Performed at The Playwrights’ Center, Minneapolis

Maggie's Brain, a dance and movement theatre performance, is about a young woman’s onset of schizophrenia. It is a heartfelt exploration of the effects of mental illness on a young woman and her family who have not yet discovered the tools to deal with a situation over which they seem to have no control. Using a vocabulary of frenetic gestures, sinuous acrobatics, and a visual landscape drawn from artists Dan Flavin and Francis Bacon, Maggie's Brain brings an intense focus on the human behind the illness with the hope of shattering the stigma and prejudice of the mentally ill.

Video

Interview

Photos

Credits

Created and Developed by Jennifer Ilse and Paul Herwig, with Sears Eldredge and Gerry Giroaurd

Project Initiator – Jennifer Ilse

Choreography by Jennifer Ilse
Scenic Design by Paul Herwig
Costumes by Kym Longhi
Musical Composition and Aural Design – Ben Siems

Lighting Design – Paul Epton
Text by Marcie Rendon

Cast – 11, Jennifer Ilse, Judith Howard, Heather Bunch, Katie Kaufmann, Diane Aldis, Jim Lieberthal, Jodi Hodgeson, Megen O’Dell, Paul Herwig, Zeb Henderson-Shreve, Taous Khazem

Duration – 90 minutes

Reviews

Star Tribune

Dance/theater review: "Maggie's Brain" is an unsentimental , enlightening look at mental illness and family dynamics. By Camille Lefevre, Special to the Star Tribune

City Pages

A heartbreaking dance-theater exploration of schizophrenia, performed in a garage by Quinton Skinner,. City Pages

MNArtists

Parallel Play at Off Leash Area: Maggie's Brain, mnartists.org by Ann Klefstad