Normal Stories Part VI - A Note from the Director of Next to Normal

Here is our next installment in the Normal Stories series in conjunction with our production of Next to Normal, running June 1-June 17.  The Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning family drama is about a woman dealing with mental illness, and the impact the struggle within her own mind has on her entire family.

We have asked patrons, artists, friends, and family to share their stories, their diagnosis, and the impact it has had on their daily and family life. So many of you have shared and we thank you. The sixth installment is a note from the Director of Next to Normal, Adrienne Boris. 

A Note from the Director

I struggle with anxiety. Although I am what’s called a “high functioning” sufferer, I am no stranger to panic attacks, sleepless nights, and the occasional bout of medication to help get me through difficult times. I don’t talk about it often because I don’t want people to think that I am not capable or responsible, so it is a cross I bear relatively silently. Of course, my condition is nothing like the Bipolar 1 with Psychotic Features that Diana, the central character in Next to Normal, experiences. However, when I first encountered this script, I related to the pressure Diana put on herself to “overcome” her condition; to be perfect, to feel and act “normal” and to come through as a wife and mother despite the dangerous messages her brain continues to send her. I soon realized that this pressure was something that united all of the characters. Natalie pushes herself to achieve scholastically so that she can rise above her family life, Dan holds himself responsible for keeping his family together despite Diana’s condition, Dr. Madden tasks himself with curing Diana at any cost. Drugs, both pharmaceutical and recreational, function as a temporary, and sometimes dangerous, relief from that pressure, but it is much more difficult for the characters themselves to take a moment to breathe and simply see themselves and each other as human beings with needs and vulnerabilities. I see the rock style of the music of this show as a manifestation of the constant pressure cooker in which these characters live; their innermost anger, insecurity, and fear fighting to come out in the jagged riffs and wails of the music.

So what is the solution for these characters and for all of us who strive to “hide our stupid hunger and fake some confidence and cheer” as Natalie puts it? Health care in this country is a disaster and will get no better under the current administration. Mental health struggles are still stigmatized far more than physical conditions. No one talks about them, so they remain “taboo” and cause more internalized pressure to seem like we have it all together. I hope that this production will dare us to be more open about our own private struggles, rather than trying to push them down or dull them before we understand them, and to find in each other’s flawed experiences a new kind of courage and strength.

Adrienne Boris