Clayton Arts Academy Plus 1- Junior Project

PROJECT PLAN PROPOSAL

Mental Illness Awareness and Activism Through Writing

Respectfully Submitted By: Zion Davis

Date: 3/8/16

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES:

Encourage those suffering from mental illnesses in my community that they are
still capable of achieving anything that anybody else could.
Improve my own writing, and gain knowledge in time scheduling as well as
project planning, to finish the product in time.
To show young writers and actors that you can be an activist for issues you are
passionate about, without directly talking about them within your writing or
performances.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Mental illness is one of the biggest growing issues today,
however it isnt talked about very much by the media. Treatment is very simple, medications are
given to patients based on which diseases they have. This shows mental illness to be just a
simple chemical imbalance, rather than an emotional and psychological difficulty that needs real
support, not just drugs. I have chosen writing as my art medium to advocate for mental illness. I
plan to complete a full 3 act play, telling the story of a woman who has let her mental illness get
the best of her. Within the play, she is torn between giving up and trying to find the courage to
pursue the life she has always dreamed of. By telling this story, I am trying to demonstrate to
those with mental illnesses that their possibilities are endless, and that their condition has only
made them stronger. I hope in doing this, I can inspire other writers to incorporate issues they
wish to spread awareness about in their own writing.

MENTOR: The mentor I have chosen is Kevin Cline, he has experience in writing, acting and
directing. He currently teaches advanced English classes and has written stories of his own
because of his passion for the subject. He also teaches a Drama class and directs the annual fall
play at Clayton Valley Charter High School, the same school he attended. His experience in both
theatre and writing is the reason why I wanted to work with him on this project. His insight can
give me different perspectives to approach my writing with.

MATERIALS LIST: Time, my laptop, research on mental illness, interviews from people with
mental illnesses, one on one time with Mr. Cline to go over my work, and inspiration from my
own creative mind.

PROCEDURE AND TIMELINE:

 SEE IT/ BELIEVE IT: Friends and loved ones with mental illnesses attracted me to
this topic. People need to understand that mental illness is more that what it is portrayed as.
This way, people who care, can give support to those close to them with mental illnesses, and
possibly contribute to finding methods for helping those suffering all around the world. Art will
interest the reader with the characters, relationships, and plot, while simultaneously planting
ideas in their heads about how mental illness affects people. It is important because mental
illness is one of the largest growing social issues, and it will only continue to get worse..

RESEARCH IT: I plan to look up different drugs used to treat mental illnesses. The
three diseases I want to focus on are: Anxiety, Depression, and ADD/ADHD. My plan is to
research all the drugs currently used to treat these diseases. Then I want to research how well
each one works, and all of the possible side effects. With this information, I want to also see if I
can find personal accounts of how the drugs affected somebody with the disease. In my
research, I want to see if I can prove that these drugs dont work as well as emotional support
and other methods not using medications.

INTERVIEW: I plan to Interview many friends and loved ones of mine who inspired
me to do this project including: Cynthia Lepe, Paige Walton, Jay Bolton, Haley Melancon, and
more. The purposes of the interviews is to give myself more of an understanding on what
everyday life is like with mental illnesses. Since I dont suffer from any of these conditions, I
dont have any idea what it is like, which could make it challenging to write characters who do. I
hope to learn as much as I can to improve my interpretation, and to make it as accurate as
possible. These interviews will inform both the general research on mental illnesses, and
research on how to write the characters in my play.

BUILD IT/ DO IT: First, I need to do my research on mental illnesses and conduct the
interviews. The interviews should start sometime in March. Second, I need to take the
information from my research and apply it to what I have already written. Before then, I will
have already met with Mr. Cline and explained the general idea of the plot, and gotten feedback
from him. Third, I will continue the writing process and check in with Mr. Cline, showing him
what I already have done. This will happen sometime in March. Fourth, I need to take his ideas
and any new information from interviews or research and incorporate them into the writing and
story. This should span from late March into April. Lastly, I need to finish the play, present it to
Cline, get more feedback, make revisions, and print the final copy. This will take place in April
and possibly spill over into early May. My plan at present is to walk the audience through this
process and show how I was led to each step of the way.

PRESENT IT: I plan to present a performed scene from my play for Mr. Clines Drama
1 class. I would explain my journey to the audience and what inspired me to do this project. I
would focus on how actors can portray the meaning of the writing through their performance,
and therefore assist the activism. I would explain my idea of spreading awareness through
writing beforehand, but show how an actor's interpretation gives meaning to the words. I think
this way I could get my message across to the students, and hopefully inspire them in the future.

REFLECT ON IT: I will Reflect in a neutral way; I want to describe both what went
well and what didnt. It will be meaningful to track the positives and negatives along the way, so
that in the end I can see them all together. I want to grow by learning how to be an activist with
art in a student setting, but I want to do this by taking lots of feedback along the way. By
listening to my mentors ideas and the ideas of others around me, I can shape my writing into
something three dimensional that covers different perspectives. I also want to take questions and
feedback from the audience after my presentation, for future reference. I think my presentation
will guarantee the impact of my project, so I plan to put effort into making it the best it can be.

DESIRED OUTCOME: I want my audience to know that mental illness isnt just a chemical
imbalance, and that it cant stop anybody from following their dreams. I want them to be
curious, and want them to ask questions as well as discuss it with peers or family. I hope my
project will lead to more emotional support for mental illness from the community.

IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT TO YOU AS AN ARTIST: I think that writing a play is the

best way to show mental illness, because mental illness is very real. Only those who suffer really
know what It is like, therefore the best way to portray this story is through actors portraying
characters and their emotions. A normal book wouldnt work the same because the meaning
would only be backed by words, while a play is meant to be interpreted and performed
realistically. If an audience saw the show, they would feel the emotions of these characters
because theyd be watching them right before their eyes. Without the performance aspect, the
audience is just reading about these emotions, instead of actually seeing them.

IMPORTANCE OF PROJECT TO YOU AS A STORYTELLER: This project is important

to me, because friends of mine and people I love have been devastated by their own minds. I
have seen them go through different medications and it seemed to me like the one writing the
prescriptions was just guessing which one would work best. I have only seen this, I have no idea
what it is really like. I think that it is the responsibility of the community to be there for their
brothers and sisters, when mental health stands in the way of a simple life. I have provided this
emotional support before, and it can work. Sometimes it only takes a hug, sometimes its a
laugh, sometimes it is a conversation to distract their mind, and sometimes they only need hope.
Whatever it may take, these people should never feel alone. If the community only provides
prescriptions, then I wish to combat them with this movement, to give hope to natural cures that
arent made in a laboratory. People with mental illnesses need to know two things; That they can
do anything that I can do, and that their condition makes them stronger than anybody without
mental illnesses, like myself.