SHEBOYGAN — If a tragedy happened to your family, how would you deal with it? That is a question many may ask when the Sheboygan Theatre Company presents Judith Guest’s “Ordinary People” starting Friday, February 1 at 7:30 PM.
This will be the third show of their Seventy-Ninth Season.
Adapted for the stage by Nancy Gilsenan, this drama gives the audience a chance to look inside one family’s trauma in the wake of their devastating loss and emotional turmoil. It explores not only grief but the very real aspect mental illness can play when people suffer a traumatic incident.
The director, Nicole Dominguez of Los Angeles, wanted to show that even though “Ordinary People” was originally written in 1976, the story is still very relevant today. The themes of suicide, depression and divorce are all rather prevalent in today’s societies.
Evidence of that relevance, The America Association of Suicidology, based out of Washington D.C., published as fact that, ‘an increase in the overall suicide rate in our country was seen in 2009, representing a change in the recent pattern of stability or slight declines, the suicide rate for those 15-24 years old has more than double since the mid-1950s.’
Because the messages in “Ordinary People” are still so important today, the Sheboygan Theatre Company is collaborating with Mental Health America in Sheboygan County (MHA). MHA is a local nonprofit mental health resource center that is celebrating 50 years of service this year. MHA is not only providing an information table with educational materials at each performance, they are also hosting a panel discussion free and open to the public, to be held on Monday February 11 at 6:30 PM, at the Mead Public Library in the Rocca meeting room.
The panel discussion will provide a forum to share differing perspectives on “Ordinary People” by those in the mental health field and family members who have been impacted by mental illness.
“Ordinary People” performances will start Friday, February 1, 2013, with subsequent performances on February 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9 at 7:30 PM, and a matinee on Sunday, February 3 at 2 PM. The production will be presented at the Leslie W. Johnson Theatre, located at 2820 Union Avenue in Sheboygan.
Admission is $20 for adults, $16 for seniors sixty and over and $10 for students through to college. Tickets are available online, at the Theatre Company office in the Community Recreation Department, located at 607 South Water Street in Sheboygan, and also at the theatre box office 45 minutes before curtain of each performance.
To learn more and reserve tickets, call (920) 459-3779 visit www.sheboygantheatercompany.com.
