“Facing the Rain,” a play that explores mental illness, will be performed at 6 p.m. April 16 at DePaul University at the Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave., Room 120, Chicago. The program, which will be interpreted for the hearing-impaired, is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

The drama chronicles five true stories of college students’ experiences with mental illnesses, and will be followed by an interactive dialogue facilitated by DePaul alumna Brighid O’Shaughnessy, executive artistic director of Erasing the Distance. The non-profit organization started by O’Shaughnessy aims to increase awareness of mental illness and disarm the stigma surrounding it, as well as provide people with access to resources for help. 

“We want to open a dialogue about mental illness, which causes suffering in the lives of so many people,” said the Rev. Dennis H. Holtschneider, C.M., president of DePaul. “DePaul hopes that by addressing this subject, it shows those affected by mental illness that they are not alone and that help is available.”

The urgency to improve mental health services on college campuses has been recently recognized by lawmakers. Last week, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) joined with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to introduce bipartisan legislation to improve mental health services on college campuses.

“Mental illness affects one in four Americans. Fifty percent of all mental illness episodes occur by age 14, and 75 percent occur by age 24, making high-school and college-age students the most vulnerable population,” O’Shaughnessy said.

“We’re using the creative arts to stimulate social change. We take topics that people need to be educated on and make it real,” said O’Shaughnessy, who graduated in 2007 from the DePaul School for New Learning’s Master of Arts in Applied Professional Studies program.

“We show what a person dealing with these issues looks like, sounds like, talks like, acts like so that it can become real,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Students are entertained at the same time they’re learning.”

O’Shaughnessy chose to partner with DePaul because of the university’s mission and diversity. “Given the university’s commitment to social justice, to addressing urban challenges and today’s pressing questions and issues, I can’t think of a better place to bring this work so this issue can be looked at head-on,” she said.

“Also, mental illness affects people of every age, class, race, culture, religion and gender,” O’Shaughnessy said. “Given that DePaul brings together students from so many diverse corners of the world and from so many diverse backgrounds, it creates a rich forum in which to dialogue about an issue that touches so many people.”

The President’s Diversity Series program is sponsored by DePaul’s Center to Advance Education for Adults and co-sponsored by the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity, School for New Learning, The Theatre School, Office of Student Affairs, School of Education, and Office of Students with Disabilities, among others.

Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. To register or for additional information, please contact caea@depaul.edu or call (312) 362-6508.