Beth Skogen
Kooy Buie rehearses a piece that will be a part of the May 19 showcase.
Fourteen-year-old Asias Johnson struggles with anxiety so severe that sometimes it’s difficult for her to speak. An eighth grader at Glacial Drumlin School in Monona, she wishes her classmates could understand what she’s going through and how alone she feels. But she finds comfort in expressing herself through writing — she just gets out her notebook and the words flow.
Earlier this spring, Johnson worked up the courage to audition for UpStage Stigma, a performing arts showcase that provides a platform for people struggling with mental illness to tell their stories. After Johnson read her poem, “Underneath My Mask,” event organizers Karl Locher and Emily Erwin-Frank were blown away. “It was profound,” Erwin-Frank says. “It really illustrates the experience [of living with mental illness]. We could really identify with it.”
On May 19, Johnson will appear on stage at the Majestic Theatre along with a group of musicians, poets, actors, dancers and mental health practitioners performing works that speak to their experiences. The show starts at 7 p.m. with jazz from the John Christensen Group (plus free pizza) and closes with a 10 p.m. performance from The Big Payback. Admission is donation-based, with proceeds benefitting Program of Assertive Community Treatment (PACT), a community support program for people with mental illness.
Erwin-Frank developed UpStage Stigma last year as part of her graduate studies in the UW-Madison School of Social Work. Inspired by her work with PACT and her lifelong love of vocal music, she wanted to combine her passions and empower people to speak out about issues that are still considered taboo. “This is a space where we’re saying, ‘These vulnerabilities are OK,’” she says. “We’re coming back and saying, ‘We are going to give you a stage.’”
Kassy Coleman, a voice teacher and yoga instructor who performed a song in the showcase last year, says participating alongside others living with mental illness was a “powerful” experience. “It was humbling, and really eye-opening,” says Coleman, who has lived with anxiety since she was a child but didn’t recognize it as a mental health issue until she got older. Now the mom of a teenager struggling with similar issues, she wants to normalize conversations about mental health. “She deserves a voice, and [so do] all the kids like her,” Coleman says.
Johnson admits that she’s nervous to share her poetry. But she says being part of the showcase and spending time with other performers has already had a positive impact. “It’s really healing,” she says, “to be in a place where people understand.”
