Feeling Less Alone, Together: How Live Theater Helps Us Talk About Mental Health
When I was a senior in high school, I got to visit New York City for the first time. For this theater-kid country mouse from Sparta, Missouri, it was a life-changing trip, full of firsts.
First time on a subway. First time seeing buildings that tall—craning my neck to look up and take photos with my film camera. (This was 2002; our photos looked like retro Instagram filters automatically.) First Broadway shows, including the Tony-winning revival of Into The Woods, with Vanessa Williams as the Witch.
After I got home, I bought the 2-CD soundtrack and listened to it nonstop that summer, and I found a new favorite go-to feel-feelings song in “No One Is Alone.” In the newly post-9/11 world I was graduating into, hearing, “Witches can be right; giants can be good. You decide what’s right; you decide what’s good,” resonated with me. And so did the overall message:
Someone is on your side
Someone else is not
While we’re seeing our side
Maybe we forgot: they are not alone.
No one is alone.
Hard to see the light now.
Just don’t let it go
Things will come out right now.
We can make it so.
Someone is on your side
No one is alone.
And just like that, I had a new soundtrack for what it felt like inside my 18-year-old brain. Underneath the college-bound “good kid” with lots of potential, I was sad and unsure and secretly thinking maybe I’d ruined my life before it even really began. I was so scared of making wrong choices and worried about the future—lost in the woods of my late teen anxieties.
Feeling sad when everything seems fine on the outside is lonely. But I could return to that idea that no one is alone, and the memory of that show, whenever I needed to feel better. I can still return there now, and see the actors singing in the spotlight, more than 20 years later. That’s how important those moments can be.
The magic of live theater is how it’s a collective experience. Being part of an audience can make you feel less alone and gives you space to feel whatever you’re feeling. It’s a place to build community. A place to start conversations. An opportunity to explore big topics in small moments. There’s room onstage for all of our emotions. Our fears, our darkness, and our light.
We’ve all heard some version of, “Be kind, for everyone you know is fighting a hard battle.”
This phrase shows up so often on Pinterest quotes and HomeGoods painted decor, it might be easy to dismiss as a corny cliché—but it’s also true.
If you aren’t fighting a hard battle of your own right now, someone you know is. Because we all have minds, mental health affects us all.
According to Mental Health 417 and the Ozarks Health Commission, depression prevalence in Springfield is higher on average than in Missouri and the U.S., and suicide mortality is 60% worse than the national average.
YIKES. Here? Yes. A lot of progress has been made since I was in high school, in terms of breaking stigma and starting conversations, especially in the social media space. But there’s still a lot of silence around these topics.
That’s one reason I’m proud to be part of High Tide Theatrical’s board of directors. Making space for important conversations is right there in our mission:
The mission of High Tide Theatrical is to offer accessible theatrical productions that cultivate a spirit of progressive thinking, empathy, and unity.
Progressive thinking, empathy, and unity are onstage in every High Tide production. Shows like Next to Normal and Every Brilliant Thing offer permission and space to explore things that may otherwise be hard to bring up after a casual “how are you?” in our day to day. Singing out loud, about topics that are whispered about at best, is important and empowering work.
Here at the very beginning of this Every Brilliant Thing journey, I’m reckoning with a familiar story of mental health, family, and grief. You can be sad inside when everything on the outside seems fine; you can also find joy when everything outside is going wrong. That’s what we’ll get to explore together in September. I hope this show can open up conversations about depression and suicide in our community, and maybe someone else will have a “no one is alone” moment if that’s what they need.
Source: mentalhealth417.com
Sarah Jenkins
Secretary, High Tide’s 2025 Board of Directors
