Sometimes loss is greater than losing your umbrella on the subway, like losing your brother to suicide and then your partner breaks up with you in the same week. Between all-you-can-eat sushi, crying in the lamp aisle at Ikea, and finding herself at the bottom of a vodka coffee (it’s a thing) this sister journeys through the first year of bereavement laughing because if not she’s ugly crying.
I WANT TO INCITE GREATER DIALOGUE ON MENTAL HEALTH FOR OUR YOUTH.
My name is Adrianna Prosser. I am a storyteller, and have been a historical educator through the City of Toronto Museums for eleven years. I want to engage communities in mental health dialogue through my one-woman play, Everything But The Cat…
COMBINING LIVE ACTION AND A MULTIMEDIA DISPLAY, the show engages students in the real-life story of how I lost my brother Andrew to suicide, and my journey through the first year of bereavement. Andrew was twenty-two years old and had been dealing with depression since he was a teenager, unbeknownst to me and all others close to him. I created this play with the intention of helping young people who, like Andrew, feel alone in their struggles, in order to let them know there is hope.
WATCH THE FULL SHOW – ONLINE ARCHIVAL
EVERYTHING BUT THE CAT… IS TESTED AND PRAISED BY STUDENTS AND TEACHERS.
EBTC has visited Sinclair S.S. and Port Perry High School where teacher reviews were unanimous: the show “packed a huge message” and was “excellent,” but the most valued feedback EBTC received was that students “talked about it for days” after, in and outside of classrooms.
-5% of your booking fee will be donated to a local suicide prevention charity
-Each performance gets a talk-back with the playwright/actress at the end of the show.
Everything But the Cat… was a sell out smash at the Soulo Festival May 2014
here’s what the audience had to say about it:
“Very Powerful performance. Very brave of you to share, thank you.”
“What a wonderful way to begin an honest important dialogue.”
“[Everything But the Cat…] will reduce stigma & dispel myths.”
Comments from inside the classroom:
“A very sensitive issue, presented by someone who as ‘been there’ that audience members can identify with.”
“It will help them understand that others are going through the same issue.”
About Adrianna Prosser – Playwright/Actor/Projection Director
Adrianna is a storyteller and safeTALK Trainer. She was the Resident Playwright for Gibson House Museum and Zion Schoolhouse from 2008-2012, where she produced her theatre-in-situ productions adapting Canadian history for modern audiences. Combining her Learning Through the Arts training, Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training (ASIST) and safeTALK certification, she hopes to engage the audience and go beyond the stage and screen to creating a safe place for discussion and sharing. She is currently an Ontario Association for Suicide Prevention (OASP) member.
Adrianna has shared her stories at CanStage’s Emerging Artist nights, Storytelling at Caplansky’s hosted by Marilla Wex, high schools and universities, Stories We Don’t Tell, All in your Head by Art with Impact, Confabulations, Raconteurs with Workman Art’s MyseumX Storytelling Event, XVZF Storytelling Night, Alumnae Theatre New Ideas Festival, and WonderFest, and CMHA’s Mental Health Conference for All 2017.
Listen to the opening of her one-woman show by clicking here.
Listen to her episode on the mental health podcast Stories Like Crazy.
Listen to her talk about her process on Stories We Don’t Tell podcast.
Learn more about her safeTALK Trainer suicide alertness for everyone workshops
About Stevie Baker – Stage Manager
Stevie Baker is a producer, costume designer and stage manager. Internationally, she has worked with Kansas City’s MET and served as Artistic Director for the Daegu Theatre Troupe in Daegu, South Korea. Stevie is extremely proud to be the resident head of production, and primary costume designer, at her theatrical home Dauntless City Theatre. Favourite credits include directing Zora Neale Hurston’s Lawing and Jawing and A Streetcar Named Desire for the DTT. Recent productions include Lysistrata (how.dare.collective 2017 Toronto Fringe), The Winter’s Tale (Leroy Street Theatre), Out at Sea (Leroy Street Theatre) and Lakeboat (Unit 102). Stevie is ever grateful for her magical children Stella and Gilda.