Local Artists for Mental Health Awareness Week
Press Release
11/10/11
Local Artists for Mental
Health Awareness Week
It is national Mental Health Awareness Week this week (Oct 10 – 16). Established and emerging artists from five creative fields will be taking to the stage with a brand new multimedia theatre show that aims to change the way the public thinks about mental unwellness.
Since being awarded a reTHiNK Grant in May, The
Literatti poets have been collaborating with Etched Dance
Productions, artist Penny Howard, live musicians John McNab
and Paul Williams and film makers from the public to create
reTHiNK Possible Worlds. The show follows multiple
characters as they journey out of mental unwellness and
rethink their possible worlds. Madness is positioned as part
of the human experience of navigating the maze of life.
Reframed this way, mental unwellness becomes a character
building, learning experience rather than something that
need carry any stigma or shame.
Seven local
performance poets have delved into their own lives to build
the story. Etched Dance Productions have choreographed dance
pieces for each poem in the story. John McNab and Paul
Williams have composed a soundtrack which they perform live
on stage to create a truly cross-genre theatre experience
that reaches the audience through all of their senses. It
all kicks off with a screening of the finalist entries from
the public reTHiNK Possible Worlds film clip competition.
Films came in from all over the world with one of the
finalist entries being sent from Berlin.
40% of New Zealanders have already experienced mental unwellness, 20% of us have experienced it in the last twelve months. This means we probably all either know someone who has been through it if we haven’t been there ourselves. For reTHiNK Possible Worlds, some poets have drawn on experiences of family members and friends, others on their own lived experience of distress and recovery, but everyone was able to find a way to relate to the theme on a personal level. Cast member, Miriam Barr, says “This is a show about everyone, for everyone. Even people who don’t usually like poetry will like this. This is something truly different.”
As part of the national Like Minds
Like Mine project, reTHiNK Possible Worlds gets the theme of
mental health out into the community in a creative and
entertaining way. The aim is to start conversations and
challenge the stigma associated with mental unwellness.
reTHiNK Possible Worlds plays at Galatos on October
15th at 8 pm, October 15th at 1 pm and again at 5 pm.
Tickets are only $10 from www.theliteratti.com. For reviewers
comps and interviews please contact likeminds@mindandbody.co.nz. Mental
Health Awareness Week events will be taking place all over
the country for the duration of the week.
ends