Sarah Elizabeth Bedard M.F.A '14 pulls inspiration from three personal accounts of mental illness to format her Studio Series short play: the personal accounts of Susanna Kaysen, poet Anne Sexton and works by poet Sylvia Plath.

Interrupted, a Theater Piece in Pieces' storyline centers around Kaysen's novel, Girl, Interrupted, in which the author draws on her time at McLean Hospital, a Belmont, Mass. psychiatric hospital, where she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Similarly, Sexton and Plath both spent time at McLean in being treated for depression. The play incorporates pieces of all three of their lives, but the main characters are based on Kaysen's novel. 

The actors at times dramatize the direct text of the novel, which includes some pages from Kaysen's actual psychological diagnosis from McLean as well as doctors' notes about her diagnosis, while also using Sexton and Plath's writings.

Bedard wrote, directed and choreographed the play. She also played the role of Lisa, who is a diagnosed sociopath with unpredictable behavior. Bedard combines Kaysen, Sexton and Plath's writing with dance movements and music to alter Kaysen's more traditional book into an alternative style performance. Girl, Interrupted is transformed from a memoir into both a provocative and thought-provoking piece on how mental illness can affect women. 

If not familiar with all three women's work, the play can be confusing because it is unclear from where Bedard is drawing inspiration, especially when she quotes different poems. However, this could easily have been resolved with a more thorough program detailing the sources used. Regardless, Bedard incorporated different perspectives on mental illness to create a sensory collage about women and mental illness within society. 

As for the overall structure of the play, it consisted of mostly disjointed scenes that revealed challenges of the different characters and their time spent at McLean. Bedard sticks to Kaysen's original characters, but her use of dance, supplementary poetry and music develops the characters much more thoroughly than Kaysen's original memoir.
Bedard chose five characters to focus on: Susanna (Alex Johnson MFA '14), the protagonist and author; Nellie (Caley Chase '16), who is a lesbian and seemingly the most sane of the group; Lisa (Bedard), an uncontrollable sociopath who frequently leaves the hospital; Sylvia (Liz Tancredi M.F.A. '14), who was not in the memoir but suffered from a dissociation with reality due to childhood sexual abuse and Polly (Sara Schoch M.F.A. '14), who acts like a child after being scarred from lighting herself on fire. 

Throughout the play, Bedard also emphasized conflict, both internally within a single character and externally between the women. At times, you could feel the tension in the play, as well as the struggles of one woman battling mental illness. Each character had a "solo" scene that featured music, poetry recited in the background or a monologue and interpretative dance. One of the highlights was Schoch's performance in which she completely embodied Polly's fragile psyche and child-like behavior. Her solo started with a brief, yet powerful moment in which Susanna entertains her with a notebook, while Susanna talks-essentially to herself-about a deeper issue that goes beyond Polly's understanding. 

It is a tender moment that also reveals some of Susanna's fears and issues. Polly then launches into telling the audience a story about a lonely butterfly who just wants to be surrounded by beautiful butterfly friends. After her accident, all Polly wants is to feel beautiful and loved. The song "Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby" by Alison Krauss played in the background, adding to the tragic tone of the scene. 

Bedard used Sexton's poem titled "Housewife" to develop Sylvia's character and her two personalities: one that seems to be her real self who is in love with another woman despite the pressure to conform and another who is devoted to "extreme housewivery," as Lisa puts it. 

At one point during her solo, the other girls also danced around her to the upbeat song "Sunshine Cake" by Frank Sinatra and Paula Kelly, which contrasted with Sylvia's depression and subsequent suicide. 

Susanna's character is interesting because there is little answer to whether or not she is sane. She obsesses over the bones in her hands during her suicide attempt, trying to prove that she exists, but that is the only indication that she might be struggling with reality. 

Overall, Susanna seems to serve as a tool to question how society defines mental illness. She fights her diagnosis, but by the end of the play, she is the only one who has recovered. During her scene, Susanna appears to grow stronger and more confident as seen through the type of dance. Johnson successfully conveys Susanna's struggles and triumphs while she recovers.

The converging texts, music and performance tie together the idea that normative American society damages women and then punishes them for reacting to the damage. Interrupted was a startling re-imagination of Kaysen's memoir and was incredibly well performed by all of the actors.