WHEN MENTAL ILLNESS IS A LAUGHING MATTER

Tens of millions of Americans face mental health issues each year, yet only half get treated.¹ Part of the issue is the stigma associated with mental health challenges.² How can we help overcome that discrimination so that individuals face their challenges and seek and accept treatment?

According to one artist/social worker, laughter can help!

Emily Decker, who received a Master’s in Social Work with a focus on mental health from the University of Southern California, will be presenting a dark comedy musical about mental illness at the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival. Trixie: The Musical officially opens Saturday, June 10, at 8:30 pm at Complex Theatres (OMR Theatre ) 6468 Santa Monica Blvd with a preview show at 7:30 pm, Thursday, June 1. A portion of the preview night box office is being donated to the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
See: hff17.com/4358

Ms. Decker says, “The musical is a dramedy about therapy and mental illness. Using my past experience as a social worker and my personal history with mental illness, I have created an absurdist show about therapy and mental illness. Empathy and validation are invaluable when helping someone manage mental illness, and our culture has yet to fully embrace those concepts. We have to talk about mental illness openly to make any real change, and sometimes laughter can break down barriers to acceptance and growth.” As her character, Trixie, says, “’Crazy’ is a word cowards use to describe something they fear. I’d much sooner call you ‘brave’ than ‘crazy.’”

The musical features Ms. Decker, a musical theater veteran and improv performer, in the title role, accompanied by actors Sean Benedict, Kate Bowman, Adam Lau, Samantha Lawrence, Chris Smith, and Elizabeth DelloRusso, who also directs the one-act play. ³ Emily wrote the music for this production with Dan Sugimoto, critically acclaimed composer and another Hollywood Fringe veteran.⁴ More info about the musical can be found at: Facebook.com/trixiethemusical.

Emily Decker bio:
Ms. Decker is an actor, improv artist and musical theater performer http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/users/63912. She is also a Crossfit coach and can be followed on instagram: @emilydee7. She graduated with honors from USC’s School of Social Work. Prior to that, she was Manager of Aftercare and Transitional Living for the Center for Women and Children in Crisis, in Orem, Utah, where she won the Utah County Domestic Violence Council’s Purple Ribbon Award for Outstanding Service to Victims of Domestic Violence. Her undergraduate degree in psychology is from the University of Virginia, where she was an Echols Scholar. She was born and raised in Texas, where she also worked for TexProtects, www.texprotects.org, an organization working against child abuse and neglect. With TexProtects, she helped prompt the Texas legislature to pass a bill allowing for “social impact bonds” as a way to expand financing options for social good http://texprotects.org/media/uploads/84th_-_social_impact_bonds_brief.final.pdf

¹ https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/statistics/index.shtml
² Journal article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3835659/; Recent case of mass murderer preferring death sentence to mental illness diagnosis: http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-south-carolina-dylan-roof-201711-story.html
³ http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/users/63912
⁴ http://www.hollywoodfringe.org/users/47331; http://www.broadwayworld.com/los-angeles/article/LETTERS-TO-EVE-A-Powerful-New-Musical-of-Untold-Stories-from-WWII-Comes-to-Santa-Monica-20170417