Exploring youth mental health through Canadian theatre
December 07, 2022
Monica Prendergast is an actor, poet, arts-based researcher and a seasoned professor of Drama and Theatre Education. She is particularly passionate about theatre for young people. Recently, Monica has been awarded a two-year SSHRC grant for the amount of $69,880 CDN to support her research project entitled ‘Youth <--> Mental Health <--> Performance: How young people respond to portrayals of mental health, resilience and well-being in and through drama and performance creation’.
This project includes working with four high school drama classes across Canada to study and create original plays based on mental health and real-life experiences.
How would you describe the work that you are currently doing?
The impetus for the work was my concern about what I was reading about young people's mental health, particularly during the pandemic. Research shows that anxiety, depression and suicide are spiking among young people, which is very concerning. So, as I usually do, I thought about how drama could open up a space for young people to talk about these things.
A lot of people have told me that there hasn't been any discussion in their schools about their mental health. I put in a SHRCC grant application that looked at identity as the main topic and I shifted towards this new topic of mental health just because I felt it was so important over the last two and a half years.
How will the project take shape?
With funding from an internal research grant, I completed a pilot project earlier this year in January and February, up at Claremont Secondary School in Saanich. There were 20 students involved. I've now done two case studies and I'm going to Toronto next spring to do a third. The fourth and final one will be in northern Saskatchewan in North Battleford. I felt it was important that I work with a group of Indigenous young people, and I have a doctoral student who lives in North Battleford. We'll have an opportunity to work with some young Indigenous people there.
What are the plays about?
We've decided to focus in on three plays that looked at key topics on mental health. One play is called ‘Still Falling’, which is a solo play from Green Thumb Theatre in Vancouver that looks at anxiety and self-harm. Another play is called ‘Selfie’, which looks at the mental health fallout from a sexual assault that happened at a party in which the survivor does not remember the assault. The consequences of that also involved cyberbullying. The third play is called ‘This is How We Got Here’. It's an Indigenous play and it deals with youth suicide.
After we worked with the three plays, we shifted to the creation of an original play. In both cases so far, the local drama teacher and I facilitated the creation of scenes using a lot of improvisation, and then the students chose which scenes they felt had good potential to be developed. We added characters into those scenes, and then we made some tough choices about which scenes to keep in the show. Then it was about putting them in an order that made sense to the audience.
How are you collecting data for your research?
Part of the data collection for our research is to record audio and video of the plays that the students have created, and analyze the recordings. What are the students telling us about their mental health in these plays that they've created? I'll be writing papers with my research assistants about all of the case studies.
The students’ responses to the plays were very insightful. They're savvy around how young people speak and quick to point out what’s not authentic. I had students disclose their own struggles with anxiety, panic attacks and other issues going on in their lives. I was very grateful to them for being so forthcoming and honest in their responses.
What challenges have you encountered so far?
In the pilot project, several students in a mixed-grade drama class chose not to be involved. It took me a while to understand, but they were protecting their own mental health. Their argument was ‘why would I want to damage my mental health by doing a workshop on a play about suicide’? They just didn't want to go there. In our second project, the drama teacher auditioned students so they were given the power to opt in, which made a huge difference.
What are your hopes for the outcomes of this research project?
My last SHRCC project was funded to create an e-textbook for high school students called ‘Web of Performance’, which introduces students to the field of performance studies. I worked with UVic Libraries to publish it. I could see us doing something similar with this project, such as putting together a package for teachers and then sending it out through the Association of BC Drama Educators list and others.