Chasing Monsters From Under the Bed

• June 4, 2016 @ 7:00 pm @ UC Riverside ARTSblock’s Culver Center for the Arts
  performance Chasing Monsters from Under the Bed
  The performance will be followed by a discussion with Dr. Greer Sullivan, Director of the Center for Healthy Communities of the UCR School of Medicine, and cast and community members. The event is free and open to the public.
  

Chasing Monsters from Under the Bed accompanies the exhibit States of Incarceration: A National Dialogue of Local Histories on view at the California Museum of Photography. The performance is produced by Los Angeles Poverty Department with support from the Surdna Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Support for its presentation at UCR is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities; Open Society Foundations; department of Theatre, Film, and Digital Productions at UCR; department of History at UCR; Friends of Public History; Blum Initiative on Global and Regional Poverty, an affiliated research center of the UCR School of Public Policy; and the Center for Healthy Communities of the UCR School of Medicine.

• June 7, 2016 @ 7:30 pm @ Hammer Museum
  performance Chasing Monsters from Under the Bed

• June 8, 2016 @ 7:30 pm @ Hammer Museum
  Hammer Forum

Police and People with Mental Illness: Avoiding Tragedy, Achieving Solutions
Most American police officers are not trained as social workers, so when they encounter perpetrators and victims with mental illness, the consequences can be tragic.
We examine mental health, crime, and law enforcement with a panel of experts: Linda Boyd, creator of the collaborative SMART team, which pairs law enforcement officers with mental health clinicians; Mollie Lowery, supportive housing pioneer and founder of the Lamp Community; and Detective Paul Scire, officer in charge, Mental Evaluation Unit, Case Assessment Management Program of the Los Angeles Police Department. Moderated by Jorja Leap, executive director of the UCLA Health and Social Justice Partnership.

“Chasing Monsters from Under the Bed,” explores the means and process of recovery from mental illness and homelessness at a time when thousands of homeless mentally ill are not only abandoned and feared but also threatened by aggressive policing. The project is inspired by the most forward thinking voices within the mental health profession, who believe that gaining a meaningful role in life, rather than patient-hood is the goal of treatment.

The project draws on the experientially acquired wisdom of the LAPD performers, who have, each in their own way, successfully grappled with mental health issues in order to shed identities of “homeless” or “patient” and realize new identities of their own choosing: parent, wife, actress, advocate, docent, worker. The performance, the result of a 10-month workshop process, is collaboratively authored by workshop participants. “Chasing Monsters from Under the Bed,” is performed by 14 workshop participants and co-directed by Henrïette Brouwers and John Malpede.

Cast: Stephanie Bell, Henriëtte Brouwers, Walter Fears, Silvia Hernandez, Austin Hines, Chas Jackson, Kevin Michael Key, John Malpede, Lee Maupin, RCB, Sherri Walker, Jen Wilson, Suzette Shaw, Larry Swanson and Anthony “Tone Tone” Taylor.

THANK YOU !
Linda Harris, Mollie Lowery, Michael Walker and John Travers.

This performance is dedicated to the memory of long time LAPD-member Phoenix Rupp and poet, playwright and LAPD collaborator Ron Allen.

“Chasing Monsters from Under the Bed” is produced by LA Poverty Department with support from The Surdna Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Los Angeles County Arts Commission and The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.