Stage Door Therapy Troupe Of Mentally Ill Performers Builds Self-Esteem, Debunks Myths

The shy, chubby schizophrenic avoids eye contact and prefers huddling in the corner with a book to chitchatting.

But at curtain time, Jeff Parr is a ham. Hands on his hips, he delivers lines like karate chops and belts out songs in a rich basso voice.

“When you’re onstage, you check your mental illness at the stage door,” said Parr, 30.

A dozen other disorders - from severe depression to bipolar disorder - will be left waiting at The Met’s stage door Sunday as a local group of the mentally ill perform “We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby.”

The campy Broadway-style show is the first attempt at mental illness rehabilitation through musical performance, said Dennis Dyck, a Washington State University professor.

“This is a very novel approach,” said Dyck, who studied the performers as they prepared for the show. He received a $50,000 grant from the state Department of Social and Health Services for the research.

The results are positive thus far, he said. Some performers are returning to college and work, buoyed by newfound confidence.

Performing teaches the normally isolated individuals teamwork and social skills. Each time they hear applause, their self-esteem builds, said Dyck, part of the Washington Institute for Mental Illness Research and Training, run through WSU.

Most of the performers can’t hold jobs, let alone acting careers. One hasn’t been on stage since second grade when he was one of the wise men in a Christmas play.

The group has performed at Eastern State Hospital and in front of 250 people at a mental health conference in Yakima.

“It’s like being out of the closet because it makes us feel like normal human beings,” said Bernadette Quebral. Her fellow performers snickered.

The show is, in fact, a satire. Actors make fun of uptight doctors and grin as they act out a number about the hillbilly ward of a mental hospital.

One line, delivered by Cynthia Gudiel: “My psychiatrist is as crazy as the day is long.”

“We can be onstage with different personalities without being diagnosed as split personalities,” said Quebral, the group joker.

The performance is the brainchild of Donna Douglass, a music therapist who has worked in a dozen mental institutions. She wrote the show’s music and did the choreography.

This is therapy through the back door, said Douglass. “The arts are so unique, because they are learning these skills while they are having fun,” she said.

Gudiel, a 41-year-old mother who has been institutionalized 32 times, agrees. “This is the best part of my life,” she said.

The performers also hope the show debunks myths about mental illness. They say they aren’t homicidal predators or dumb. Parr was reading “The Divine Comedy” in the corner.

“We’re always being told we are always going to fail,” said Quebral, who lives in a downtown apartment. “We are living normal lives; we are married; we are living on our own.”

For Parr, the performance is a chance to discount his first-grade teacher who told him he was destined to fail. “Sunday will help break that stigma,” said Parr.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: ‘A LONG WAY, BABY’ “We’ve Come a Long Way, Baby” will be performed at 2 p.m. Sunday at The Met, 901 W. Sprague. Tickets are $5 for adults, $3 for students and $1 for mental health care consumers. For more information, call Donna Douglass at 358-7676.