Touched with fire?

Victor Hugo, one of many poets believed to have had a mood disorder

There’s nothing romantic about suicide. Or mental illness. Romeo and Juliet make for compelling characters, but no one should envy their fate. Those who champion the cause of suicide prevention are gathering at the Hayden Lawn at ASU in Tempe this Saturday for one of more than 40 “Out of Darkness” walks taking place around the country. They’re being presented by the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which estimates that close to one million Americans attempt suicide each year. More than 36,000 Americans die by suicide each year. Think every 15 minutes.

Irving Berlin, one of many composers thought to have had a mood disorder

Depression and suicide get too little attention from a nation that seems at times incapable of focusing on more than a single challenge. I’m all for research and supports for people living with autism, cancer and diabetes. But 1 in 10 American adults report experiencing depression, which also strikes our youth — and it’s a disease that can kill.

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention notes that 90% of all suicides are related to some form of mental illness, most often depression — which is actually quite treatable. Events like this Saturday’s “Out of Darkness” walk at ASU, which already has more than 250 registered walkers, remind us all to take suicide seriously — and to support prevention strategies that save lives. “Out of Darkness” campus walks help the foundation with research, education, public awareness, screenings, programs to support survivors of suicide and more, according to Dawn Hunter, chair of the group’s Arizona chapter.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of many writers considered to have had a mood disorder

For folks with a special interest in the intersection of art and mental illness, Kay Redfield Jamison’s “Touched With Fire” is an enlightening read. I first read the work when it was released in 1993. James and I were already several years into our journey of parenting a child with mental illness.

I’m revisiting the book this week, looking for insights into the relationship of creativity to mental illness — because “Touched With Fire,” which is subtitled “Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament,” is a comprehensive scholarly treatment of a topic that continues to hold great relevance.

Emily Dickinson, one of many poets thought to have had a mood disorder

The book includes an appendix listing writers, artists and composers with “probable cyclothemia, major depression, or manic-depressive illness” — which includes names familiar to those with even a cursory background in arts and  culture.

It seems the longest list belongs to poets. Think William Blake, Robert Burns, Emily Dickinson, T. S. Eliot, Victor Hugo, John Keats, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Sexton, Walt Whitman and more. Also writers — Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henrik Ibsen, Robert Louis Stevenson, Tennessee Williams, Virginia Woolf and others.

Victor van Gogh, one of many artists thought to have had a mood disorder

Composers on Jamison’s “probable” list include George Frideric Handel, Gustav Mahler, Sergey Rachmaninoff, Robert Schumann and Peter Tchaikovsky — and “nonclassical composers and musicians” noted include Irving Berlin, Noel Coward, Stephen Foster and Cole Porter.

Jamison writes that “Many if not most of these writers, artists and composers had other health problems as well, such as medical illnesses, alcoholism or drug addiction.” Artists on the list include Thomas Eakins, Paul Gaugin, Vincent van Gogh, Michelangelo, Edvard Munch, Georgia O’Keefe, Jackson Pollock and many more.

Virginia Woolf, one of many writers thought to have had a mood disorder

“They are listed,” explains Jamison, “…because their mood symptoms predated their other conditions, because the nature and course of their mood and behavior symptoms were consistent with a diagnosis of an independently existing affective illness, and/or because their family histories…coupled with their own symptoms–were sufficiently strong enough to warrant their inclusion.”

For those of you wondering what qualifies Jamison to draw such conclusions, I offer two important facts. Jamison herself is living with manic-depressive illness, also called “bipolar disorder.” And she’s a professor of psychiatry with The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Her own struggles with mental illness are recounted in other works she’s published — including “An Unquiet Mind” and “Night Falls Fast: Understanding Suicide.”

Click here to learn more about Saturday’s “Out of Darkness” walk — and here to get additional information about suicide and suicide prevention. “Suicide is the third leading cause of death among teens and young adults and the second leading cause of death for college students,” according to Hunter. Every parent, educator and artist should be literate on the topic of suicide prevention because denial is a dangerous thing.

— Lynn

Note: NAMI Walks, another event raising mental health awareness, is scheduled for Oct. 20, 2012 (starting at the Arizona State Capitol). Click here to find additional resources through the Arizona Coalition for Suicide Prevention. Click here for details about an exhibit featuring Vincent van Gogh at the Arizona Science Center in Phoenix and here for details about an Arizona Theatre Company production of “F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby” at the Herberger Theater Center.

Coming up: More books from Lynn’s library

Once upon a “Gatsby”

Zachary Ford (Nick Carraway) in the Arizona Theatre Company production of "The Great Gatsby" (Photo: Tim Fuller/ATC)

Our oldest daughter Jennifer, now a cultural anthropology student at ASU in Tempe, was incredibly keen on anything and everything by F. Scott Fitzgerald during one particular year of high school — so we spent lots of time chasing some of his harder to find works.

I don’t remember feeling nearly as enamoured with the American writer who lived from 1896 to 1940, best known to many for coining the term “Jazz Age” and writing about its many manifestations.

It’s harder to love something when told we ought to do so, or when everyone else seems smitten with it — which might explain why I felt so completely unmoved while watching “The Great Gatsby” unfold at Herberger Theater Center Saturday night.

The company of the Arizona Theatre Company production of "The Great Gatsby" (Photo: Tim Fuller/ATC)

The performance was pristine and passionate, and embraced with genuine enthusiasm by an audience that laughed and let out knowing sighs throughout. But I just couldn’t go there. The characters are odd in ways I find completely unrelatable, unlike those in “The Glass Menagerie” performed during Arizona Theatre Company’s 2009-10 season.

David Andrew Macdonald (Jay Gatsby) and Monette Magrath (Daisy Buchanan) in the Arizona Theatre Company production of "The Great Gatsby" (Photo: Tim Fuller/ATC)

If the lingering effect of anesthesia somehow blunted my ability to feel this story, it certainly didn’t curtail my appreciation for the beauty of this production, which features some of the best lighting, sets and costumes I’ve seen here in the Valley. It’s well-acted and directed, making for a sort of master class in bringing great literature to the stage.

David Andrew Macdonald (Jay Gatsby) in the Arizona Theatre Company production of "The Great Gatsby" (Photo: Tim Fuller/ATC)

“F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby” is adapted by Simon Levy, and directed by Stephen Wrentmore. Scenic design is by Yoon Bae, costume design is by David Kay Mickelsen and lighting design is by Dawn Chiang. It stars Zachary Ford as Nick Carraway, David Andrew Macdonald as Jay Gatsby and Monette Magrath as Daisy Buchanan.

Few companies excel like Arizona Theatre Company in “theater as teacher” mode. Their play guides are interesting reads — especially in the case of “The Great Gatsby.” Explore it online if you’re eager to learn more about the Roaring ’20s, the Prohibition era and the Jazz Age. Also what the ’20s meant for women’s rights and developments in New York City. There’s even a nifty timeline filled with truly fascinating fare.

I may never share my daughter’s insights into the world or writings of F. Scott Fitzgerald, but Arizona Theater Company is certainly inching me closer.

— Lynn

Note: Arizona Theatre Company performs “The Great Gatsby” at the Herberger Theater Center in Phoenix through April 8. Click here for details.

Coming up: Taking risks

Book to stage: The Great Gatsby

Last year at about this time, Stephen Wrentmore dug out his very old copy of “The Great Gatsby,” the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel published in 1925 — considered by many the “great American novel.”

He was talking at the time with David Ira Goldstein, artistic director for Arizona Theatre Company, about possible programming for the 2011-12 Arizona Theatre Company season. Wrentmore was named the company’s associate artistic director in January, and will be directing “The Great Gatsby” for ATC later this season.

The thrill of returning to “The Great Gatsby,” says Wrentmore, was greater than any other experience revisiting works he’d previously read. Reading it cold as an adult, he muses, beats being force fed the novel as a child. “It’s such complex and rich writing for a hungry mind,” shares Wrentmore.

This first edition of The Great Gatsby was sold at auction by Christie's for $163,500

American students are expected to read “The Great Gatsby” but that’s not the case for students in London, where Wrentmore was born and raised. “I read ‘Huckleberry Finn’ by accident when I was 11 or 12,” recalls Wrentmore. Seems immersion in the writings of modern American authors isn’t considered essential within the British education system.

Wrentmore discovered American novels shortly after taking his exams at age 16, and says he soon became “obsessed with American literature.” Wrentmore recounts reading American novelists like Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald through the end of his university studies — when he finally got to visit America.

He first traveled to Arizona in 2000, and still marvels today at the differences between British and American culture. Comparing life in Arizona to life in London, he says, is like comparing two distinct languages. “I knew in my head that it would be different,” shares Wrentmore. But “the different energy levels” of Arizona life and London life are more stark than he’d imagined — by virtue, he says, of both climate and distance.

“Europeans walk everywhere,” reflects Wrentmore. “And there’s a greater sense of the outdoors in Europe.” In London, he says, you meet people on the pathways. “There are more opportunities for random encounters.” In Arizona, he’s observed, people seem to live in their cars. There’s no popping out to the market late at night unless car keys are involved, and it’s isolating.

Hence the added importance of arts and culture to Arizona communities, reflects Wrentmore. People who attend a concert or play have a shared experience. They develop a sense of community — something Wrentmore says we need more of. The arts, adds Wrentmore, forge a connection between “our common humanity.”

Wrentmore has been busy casting “The Great Gatsby” in Tucson, Phoenix and NYC — but says he’s only about 70% there so far. The Arizona Theatre Company production of “The Great Gatsby,” the final work in their “America Plays! Celebrating Great American Stories” series, runs Feb. 25-March 17 in Tucson and March 22-April 8 in Phoenix.

Cover of my daughter Jennifer's $12.95 copy of The Great Gatsby

“People have great expectations,” reflects Wrentmore. “We have to tell the story in a way that resonates with contemporary audiences.” Wrentmore recognizes that whatever they do, it’s likely to collide with various audience member visions of the work. “For every reader of ‘The Great Gatsby,’ there’s a different Gatsby,” says Wrentmore. “It’s completely liberating.”

“Some people won’t get it,” says Wrentmore, “and some will see a truth in it.” Wrentmore says he feels more freedom to choose historical periods and other elements when directing the works of Shakespeare. But “The Great Gatsby,” he says, must “relate with the period and how people remember the story.”

Still, Wrentmore says he’s observed that people’s memories of “The Great Gatsby” are hazy. You can ask anyone, he says, about “The Great Gatsby.” They all know it and they all have an answer — a different answer. Not all novels translate well to the stage, according to Wrentmore. But he sees “great theatricality” in the work, and is certain it’ll travel to the stage “with elegance.”

“The Great Gatsby” has been adapted several times for the big screen. The 1974 film starred Robert Redford and a 2012 film will star Leonardo DiCaprio. It’s being filmed in Australia and directed by Baz Luhrmann, and will be released by Warner Brothers Pictures in both 2D and 3D on Christmas Day 2012. But it’s rare, according to Goldstein, for the Fitzgerald estate to grant rights for theatrical adaptations. They’ll be performing an adaptation by Simon Levy.

Wrentmore notes that “The Great Gatsby” is supremely relevant for contemporary American society. “These characters live in a bubble of privilege,” says Wrentmore. “They drink, lay about and engage in dangerous liaisons.” It’s hardly a reflection, says Wrentmore, of the Protestant work ethic in which folks work hard for money they then put to good use.

“I come from a society that believes in a sense of society and culture,” says Wrentmore. “We give back.” But the characters in “The Great Gatsby” don’t give back. Wrentmore notes that the Gatsy story “kicks us again about the elusive idea of the American dream.”

“These characters are, for the most part, the one percent,” says Wrentmore. Just a few of them “represent the 99 percent.” Fitzgerald’s tale reminds us all to ask ourselves what it really means to be successful. And to consider, once we’ve achieved wealth and status, what we ought to be doing with it.

— Lynn

Note: The West Valley Arts Council is featuring “The Great Gatsby” in “The Big Read,” a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. A visual arts competition for ages 12-22 closes on Dec. 8 so click here ASAP for details if you or someone you know might like to participate. 

Coming up: Musings on “Mozart’s Sister,” Visual arts classes for youth, Ethnic studies translated for the stage

Update: Arizona Theatre Company is seeking donations of new and used copies of the book “The Great Gatsby” — which can be dropped off at The Temple of Music and Art in Tucson or one of three Phoenix locations — the Herberger Theater Center, the ATC Phoenix box office and the Downtown Phoenix Partnership. Watch the education section of the ATC website for details coming soon. And click here to check out the NEA’s “Big Read” blog.  12/06/11

Happy birthday Paris!

An engaged but mismatched couple (played by Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson) stroll a street in Paris soon after arriving there with her parents

Paris celebrated its 2,000th birthday on July 8, 1951 — making Friday birthday number 2,060 for the city Woody Allen first fell in love with during filming of “What’s New Pusssycat?” Allen was screenwriter and actor for the 1965 film.

He’s written and directed a new film titled “Midnight in Paris,” an opening night selection for this year’s Cannes Film Festival that was released May 20 in L.A. and New York. It’s playing now in movie theaters throughout the Valley.

Owen Wilson is one of many stellar actors in the latest film written and directed by Woody Allen

I saw the film this week at Harkins Camelview 5 Theatre in Scottsdale. I’ve never been a Woody Allen fan, but wanted to see the film described as his “valentine to the City of Light.” Seems Allen considers Paris “equal to New York as the great city of the world.”

On that we agree. I traveled many times to Paris as a college senior studying in Germany, and loved every minute spent at eclectic sidewalk cafes and majestic art museums.

I’m eager to read David McCullough’s latest work, “The Greater Journey: Americans in Paris.” Author Stacy Schiff, who reviewed the work for The New York Times, says it “explores the intellectual legacy that France settled on its 19th-century visitors” — long before the era when “freedom fries” replaced French fries on some American menus.

Reading Madeline books in a fun way to enjoy imaginary trips to Paris with your children

My children were first introduced to Paris via the books of Ludwig Bemelmans, author and illustrator of several “Madeline” titles, which follow the adventures of 12 French school girls. Bemelmans was born in 1898 in the Austrian Triol, but came to America in 1914. He lived in New York until his death in 1963. The “Madeline” movie released in 1998 could have been titled “Mischief in Paris.”

“Midnight in Paris” stars Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody, Carla Bruni (first lady of France), Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen  and Owen Wilson.

It’s a romantic comedy tackling “the illusion people have that a life different from theirs would be much better.”

As a Denver native and Arizona transplant who sometimes longs to live in New York or San Francisco, I need reminding more than most that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. There’s just more of it.

The film opens as a young couple arrives in Paris. The woman has marriage and moving to Malibu on her mind. The man, a successful Hollywood screenwriter, is working on a novel and dreams of living in Paris — where he loves to walk in the rain.

Midnight in Paris considers whether the grass really is greener on the other side

For several nights, the writer strolls alone to a special spot where he’s transported at the stroke of midnight to 1920s Paris, encountering all sorts of writers and artists, including Gertrude Stein, Salvador Dali, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.

Period music, much of it by Cole Porter, plays throughout most of the film — which also features plenty of famous sites, from the Eiffel Tower to Moulin Rouge. It’s a movie best appreciated by those who love the literary — though artists, history buffs and philosophical souls will also “get it” more than most.

Now I have a real dilemma on my hands. New York or Paris?

— Lynn

Coming up: Tips for introducing children to opera, Valley arts organizations find new homes, Musings on “The Tree of Life,” Ode to hairspray

Update: Click here to learn about the PBS American Masters presentation of “Woody Allen: A Documentary” written and directed by Robert Weide. 11/21/11

Seeing red

It’s starting to feel like a bit of a conspiracy theory. Now that my daughter Lizabeth is readying to leave Arizona for college, several of the shows she’s most eager to see have started popping up around the Valley.

We were “seeing red” recently when we realized she’ll be well into her freshman year (at a college yet to be decided) before the Arizona premiere of a play that won six 2010 Tony Awards — including “best play.”

The work is John Logan’s “Red” — which is based on the true story of an artist grappling with “the commission of a lifetime.” The play is described as “a searing portrait of an artist’s ambition and vulnerability.”

Apparently matters are complicated by a new assistant who questions the artist’s “views of art, creativity and commerce.” Their master/novice dialogue explores an age-old query: “Is art meant to provoke, soothe or disturb?”

“Red” is the final work in the recently unveiled Arizona Theatre Company 2011-2012 season, which opens with a world premiere titled “Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club.” It’s a Jeffrey Hatcher work based on “The Suicide Club” by Robert Louis Stevenson and characters created by Arthur Conan Doyle.

The 45th anniversary season slate for Arizona Theatre Company also features the Southwest premiere of Yasmina Reza’s “God of Carnage,” which won the 2009 Tony Award for “best play.” Picture grown-ups trying to be civilized as they discuss their children’s misadventures on a playground — only to unravel as “political correctness” dissolves into “character assasination.”

The fact that bullying is such a hot topic of discussion these days makes this work especially intriguing. Perhaps it’ll answer one of my one burning questions: Why are parents (and politicians) who bully so suprised when children follow in their footsteps?

They’ll also present the Southwest premiere of “Daddy Long Legs” — a musical that’s based on the novel by Jean Webster. It features book by John Caird (who also directs), and music/lyrics by Paul Gordon.

“Daddy Long Legs” couples coming of age saga and love story. Told “through a series of letters,” it’s described as “a testament to the power of the written word.”

Valley theater-goers might have had more experience with the next show in ATC’s 2011-2012 season — “Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps.” Lizabeth and I first saw this one at ASU Gammage, then at the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

“The 39 Steps,” which features four actors in well over 100 roles, is described by some as “spy novel meets Monty Python.” It’s the tale of a mild-mannered man who finds himself tangled up with murder, espionage and a dash of flirtacious misadventure. When well cast (which I certainly expect to be the case with ATC), it’s one of the funniest shows around.

An additional offering in the ATC 2011-2012 season is Simon Levy’s adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” — based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel of the same name. It explores a world of wealth and privilege during the “jazz age” of 1920s America.

It’s hard to imagine a stronger season. And while Lizabeth is truly disappointed she won’t be here to experience these shows, ATC’s 2011-2012 offerings will serve me well by providing poignant, powerful fare and a much needed distraction as I miss my favorite theater companion.

— Lynn

Note: Arizona Theatre Company presents their “Curtains Up Cabaret 2011” Sat, April 30 at the Herberger Theater Center. Click here to learn more.

Coming up: Musings on “message” movies, Valley teen does comedy