off-leash area: Maggie's Brain

In Maggie's Brain the audience enters into the world of schizophrenia where a family is lost in a sea of confusion, anxiety, and guilt as they watch their dear Maggie being swept away by a torrent of hallucinations into an alternate reality.

Off-Leash Area uses a movement vocabulary of simple and obsessive gestures and athletic acrobatic dance to physically and visually portray the emotional experience of the onset of schizophrenia upon a young woman and her family. The audience is surrounded by the sensory overload of voices, images, and emotions that fill Maggie's mind, alternately seeing the world through Maggie's eyes, and the eyes of her family as they desperately try to communicate with one another across the hallucinatory landscape of her new world.

Drawing from artistic director Jennifer Ilse's personal experience of watching her older brother develop severe paranoid schizophrenia, and with the help of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Maggie's Brain doesn't just become a performance about a crazy person in a nightmarish institution, but rather a thoughtful and heartfelt exploration of the effects of mental illness on a young woman and her loving family who haven't yet discovered the tools to deal with a situation over which they have little control.

"Although public knowledge of mental health issues has come a long way, fundamental misconceptions are still buried deep in our society, which resurface in media outlook and governmental policy. For example: That schizophrenia is an illness that can be overcome by "pulling up one's bootstraps" and getting on with life, or that it is caused by the "refrigerator mother," who did not give enough love during childrearing. Schizophrenia is a brain chemical disorder. With this project we hope to initiate a compassionate response for the mentally ill and their families" - Co-Artistic Director, Jennifer Ilse.

Developed and Directed by Jennifer Ilse and Paul Herwig
Choreography by Jennifer Ilse
Fluorescent and Scenic Design by Paul Herwig
Musical Composition and Aural Design – Ben Siems
Lighting Design – Paul Epton
Cast - 11
Duration – 90 minutes

Maggie's Brain is supported by NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and, in part, by funds
provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council from an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature.

Maggies Brain (2006)
In Maggie's Brain the audience enters into the world of schizophrenia where a family is lost in a sea of confusion, anxiety, and guilt as they watch their dear Maggie being swept away by a torrent of hallucinations into an alternate reality. Off-Leash Area uses a movement vocabulary of simple and obsessive gestures and athletic acrobatic dance to physically and visually portray the emotional experience of the onset of schizophrenia upon a young woman and her family. The audience is surrounded by the sensory overload of voices, images, and emotions that fill Maggie's mind, alternately seeing the world through Maggie's eyes, and the eyes of her family as they desperately try to communicate with one another across the hallucinatory landscape of her new world. Drawing from artistic director Jennifer Ilse's personal experience of watching her older brother develop severe paranoid schizophrenia, and with the help of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Maggie's Brain doesn't just become a performance about a crazy person in a nightmarish institution, but rather a thoughtful and heartfelt exploration of the effects of mental illness on a young woman and her loving family who haven't yet discovered the tools to deal with a situation over which they have little control. "Although public knowledge of mental health issues has come a long way, fundamental misconceptions are still buried deep in our society, which resurface in media outlook and governmental policy. For example: That schizophrenia is an illness that can be overcome by "pulling up one's bootstraps" and getting on with life, or that it is caused by the "refrigerator mother," who did not give enough love during childrearing. Schizophrenia is a brain chemical disorder. With this project we hope to initiate a compassionate response for the mentally ill and their families" - Co-Artistic Director, Jennifer Ilse. Developed and Directed by Jennifer Ilse and Paul Herwig Choreography by Jennifer Ilse Fluorescent and Scenic Design by Paul Herwig Musical Composition and Aural Design – Ben Siems Lighting Design – Paul Epton Cast - 11 Duration – 90 minutes Maggie's Brain is supported by NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional Arts Council from an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature.