Mental health representation in media has had its high points in recent years, but it still has a long way to go. The theatre provides a unique opportunity for this issue to be dealt with in up-close and personal ways, by having characters open up to the world about their own struggles with mental health. A Good Little Rain, a play written by Natalie Sherwood, a sixth-year studying polymer and color chemistry, has put an even more personal lens over this viewpoint by portraying her own journey with mental health.
A Good Little Rain is based on Sherwood’s upbringing and the factors which led her to grow into the young adult that she is today.
Sherwood explained how she came up with the idea for the play.
“It kind of manifested in my head about three years ago,” Sherwood said. “I was in a transition period, still adjusting to losing my mom to breast cancer, and it was at the core of what I was dealing with as a young adult. [The play] was something that I could express myself with.”
The transitional period in growing from a teenager to an independent young adult is a pivotal moment in many people’s lives. A Good Little Rain is the story of Sherwood’s own transitional period and how she became comfortable with her self-image.
Mike Mellas, the director of NC State’s Arts Village and the director of A Good Little Rain, shares why it’s important to present plays like A Good Little Rain.
“First, I think it’s important to have student-written work,” Mellas said. “I think it’s also important to talk about the themes, such as what it’s like to tell a coming-out story, what it means to tell a story about personal loss and what it’s like to deal directly with issues of mental health.”
Mental health is a concept that’s complex and often difficult to understand when seen from an outside perspective. A Good Little Rain shows that complex concepts can still present a powerful performance that the entire audience feels.
“It was definitely intimidating to try to represent something that was still abstract to people,” Sherwood said. “I think what was important for me was to make it more human and less abstract for people that didn’t know what it’s like to be depressed, anxious or have their mood switch on a dime.”
With mental health representation, A Good Little Rain presents other sensitive topics that are not commonly displayed in the theatre. According to Mellas, the play was able to put mental health and finding one’s identity into feelings and visuals that the audience could understand.
“I think the topics which deal with coming out, mental health and losing a parent are all really personal,” Mellas said. “These are issues that probably a lot of students have dealt with, maybe not in the same way. It’s also because the play has a lot of poetry addressing a lot of these high-stakes themes, not just in scenes and in interactions with people, but also in really abstract ways.”
As sensitive topics are important to include in theatre, there are difficulties that come into view as well. What perspective should be used when representing these topics? What topics should be represented? How can these topics be effectively communicated to the audience? These are all questions playwrights have to answer when writing plays that include complex topics such as mental health.
“I think I was just so determined to be authentic that I didn’t really let these worries reduce what I had to say,” Sherwood said. “Going through the stage reading process in the fall and actually working with the text with people, [this play] definitely [has] sensitive material. I think I had to take a step back and say that yes, this is my life, and I’m comfortable with me.”
A Good Little Rain is a part of University Theatre’s Open Door Series, which represents student-written works. The showings for each of its plays are open to the public.
Michelle, played by Dani Coan, a first-year in engineering, talks to herself during a dress rehearsal for “A Good Little Rain” on Monday, March 18, 2019 in Thompson Hall. The show ran March 20-24 in Kennedy-McIlwee Studio Theatre in Thompson Hall.
