This week the Starling Company presents “Next to Normal,” a mental illness rock musical. The story focuses on a family that has been touched by tragedy and doesn’t know how to cope with lingering emotional damage. We hope you join us at the Broadway Theater to laugh, maybe cry, and begin conversations on mental illness.
The show illustrates the ramifications of how we engage with mental illness (or refuse to acknowledge it). The Goodmans look like the perfect loving family, but behind smiling masks, waves are steadily growing.
As the matriarch wrestles with bipolar depression, we see the tsunami impact her family and those in their orbits. Ignoring, dancing around, or lying about mental illness doesn’t do anyone any good. By the end of the performance, we see signs of recovery, but only after the Goodmans start being open and honest with each other.
The themes in “Next to Normal” are familiar but not spoken about enough. An estimated 25 percent of the U.S. adult population have a diagnosable mental disorder, but afraid of taboos or saying the wrong thing, we say nothing. Help is rarely requested or offered. We don’t know who is struggling, quietly enduring their original injury and the consequences of repression and neglect. In the end, silence kills.
Things would be different if we treated mental illness more like physical ailments. Imagine if we were willing to talk about it, listen, and share similar struggles. We hope “Next to Normal” spurs conversations that people were afraid of or unsure how to have. If you don’t know what to say, start by admitting your uncertainty and expressing how much you care. Then reassure them, “There will be light.”
Caleb Smith
Rock Springs, Wyoming
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