Elephant In the Room Productions lives up to its namesake in SUICIDE STORIES: GALLERY OF THE UNTOLD – unpacking the taboo silence surrounding suicide. This thoughtful ensemble of nine vignettes reveals the pulsating center of a phenomenon claiming 121 lives daily, providing much needed context behind the 10th leading cause of death in America. A “gallery of untold stories” forges far beyond the hard facts – questing to understand the motivation and struggle brewing inside a person willing to take their own live. While at the same time, excavating beautiful moments of humanity for the shattered hearts left behind.
Inside a large room, divided into sections, nine performances happen simultaneously and continually while the audience parcels off visiting booths at their discretion. Each intimate story share uses a different artistic modality – be it spoken word, painting, a podcast, or clay molding – to express the often repressed. Tears shed. Vulnerability shines. And by the end, an inexplicable morsel of hope rises from within – the afterglow of bearing witness, being seen, and having the privilege to be let into another’s heartache. A surprising reminder of how good it is just to be alive.
[Asian Arts Initiative] September 12-17, 2017; http://fringearts.com/event/suicide-stories-gallery-untold/
Thank you, Julia. Those voices need to be heard, indeed. Here are three links into that dark world, which still remains a taboo in our society. The fourth link provides a telephone number where people can text with a counselor in the U.S. 24/7, rather than talking on the phone to stay more anonymous.
1. Even Talking about Suicide Is Difficult: Nine playwrights on collaborative playwriting with Elephant Room Productions
https://phindie.com/15701-even-talking-about-suicide-is-difficult-nine-playwrights-on-collaborative-playwriting-with-elephant-room-productions/
2. Tackling Suicide on Stage: Interviews with Nine Playwrights
http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2017/08/29/tackling-suicide-stage-interviews-nine-playwrights-elephant-room-productions/
3. “I Just Wanted To Be Happy”: SUICIDE STORIES, a Fringe preview
https://phindie.com/i-just-wanted-to-be-happy-suicide-stories-a-fringe-preview/
4. Texting on depression and suicide with a counselor 24/7
http://www.snopes.com/crisis-text-line-741741/
May all these articles, interviews, and links help to save lives.
Henrik Eger, editor
http://www.DramaAroundTheGlobe.com