Student play explores mental health

Since
the summer of 2018, a group of UTD students — along with director
Shelby-Allison Hibbs — have worked on creating and performing a self-devised
play about mental illness.

The
play, “A Mirror Right Through You,” began taking shape when Hibbs surveyed
students about what they wanted the play to focus on. The response, Hibbs said,
was in favor of a spotlight on mental illness in college. From there, Hibbs
conducted workshops where students used moment work to explore concepts for the
play.

“What
(moment work) means is instead of sitting at a table and everyone writes
scripts and stuff, instead, you’re trying to actually create pantomime scenes,
if you will — or abstracted movement that relates to an idea you want to see on
stage,” Hibbs said.

In preparing to write the script, students conducted their
own survey at the beginning of the fall semester, collecting about 15 anonymous
responses from UTD students, which included anecdotes, metaphors and even
poetry.

“I think
we were trying to explore how we can get it out of the stereotypical image of
someone sitting on the floor with their head in their hands, because that’s
what you would see in stock photos. I think that came with a lot of the imagery
that people talked about in their surveys,” said Melinda Kalanzis, a visual and
performing arts freshman. “There was a lot of drowning and earthquakes and a
lot of big things that you can’t necessarily control.”

After
conducting the surveys, Kalanzis said, the group studied artwork that
symbolized mental illness to gain a better understanding. Students also did
research on the Student Counseling Center website and other sources. Discussion
in the workshops played a key role in creating the story, said Aidan Bly, a
visual and performing arts senior.

“During
the initial idea phase where we only met once a week, we would sort of group
up, and suss out some topics surrounding mental health, like medication, coping
mechanisms, suicide,” Bly said. “In doing that, we would then split off into
groups and come up with specific story beats or plot elements or stuff that
actually happens that can drive the story forward based around those thoughts
that we throw together.”

“A Mirror Right Through You,” an original play directed by Shelby Hibbs, had its last performance April 13. Photo by Pavan Pauh | Mercury Staff.

Though
the final script was completed right before spring break, Bly said,
improvisations during rehearsal happen often. Starting in February, the cast
rehearsed for 16 hours per week. Right before production, they would rehearse
as long as 12 hours in one day.

The
title of the play — and a central theme throughout the plot — came about during
one of the moment work workshops, Hibbs said.

“Melinda
had a compact in her hand, and someone put a picture frame that was empty on
top of her and sort of boxed her into a space,” the director said. “And I
thought that was really interesting — the idea that sometimes we box ourselves
in, but it also goes with the idea of you never really know what’s going on
with someone internally. It’s hard to get a window into their interior
experiences. So, frames became this sort of metaphoric device for the whole
show.”

To remain ambiguous, the
characters in the play do not have names. The decision to make the characters
nameless, Hibbs said, was because of the broad nature of mental illness.

“One of
the things we wanted to focus on was that it’s not that everyone in this play
is depressed, or everyone has some sort of specific thing that they are dealing
with, with their own mental health,” she said. “So, there’s one character that
deals with social anxiety, there’s another character that deals with depression
and suicidal thoughts (and) there’s another character that’s dealing with their
parent’s mental health difficulties.”

While
the play handles serious subject matter, it also contains sporadic moments of
comedy, Bly said, such as his favorite scene — a parody of an antidepressant
commercial. On the other hand, Kalanzis said her favorite scene was when her
character, who suffers from anxiety, is talking to her therapist. As the
character attempts to talk about her anxiety, other characters hover around
her, whispering louder whenever she tries to speak. 

The play involves audience participation as well. At the
very end of the play, actors approach each audience member individually and
invite them to lay their hands on one of the central characters suffering from
depression to show their support. It is these little moments of connection,
Kalanzis said, that she finds the most powerful.

“I think
that through a little bit of fiction and a little bit of character and a little
bit of abstraction, it’s much more possible to get out of ourselves and our own
hang-ups and get to a place that’s a little more honest,” Kalanzis said. “I
hope that it resonates with the people who see it, or hear about it or
anything. I hope it resonates with them so that maybe they get a little bit of
this openness and expression and clearer vision.”