Coinciding with the 5th annual MENTAL HEALTH ACTION DAY, Ali MacLean has launched a new collective – the MONUMENTAL THEATER COMPANY.
The MONUMENTAL THEATER COMPANY aims to advance disabled creatives, particularly those who are affected by mental illness, neurodivergence, or TBIs.
Modeled after the hundreds of grants and initiatives created and available to BIPOC or LGTBQ, MONUMENTAL seeks to advance the disabled creative community, which has been mostly overlooked. MONUMENTAL will promote their voices and stories through fellowships, commissions, and productions.
This mission is two-fold:
1) To create a safe and supportive community for these artists to work and grow without financial constraints and with added support from liaisons at theaters nationwide.
2) It will also facilitate talkbacks at subsequent productions, meant to dispel misinformation or stigmas and allow the audience to receive any needed mental health resources.
To accomplish this systemic change, MONUMENTAL is partnering with NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) as an advisory partner and The Unusual Suspects Theater Company as a fiscal sponsor.
MONUMENTAL seeks to collaborate with other mental health organizations, trauma-based experts, neuroscientists, and theaters that recognize the need for a suitable and supportive environment for mental health, and who share the common goal of transforming the lives of these creatives and the audiences who view their work.
Founder Ali MacLean is an award-winning playwright, actor, director and mental health advocate, who identifies as disabled. She works as a talent ambassador for MTV’s Mental Health Action Day and is an advisory board member for the non-profit Peace Over Violence. She began her ‘Cathartic Collective’ model, in which each of her plays is connected to a corresponding non-profit, to provide talk-backs and resources for any audience members who may need them.
Over the past six years, MacLean has worked with the non-profit NAMI (North American Mental Illness alliance), the nation’s largest grassroots mental health organization. MacLean and NAMI Westside have collaborated on activities for Mental Health Action Day and panels for her shows. Monumental Theater Company is the next step in amplifying the voice of disabled writers.
An estimated 15 to 20% of the population classifies as neurodivergent, and one in five in the US has a mental illness. It has been scientifically proven that theater can increase mental health literacy, empathy, and the feeling of inclusion and community. Stories on subjects in the mental health space can foster positive social behavior, as well as build bridges between different sectors of society. In our current climate, this is sorely needed. The recent drastic funding cuts by the NEA, erased many possible initiatives for playwrights. Now, it is even more imperative that a space is created for these artists.
More information on upcoming initiatives soon.
If you are interested in getting involved, please email thecatharticcompany@gmail.com
ALI MacLEAN 