INDIANAPOLIS — Asylum, the Beckmann Theatre’s first play to be presented at the former Central State Hospital for the Mentally Ill, tells the true story of a psychologist’s struggle to save a group of chronic schizophrenic patients before Central State closed its doors.
Asylum’s central character, Dr. Jonathan Mangold, was a painter and Vietnam Veteran once institutionalized with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He created an art studio at the hospital, and in doing so changed the lives of his patients while raising hopes that the hospital could be kept open as a place of refuge – of asylum – for those patients who could survive outside the institution. At the same time, Dr. Mangold fought demons in his own life – the collapse of his marriage and the ghosts of Vietnam.
Written by David Schanker and directed by Rita Kohn, Asylum opens May 6 and will run for three weeks at the former hospital’s Laundry Building built in 1895 and recently converted to use as a theater. One preview of Asylum will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on May 5. Opening night is Friday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m. Other performances happen each Thursday through Sunday of the play's three-week run (May 6-8; May 12-15 and May 19-22) at the Central State Laundry Building. It is located west off Warman Ave. between Washington and Vermont Streets. For tickets, call the Beckmann Theatre at (317) 590-1454.
Rita Kohn is co-founder and resident playwright of the Indiana American Indian Theatre Company in Indianapolis. She also is senior writer with NUVO Newsweekly of Indianapolis. Giving voice to the silenced, giving visibility to people, places and events rendered invisible, runs through Rita Kohn's published books and articles, produced plays and aired documentaries. Her television documentary, Long Journey Home, won a 2004 Emmy award. Her career as an educator, editor, journalist and public scholar have intersected with a strong sense of civic responsibility and advocacy for arts in everyday life. In 2004, Rita was named a Sagamore of the Wabash.
David Schanker is a playwright and fiction writer who teaches creative writing and film studies at IUPUI. His first novel, A Criminal Appeal, published by St. Martin's Press in September 1998, was nominated for the Edgar Award and was published in Japanese translation. Mr. Schanker’s second novel, Natural Law, was published in March 2001. His short fiction has appeared in numerous literary journals and newspapers and on radio in National Public Radio's "The Sound of Writing" series. Mr. Schanker received Individual Artist Grants from the Indiana Arts Commission in 2000 and 2002.