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Don't miss this year's Theatre Arts Peformance
I Can Hear You with My Heart features the voices of Thresholds members as they talk about the trials and epiphanies in dealing with a life touched by mental illness. This year's performance is extra special with the addition of stories featuring many of our members who are deaf and hard of hearing. Don't miss this unique performance. More information is available on this flyer.
About The Theatre Arts Project
Not only is theatre a tremendous therapeutic tool but it has a very powerful and dynamic potential for public education. Originally created in 1988 to provide meaningful social and therapeutic outlets for Thresholds members, we quickly recognized this potential and expanded our mission and activities to include the reduction of negative stigma associated with having a mental illness.
Nearly one in four Americans will suffer from some form of mental illness during their lifetime and this negative stigma can be a huge roadblock to recovery for many.
The Thresholds Theatre Arts Project unites professional actors and directors from Chicago’s vast theatre community with people served by thresholds programs in a unique, collaborative production that showcases the rarely heard and often misunderstood artistic voices of individuals with mental illness. The project offers a chance for performers and writers to express the complex experiences, thoughts and emotions brought about by their symptoms. Everything you see on stage is true. Poetry, original music, improvisation, monologue and story theatre create the backdrop for exploring these experiences
We create a brand new show every year. Shows run for two to three weeks at a prominent Chicago theatre and then we are able to take the show on the road throughout the year. We have performed at high schools, middle schools, churches, community centers, hospitals, national conferences and more. Tours are always profoundly inspiring as we see new audiences, young and old, quench their curiosity and awaken to the human face of mental illness. We invite you to share in our stories, see yourself in our faces and be inspired.
Through public performances we seek to:
- Inspire greater personal understanding of mental illness
- Educate our communities
- Reduce negative stigma
- Encourage safe self disclosure
- Develop peer support
- Enhance student/teacher relations by sharing common experience and dialogue
- Enhance non-traditional and creative communication
- Open dialogue
- Promote tolerance and understanding
- Embrace diversity
“Every school should see this performance”
- Student, Morgan Park academy
“One of the best assemblies we have ever had… The performers did and excellent job of opening up a dialogue about the myths and stigma often attached to mental illness.”
- Teacher, Morgan Park Academy
*Since 2005 Thresholds Theatre Arts Project has been working with the Chicago Police Department as part of the Crisis Intervention Training Team; developing and performing role-play scenarios in order to train officers to better handle mental health crisis calls. In January 2008 we doubled our trainings to 2 weeks a month and have now trained over 1000 Chicago police officers.
Kirsten Fitzgerald
Managing Director
kfitzgerald@thresholds.org
Marti Szalai-Raymond
Artistic Director
mszalai@thresholds.org
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Be Inspired
Thresholds has never been a more important resource. Watch this inspiring video to hear more about our programs, services and recovery stories. Watch Video
Private Pay Clients
Thresholds has several programs for private pay clients including residential and recovery services. For more information click here!
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Our Mission
Thresholds assists and inspires people with severe mental illnesses to reclaim their lives by providing the supports, skills and the respectful encouragement that they need to achieve hopeful and successful futures.
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