about as freaks for the audience to gawk at (including several in your first post), or to machinate the plot. I'd argue that now is the time to be writing plays that are not just compassionate but give mentally ill people agency over their own stories. They are not wards of fiction.

Updated On: 11/25/15 at 04:14 PM

GavestonPS Profile Photo
GavestonPS
#14Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 4:39pm

Amen to what Charley just posted. The 60s and 70s were full of plays (and even a couple of musicals: ANYONE CAN WHISTLE and DEAR WORLD) in which mental illness was merely a metaphor for nonconformity. "The so-called sane are really insane and the crazy people are the only sane ones."

 

I'm sure that's not what the OP means to write, so he may be better off without "models" (except that he apparently needs them for his school project).

Gothampc
#15Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 4:43pm

The Boys Next Door by Tom Griffin is a comedy drama about a counselor who oversees a group home of 4 men with mental disabilities. The play does a good job about walking the fine line between comedy and drama.


If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.

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harrisbenjaminco
#16Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 5:32pm

Charley, I agree with you. I am very sympathetic to people with mental illness. I've lived it. I would never do a " sideshow" . my goal is to bring attention to the humanity of mentalillness, but while this humanity exists in the afflicted person, it does not change the fact that those immediately involved are affected incredibly. My personal experience has taught me this. Also, the statement about all the plays being melodramas: I am writing from the perspective of a normal family, not scientist. It's more based on emotions than fact although I'll still read Olivar Sacks, but I do want those emotional plays dealing with mental illness.

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LuminousBeing
#17Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 5:35pm

"Curious Incident..." is also stunning, if also about autism. There's rush available if you're local to NY. If not, you can read the novel.

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harrisbenjaminco
#18Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 5:47pm

Live in Atlanta lol. But I'll read it :)

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temms
#19Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 6:21pm

It's not a stage play, but the Australian sitcom "Please Like Me" created by Josh Thomas is one of the best depictions of mental illness and its effect on families that I've ever seen.  The first couple of seasons are on Hulu, and they're really great.  The main character's mother is hospitalized after a suicide attempt and the family tries to deal with the fallout.  (Did I mention it's a comedy?  It really is - but it takes the serious stuff seriously.)  Eventually the main character gets into a relationship with a young man with a severe anxiety disorder and it's really interesting how he deals with that.

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GavestonPS
#20Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 6:59pm

A very wise playwriting teacher (director Aaron Frankel) used to tell his classes, "Forget about your message. Write the story and portray your characters honestly and your message will come through. You won't be able to help yourself."

 

I think you're starting with both hands tied behind your back if you are already worried about The Portrayal of Mental Illness. Add to that a need to show your brother in a positive light, and I think you've tied both feet as well. I'm sure your brother is a pain in the ass, sometimes; ALL brothers are. Don't leave that out of your play.

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harrisbenjaminco
#21Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 7:08pm

Im Trying not to portray him as the villain. I've seen plays do that with mental illness but I definitely won't deny the pain in the ass he is. One aspect of my play is the effect on the family and that can definitely include frustration. He's not perfect, but he's not a villain

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GavestonPS
#22Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 7:13pm

Why would you even worry about it then? (I know why; that's a rhetorical question.) If you don't think of your brother as the villain, he isn't likely to come across as such. I'm not sure you could make him a villain even if you tried--unless you're writing the equivalent of a slasher movie. We don't usually villainize those who are ill.

 

The mentally ill only seem like villains when they are written as the embodiment of pure evil. Obviously, you're not going to write that.

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harrisbenjaminco
#23Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 7:19pm

Mental illness is more the villain :)

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harrisbenjaminco
#24Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 7:23pm

Also, thanks again everyone for being so helpful! This is why I love these messages boards :)

Tom5
#25Need help with a play
Posted: 11/25/15 at 8:38pm

"Elling"would seem to be exactly what you are looking for. Fairly recent, too.