Cathartic. Empowering. Instrumental.

Why It Works

In the fall of 2008, Erasing the Distance did a long-term residency at Dominican University which culminated in a completely original new performance held on campus. This show chronicled 10 true stories of DU students and their struggles with mental health issues. Theatre students performed the stories.

Here, Anna Walenski, DU theatre student and one of the storytellers, shares her thoughts on why ETD’s process “works”.

Even though ETD aims to help the audience by breaking down the stigma associated with mental illness, it helps the performers as well – participating in the ETD show proved to be an enormous milestone for me.

The prospect of sharing my story and some of my most painful moments with others was petrifying at first – up until that point, I had kept my experiences very private. Admitting that one makes mistakes is not easy! But this is what makes us human, and the idea of helping someone by sharing my own experiences was enough to help me overcome my inhibitions.

It is so easy to get caught up in whatever you’re going through that you may be lulled into negative ways of coping, and I hoped that my story could help people “wake up” and turn to positive ways of dealing with their issues, whether it be through faith, counseling, or simply talking to friends.

The positive feedback I received after the show reiterated that the show was cathartic not only for me as the performer and writer of my piece, but more importantly, that the audience benefited, which made it so worthwhile.

Everyone is going through something, and once you open up, you find that others do, too. ETD is instrumental in breaking down the barriers to coping with mental illness. Bringing things to light and connecting with others is the first step to the healing process.