Teen actors raise awareness about mental health
“Where did this start? Did it start with a death in my family? Was it a break-up? Or did I just wake up one morning and depression was there, standing over me?” asks Anna Leah Lovlace, a ninth grader at Milwaukee High School of the Arts during a performance of “Pieces: In My Own Voice.”
The play, performed recently at South Division High School, consists of seven monologues related to mental health disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.
The young actors explained that approximately 20 percent of adolescents have a diagnosable mental health disorder, and that suicide is the third leading case of death in adolescents and young adults.
Asked what they hope the play will accomplish, the student performers said they want to end joking about mental disorders and reassure those who have a mental illness that they are not alone... Read More
