ARTICLE | “Next to Normal” rocks more than the WICA stage

Some things defy expectations. Next to Normal, at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts in Langley, is sure to be one of them.

“Next to Normal is the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical about a suburban American family and one woman’s journey through her bipolar episodes and depression,” described director Deana Duncan, WICA’s Artistic Director. “It is at turns funny, heartbreakingly tender, and stunningly beautiful.”

With a small cast of just six actors, Duncan said the music is easily the seventh character.

“This music begins soft and plays at your heartstrings, then it drives deep into your belly and soul and then it rocks the foundation of your emotions,” she described. “I’ve been listening nonstop to this music for over six months and it’s only getting stronger. The music holds, carries and matches the authenticity of the emotion this story shares.”

“The music is composed as part and parcel of the telling of the story - the melodic riffs, the rhythmic impulses, the chosen instrumentation are all very intentional as a way to convey the reality of each character AND the arc of their development as the play unfolds,” said musical director Sheila Weidendorf. “The music is the heart of the story…” — Kathy Reed, Whidbey Weekly

Read the entire article here.

RELATED PROGRAMMING

Next to Normal | Apr 05-20, 2019

DIRECTOR'S NOTE | "Next to Normal"

“Sometimes, the universe gives us an experience so full and authentic it cracks us open. Next to Normal has been in my heart and mind and soul for 7 years, since my son Zachary, in college on the East Coast, called at intermission in tears and said…”Mom…this show…” and I’ve wanted to work on it ever since.

There are three lyrics I’d like you to listen for please…because I think they hold the heartbeat of the story. These are the lessons we can cultivate enough courage to hear and act on so we can move forward and I think these are what make Next to Normal so important:

The doctor tells Diana at one point:

Admit what you’ve lost

And live with the cost

At times it does hurt to be healed

Natalie tells us:

Give me clouds, and rain, and gray.

Give me pain if that’s what’s real

It’s the price we pay to feel

And Diana shares with us:

And you find out you don’t have to be happy at all

To be happy you’re alive

There is great hope in this story but it’s only possible with the courage that comes from accepting this human life of ours in all its complexity and pain and beauty.

This cast, band, and creative team have worked some magic here, I have to thank Sheila Weindendorf who was the only one I knew could hold this, Verna Everitt who took away the fences, David Mackie who created this set and lighting and gave us a pallet to grow in, the WICA Board and Staff for all the support, and my boys, my family for letting me break open my heart…and not walking away.”

 Deana Duncan

RELATED PROGRAMMING

Next to Normal | Apr 05-20, 2019

KEY IDEAS | What is bipolar disorder?

OVERVIEW

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive illness, is a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood, energy, activity levels, and the ability to carry out day-to-day tasks.

There are four basic types of bipolar disorder; all of them involve clear changes in mood, energy, and activity levels. These moods range from periods of extremely “up,” elated, and energized behavior (known as manic episodes) to very sad, “down,” or hopeless periods (known as depressive episodes). Less severe manic periods are known as hypomanic episodes.

SIGNS & SYMPTOMS

People with bipolar disorder experience periods of unusually intense emotion, changes in sleep patterns and activity levels, and unusual behaviors. These distinct periods are called “mood episodes.” Mood episodes are drastically different from the moods and behaviors that are typical for the person. Extreme changes in energy, activity, and sleep go along with mood episodes.

TREATMENTS & THERAPIES

Treatment helps many people—even those with the most severe forms of bipolar disorder—gain better control of their mood swings and other bipolar symptoms. An effective treatment plan usually includes a combination of medication, psychotherapy, and for those who have not been able to recover with other treatments — electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).

Learn more about bipolar disorder at the National Institute of Mental Health.

RELATED PROGRAMMING

Next to Normal | Apr 05-20, 2019

ARTICLE | Is "Next to Normal" Normal?

“A few months ago I headed to New York for my friend Jenny Fisher’s 50th b-day celebration along with a few high school friends. I sprung for tickets to Next to Normal, a play described to me as a musical about familial dysfunction. When we waffled about our other activities, I suggested that we see Ground Zero. I wanted to physically experience for the first time the spot that remains seared in the memory of every living American. My friends appreciated the free tix, but thought I was nuts. “What’s next on the Depression Tour?” They razzed. “Graveyards? Prisons? Hospitals for the terminally ill?”

Next to Normal is fabulous; make time to see the show. The script zings, both funny and painful. The music pulses, keeping a tough subject palatable—even entertaining. If you’ve seen the show and read my book you might understand why I was sobbing by the end of the first act. Middle-aged Diana, the play’s lead, is adored by her husband Dan, but drops into a deep depression. Despite medication and psychotherapy, she catapults further. Diana attempts suicide followed by ECT. The details are different, but this story is my story on stage…” more.

Julie K. Hersh, Psychology Today

RELATED PROGRAMMING

Next to Normal | Apr 05-20, 2019

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ESSAY | Progress from the Past: The Arts and Crafts Movement in Britain

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“Britain’s nineteenth-century Arts and Crafts movement had a curious relationship with Victorian notions of social advancement. Whereas proponents of the Industrial Revolution encouraged mechanization and new technology, people in the Arts and Crafts movement looked back to the Middle Ages. Both camps firmly believed in progress—the improvement or even perfectibility of the human condition—yet one group looked to the future while the other favored a return to the past.

Arts and Crafts advocates opposed industrialization and factory-made goods on aesthetic and moral grounds: mass production dehumanized workers, and the cheapness of low-quality decorative items encouraged people to decorate their homes with excessive ornamentation. Ironically, although Prince Albert wanted the Great Exhibition to encourage beautiful design, several of the event’s own organizers publicly decried poor examples of design throughout the exhibition. Morris idealized medieval craftsmen, who made their products by hand, and medieval art, which expressed profoundly Christian themes in beautifully designed furniture, textiles, and architecture…” more.

SOURCE: Interweave

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Art Talks with Rebecca Albiani

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood | March 20 | 11am

William Morris: The Revolutionary | April 17 | 11am

The Arts and Crafts Movement: Form, Function, and Influence | May 15 | 11am

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Whidbey Island Center for the Arts would like to begin by acknowledging that we gather on the ancestral homelands, originally known as Tscha-kole-chy (SHA-KOL-CHI) in Lushootseed (LU-SHOOT-SEED), of the Coastal Salish Peoples, on the lands of the lower Skagit, Tulalip (tuh·lay·luhp), Swinomish (SWIN-ə-mish), Snohomish (snō-hō-mish), Stillaguamish (still-uh-GWAH-mish), and Suquamish (soo-kwah-mish), who have lived in the Salish Sea basin since time immemorial and have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands.

We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water.

Please join us in expressing our deepest respect and gratitude to the indigenous people of this territory and for their enduring care and protection of the land in which we currently occupy and share through the Treaty of Point Elliott signed by 82 tribes in Múckl-te-óh (Mukilteo) on January 22, 1855.