When the arts and businesses intersect

When the Sandra Feinstein-Gamm Theatre sought sponsors for a play dealing with clinical depression, Artistic Director Tony Estrella knew there could be more problems than usual finding a business or two to back it. So Estrella did what any business-minded theater director would do: he went to those entities that share a common interest in the subject, landing Butler Hospital and Gateway Healthcare Inc. as sponsors.
Written by the late British playwright Sarah Kane, who subsequently committed suicide, “4:48 Psychosis” has been described as a harrowing journey into the depths of clinical depression as seen through the eyes of a deeply troubled patient. The Gamm production, which began Jan. 14 and runs through Feb. 7, marks the play’s Rhode Island premiere.
“We picked the play last year,” said Estrella, who is directing the production, “and we always look for sponsorship for all of our plays.” Yet, in this case, the play is a “very strong, tough piece with heavy themes of depression and suicide,” he said, “so we knew it was not going to be an easy sell when you’re out there trying to get corporate sponsorships.”
Though they are not usually in the business of supporting theatrical works, Butler Hospital in Providence and Gateway Healthcare Inc., based in Pawtucket, agreed to sponsor the production and, in a unique collaboration with the Pawtucket theater, will offer a series of post-performance workshops designed to generate informed discussion with mental-health professionals.
“We just jumped at this chance,” said Richard Leclerc, president of Gateway, which bills itself as the largest provider of mental-health care in the state, serving more than 14,000 patients each year in 41 locations with a staff of more than 700. “We were enthused about the opportunity to highlight the issue of mental illness in the community.”
Patti Melaragno, Butler’s director of marketing and public affairs, said the East Side hospital and Gateway “always are looking for ways to have candid conversations in the community about mental illness. The more we can get people comfortable talking about the disease, the more it will help reduce the stigma.” The play features just two characters, the patient played by Gamm resident actress Casey Seymour Kim and her doctor, portrayed by Gamm regular Tom Gleadow. The title refers to the time when the patient would awaken each morning, 4:48 a.m., with her most lucid thoughts of the day. Gamm marketing materials variously describe the play as “raw,” “brutally honest,” “intimate” and “poetic in its intensity, with flashes of dark humor.”
The choice of sponsors, Estrella said, went beyond the need for financial support, although both Butler and Gateway are contributing monetary and in-kind resources (neither would specify how much funding is involved). “The real impetus, beyond the sponsorship, was the collaboration,” Estrella explained. “We wanted to couch the play within other outreach experiences for our audiences.”
That is why the production will offer four post-performance discussions. Each will feature mental-health professionals, including psychiatrists from Butler, Melaragno said. “Yes, this is theater. This is art,” she added, “but there is enough truth in it to get a discussion going that allows people to ask questions about things they don’t fully understand or they’d be embarrassed to ask about otherwise.”
A key point Butler hopes the audience will realize is that depression, caused by a chemical imbalance on the brain, can be treated successfully, Melaragno said. “We want people to know there is hope, there is treatment,” she said. Butler, she noted, is a teaching hospital affiliated with Brown University medical school and sponsorship of this production fits with the hospital’s educational mission.
In the same vein, Leclerc noted that brochures and other informational material about depression and mental illness will be available at all performances, not merely those when workshops are scheduled. “We want to let people know there are resources available and they can get better, they can recover from depression,” he said. An important benefit of the collaboration is the real-life insight the theater company gained from Butler personnel. Estrella said he and cast members met several times with the psychiatrists at Butler to gain perspective on the doctor-patient relationship, sessions he said were “incredibly enlightening.”
Although this is the first time Gateway has been involved in sponsoring a theatrical production, according to Leclerc, both the Gamm and Butler have some experience at jolting audiences with compelling productions.
Estrella noted that the Gamm has developed a reputation for cutting-edge drama that can lead an audience to consider crucial issues in new ways, and this is one more example of it. Using the arts as a way to shed light on a controversial topic is “a great way of getting your message out,” Estrella said. “This theater is a nonprofit, the sponsors are nonprofits and, beyond the entertainment, we’re looking to provide an engaged experience. We probably will bring in people to see this production who would not be coming here otherwise, so this is a great way to open up the theater to different kinds of people.”
At Butler, Melaragno recalled that the hospital, along with the National Association for Mental Illness (NAMI), sponsored a locally produced film about bipolar disorder at the Cable Car Cinema a few years ago. About four years ago, she said, Butler sponsored a “real stories, real recoveries” series that saw such luminaries as newswoman Jane Pauley, former NFL quarterback Terry Bradshaw and actress Lorraine Bracco come to Rhode Island to share their experiences with mental illness. “The overall goal,” Melaragno said, “is to get the discussion going.” &#8226