It Finally Happened

I wrote a play called Behind the Metal Doors: A Satire about twenty years ago. I worked really hard on it, and even had a play reading at my house. But unfortunately, I had no luck getting it published. Finally, I submitted the play to Off the Wall Plays where the submission guidelines stated it could take a up to a year get a response. When, after three months, I hadn’t received an acknowledgement for my submission, I emailed them and they said they hadn’t received it. So, I resubmitted the play. Almost a year later I received a response from the publisher. They suggested that, due to the lengthy stage directions, this would be better as a screen play instead of a stage play. They couldn’t publish it as it was currently written.

At that point, I was ready to give up. I had spent so many years perfecting the play that I was resigned to the fact that my best literary work was never going to be published. However, Donna refused to allow me to give up. Together we spent hours revising the stage directions to be more in line with a stage play.

About six months later we followed up again to see if the revised play had been reviewed. A month later I heard Donna screaming upstairs, so I thought something was wrong. Miraculously, the publisher had finally accepted my play for publication, and the representative stated that it would be published very soon. It took another month at it is finally published it on their website! It is available for sale for $5.50, and it has a seventeen-page excerpt available for free which will give the reader a good chance to experience the play before purchasing it.

The play itself is a satire on the mental health system as it relates to state institutions. Despite bizarre props and dialogue, the play represents the truth about life in a specific hospital. Since it “tells it like it is,” there are no happy endings nor are the staff and patient characters heroic for the most part. In other words, the setting and ethics are realistic and describe the hopelessness of the situation using satire to make the point.

What makes my play a work of literature is its insight into the lives of patients and staff as they really were with no false hope or optimistic attitudes. It is not a play filled with hope, but rather one of resignation and despair. I believe it is my best work to date. I have included a synopsis of the play:

Short Synopsis: My one act play, Behind the Metal Doors: A Satire, describes my experiences in state mental health facilities. Using provocative props and dialogue, it captures, I think, some of the truly important concepts about mental illness that continue to exist today. This play is both historically accurate and strongly implies that institutions - especially jails and prisons - are still treating patients with the same hostility and indifference.

Some of the basic themes in the play include society’s incessant need for meaningless conformity, the genuine suffering of people in institutions, and the overall lack of resources available to help individuals get on with their lives. For example, the character, Art Majors, represents the creative individual who must survive by literally repeating meaningless numbers that represent “appropriate responses.” At the commissary, the pathos of the scene is obvious as the patients engage in bizarre behaviors in order to find purpose and make sense of their lives. Throughout the play it is also obvious that there are few resources to help patients to successfully leave the hospital and get on with their lives.

Another major theme of the play is the lack of genuine knowledge about mental illness including diagnosis and treatment. The use of dice, blindfolds, and sunglasses are props that create a sense of genuine uncertainty and indifference about the patients with whom the staff attempt to interact. Some of the characters in the play are also seen as compassionate while others express hostility. The patients themselves are meant to be seen as real people and not sugarcoated as people with sterling characters. My play is meant to be strikingly strange in every scene, and it is hoped this experimental play can be appreciated by all those who it is intended to reach including professionals and society in general.

A free excerpt from the play can be found on the Off the Wall Plays website. I hope things are going well for you, and I’ll see you next week.

(Please remember these are my own ideas, and I’m not attempting to persuade anyone to change theirs.)

Quotes:

“No one would ever say that someone with a broken arm or broken leg is less than a whole person, but people say that or imply that all the time about people with mental illness.” Elyn R. Saks

“Just because no one else can heal or do your inner work for you, doesn’t mean you can, should or need to do it alone.” Lisa Olivera

“Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of, but stigma and bias shames us all.” Bill Clinton

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