‘Jessie’s Messy Mind’
Jessie Knowles’ autobiographical play about living with mental illness
An original, autobiographical play by Jessie Knowles will be presented in three performances Friday-Sunday, Aug. 10-12, at Chattanooga State Community College.
“Jessie’s Messy Mind” is a one-woman show in which Knowles describes her personal experiences with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. She wrote the script and seven songs included in the production while enrolled at Goddard University, where she received her master’s degree in fine arts.
“I have been living with being bipolar since 1999 and schizophrenia since 2005,” says Knowles. “I have had at least five episodes and been hospitalized four times. When I went to grad school at Goddard, they really encouraged you to focus on a project that is uniquely you and has some kind of community action purpose.
“So I thought, ‘I have to face this; this has to be what I focus on.’ I applied my artistic and creative gift to this thing that had been a source of struggle to that point.”
Knowles says her goal was to get to the heart of living with those conditions every day, as well as decrease the stigma surrounding mental differences.
“I give the audience a look at the world through the lens of a manic episode. To tell the story, I use original acoustic music and the different characters and voices that I consider to be various aspects of my inner experience. My intention is to tell my personal story so that my audience can get an insider’s perspective into this fascinating and compelling condition.”
Knowles says from concept to completion, the play took years. It had its premiere in Chattanooga in November 2016 at Barking Legs Theater.
Reviews of the show have described it as “full of unabashed honesty, humor and philosophy” and “totally honest, forthright and devoid of any phoniness.”
Knowles was a member of the first graduating class of the Professional Actor Training Program at Chattanooga State. She is a writer, actor, singer-songwriter and director who has appeared in the Chattanooga State Repertory Theatre productions of “Hedda Gabler,” “Three Sisters,” “That Other Woman’s Child,” “Rosemary Leaves” and “Luck of the Draw: The Improvised Musical.”
Knowles hopes “Jessie’s Messy Mind” will encourage people to feel free to discuss mental differences openly and honestly.
“I want outsiders looking in on this story to shed ingrained feelings of pity, fear and judgment and begin to allow themselves to feel curiosity, fascination, admiration and respect. Mostly, I want people to see that there really is no standard of normal. We all just live somewhere on the grand sliding scale of perception.”
Tickets are $10; free for Chattanooga State faculty, students and staff.
For additional information, call 423-697-3246.