Play hits on mental illness, guns
The play “American Song” at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater will take you through a roller coaster of emotions because it hits on two hot-button issues: mental illness and guns.
The play does not give you solutions but, in smaller groups after the play on Sunday, people were allowed to express their feelings and even share their own experiences as it related to the play.
In my group of a dozen people, my girlfriend talked about how she was robbed at gunpoint while she was a teller at Brewery Credit Union. She said since that day, when a semiautomatic gun with a full banana clip was pointed at her chest, she has been fearful of thin, young black men wearing hoodies.
Another woman said she lost two cousins to suicide. The weapon of choice: a gun.
Another woman said she lost a loved one to suicide but the family doesn’t talk about it, and that hurts. Before he took his life, she said, her loved one self-medicated to deal with his mental health issues.
A retired professor questioned why anyone would even need a gun. He said guns have crippled our society and argued they do far more harm than good.
“I’ve never understood them and never had any use for them,” the man said.
The small-group discussions were lively and intended to be nonjudgmental. All of the stories crossed racial and economic lines.
The play is the story of Andy, a white man in his 40s, who lived what many would call an upper middleclass life. He marries his high school sweetheart. They have a child and move to New York City. While jogging in the park with their son Robbie, Andy’s wife is attacked by a mugger. She fights the mugger off but Andy believes buying a gun will protect his family. Actor James DeVita offers a passionate portrayal of Andy.
Years go by before Andy becomes a victim of violence. He’s shot in the arm at work during a domestic dispute. It would not be the last time that a gun has an impact on his life.
His son, Robbie, and his best friend walk into their high school gym and randomly open fire. Robbie then shoots his friend before turning the gun on himself. In the aftermath, nine are dead and 27 are injured.
Like most of us, Andy wants to know who is to blame. He questions everything from the proliferation of guns to violence on TV.
Robbie was loved. He was college bound, and both his parents had successful careers and yet, Robbie turned into a monster.
I was asked by the Milwaukee Rep to give a five-minute response as the guest celebrity on how this play relates to Milwaukee.
I mentioned the story of Markus Evans, who, by the time he was 18, had a violent record that started when he was in kindergarten when he stabbed a teacher in the hand with a pencil and ended when he shot and killed Bay View student Jonoshia Alexander, 17, a girl he didn’t even know on Dec. 15, 2010. Evans was sentenced to life in prison in 2012.
Both Jonoshia and Markus were loved by their parents.
I talked about the missed steps to help Markus when he had obvious signs of mental illness. We like to tackle issues on the surface but real change requires addressing deeply rooted problems.
For example, why can’t we close the gun show loophole? And why don’t we pass laws to make it harder for felons to get guns in the first place? We never go that deep, and that’s why since 2006, there have been more than 200 mass killings in the United States.
The small groups gave people a chance to talk about some of the bloodshed caused by guns.
Judging by some of the pain expressed on Sunday, we need to keep giving people a place to express themselves — and we need our lawmakers to hear them.