Inspiration

    I am currently on a school trip for acting in Tampa Bay, Florida right now and every night we have been going to a special performance. Last night, we saw Next To Normal, a wonderful play that, coincidentally, tackles schizophrenia in the household. SPOILER: the mother ends up being a schizophrenic who sees her dead son, who at the time of the play would be turning eighteen. At first, they don't let you know this, so all you actually see is the son speaking to his mother. But when you realize she is schizophrenic and you start to look back on it, you realize that no one else in the household actually interacts or even looks at the son. He doesn't touch anything, and if he does, it doesn't actually move. For instance, the mother would give him a lunch bag but he wouldn't actually take it. I thought of what a great way that is to display a hallucination! Now, I know that film and theater are very different mediums, but nonetheless, the basics of interacting with a hallucination were present.

    As of now, my character will be alone in the forest, but the hallucinations he hears or sees in nature could be juxtaposed with what we actually see and hear, a quite and calm forest. I thought of what a funny and helpful coincidence it was to watch that play that would give such an insight into what I actually am doing. I have learned a lot about schizophrenia but I have not learned much about how it is displayed in the media. So, this has opened my eyes as to what research and work I need to do to make this go forward. 

Thanks for reading!