Category: Theatre and Dance
Talking mental health
October 06, 2025 Written by Megan M.F. Everhart | Photos courtesy of the Resident Ensemble Players
Walking into the Thompson Theatre, UD freshman Safa Nomani didn’t know she was about to experience an intimate storytelling journey that, at times, literally drew the audience on stage, but she walked out with a deeper understanding of how mental health issues impact all of us.
“When you talk to friends about mental health you’re just talking,” said Nomani, a medical diagnostics major from Christiana, Delaware. “Watching the story, you can experience it without having to go through a real-life situation. I felt connected to the bigger picture in the play.”
The play was Every Brilliant Thing, which opened the 2025-2026 season for the University of Delaware Resident Ensemble Players (REP). The one-person, one-act show is the story of a young man coping with the impact of his mother’s mental illness. Audience members help read his list of “brilliant things” worth living for and step in as supporting characters.
“Mine was ‘dreams of flying’,” Nomani said.
Every Brilliant Thing marked a partnership between the REP and UD’s Institute for Community Mental Health (ICMH), whose mission includes expanding access to quality, evidence-based mental health services through a three-pronged approach: The Center for Training, Evaluation & Community Collaboration (C-TECC), which focuses on research; the M.S. program focusing on education of future clinicians; and the ICMH-Clinic, which provides mental health care to the community.
Increasing awareness and accessibility
Producing Artist Director Steve Tague explained that every season the REP includes at least one play that explores a social issue, but this was the first time a production focused on mental health.
“All of us have dealt with mental health issues in our lives, whether personally or through a friend or family member,” he said.
When Tague approached ICMH about sponsoring the production, they saw an opportunity to increase awareness.
“Media portrayals of mental health challenges can help normalize the fact that these challenges can happen to any of us, and that there are avenues to seek support,” said Franssy Zablah, director of the Master of Science Program in Clinical Psychological Science.
The production itself strove to make the audience feel comfortable with the sensitive content. Rather than being in the theatre’s elegant auditorium, audience members were seated on the stage in Thompson, with a small carpet serving as the only set, and with lights, ropes and backstage areas visible.
Before the play began, Tague and actor Michael Gotch mingled with audience members, asking questions and making them feel at ease before offering them a numbered card to read aloud during designated moments of the show.
The interaction and informal setting created a warm and relaxed atmosphere for Gotch to take the audience through the heartwrenching, enlightening and at times humorous story.
Addressing a need
The REP performance schedule always includes two prologues, informal talks that present information on a play’s author, themes or other topics, and two talk-backs, which invite audiences to ask questions after the performance.
ICMH staff presented the prologues for Every Brilliant Thing, taking audience members through simple mindfulness and happiness exercises, and discussing these building blocks of good mental health.
Staff members were also there for the talk-backs to respond to audience questions related specifically to mental health. Zablah explained that there is a shortage of licensed mental health providers in the field of psychology, in part because of the long-standing requirement to have a doctorate degree.
“Not every student wants to, or can, commit to the additional seven or eight years of education," she said.
States across the country, including Delaware, are exploring options for revising the licensing requirements to allow M.S. level practitioners to apply, bringing more professionals into the field and expanding access to care.
This fall UD started a M.S. program in clinical psychological science, run by ICMH, to help meet the need.
“We want folks to understand that there are evidence-based treatments and approaches that work, and that we are passionate about training the next generation of frontline mental health professionals who are ready to deliver those services,” Zablah said.
