The Walls Are Alive With The Sound Of Mad People

The Friendly Spike Theatre Band is happy to announce up and coming community theatre activity for 2011.

Our project is of special significance to those who are interested in Mad People’s History because Mad People’s History is the site of our adventure.

On September 25 2010, a series of nine memorial plaques in remembrance of The Patient Built Wall on the grounds of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) at 1001 Queen Street were unveiled.  Together the plaques help to tell the story of the people who built the walls. ‘These walls are a testament to people whose unpaid labour was central to the operation of asylums, in the Province of Ontario during the 19^th and 20^th century’ Our project entitled: ‘The Walls Are Alive With The Sound Of Mad People’, aims to include  an imaginative lively dimension of this history. By using the words on the plaques as our point of entry, actors will develop and link their stories to those of the past.  Presentation is planned as part of The Patient Built Wall Tour, Mad Pride Day July 14, 2011, and a subsequent tour in the fall 2011.

This project takes inspiration from Darlene Lucus’ memorable portrayal of May F. by the Patient Built Wall, 2010, and the late Bobbi Nahwegahbow’s Angel Queen.   Both these women used theatrical expression as a way of honouring and connecting with patients past but in many ways their stories revealed persistent societal problems of exclusion and stigma, as well.

Join us

Development Rehearsals  take place 6:30pm to 9:30pm
Fridays… March 11,    April 8^th,   May 13^th ,    June 10^th &  July 8

at Robinson Auditorium, 20 Westlodge Ave, Toronto

one block east of Lansdowne one block north of Queen.

If you are interested in participating we encourage you to visit The Patient Built Wall, and start your research.

Check out www.psychiatricsurvivorarchives.com,
or email friendlyspike@primus.ca and we can talk about it.

Related Articles

• Poetry and madness (bbc.co.uk)