Bygone Theatre was founded as a collective in October of 2012, and became an incorporated not-for-profit company in October of 2015. Our mandate is to produce theatre written or set in the early 20th century, focusing on historical aspects in design and incorporating a classic cinema aesthetic.
In 2019 Bygone Theatre was nominated for 14 Broadway World Toronto Awards, including Best Community Theatre and Best Play (Equity). We took home a total of 5 awards, 4 of which were for The Rear Window, including Best Direction of a Play (Equity); Best Original Lighting Design; Best Leading Actor (Play, Equity); and Best Featured Actress (Play, Equity). We took a hiatus our 2020/21 season because of the COVID19 pandemic, and used that time to develop our charitable initiatives. In August of 2021 we were nominated for the Toronto Star Readers' Choice Award for Best Live Theatre.
Part of our mission involves inclusion and accessibility, and we strive to allow artists of all backgrounds and levels of experience the chance to have hands-on experience in whatever capacity they are most interested in; this has included youth outreach programs for high school students interested in production design, and acting opportunities for those who have never performed onstage.
You asked for it, so here it is! A crash-course in directing open to anyone who has ever wanted to try their hand at directing a stage play.
WHEN: Monday January 29, 6-8pm
WHERE: The Bridge, 379 Adelaide St. W., 4th Floor
HOW: PWYC, please register via link, you will have an opportunity to note specific topics you hope to learn about
WHAT: Have you always wanted to try directing a show but don’t know where to start? Maybe you directed once but had trouble getting cast and crew to understand your vision, or found the process to be frustrating and confusing? Directing 101 will focus less on theory and more on practical directing techniques, like;
* How do you choose a show? * How do you cast a show? * How do you plan out a rehearsal? * How do you create a positive environment for cast and crew? * How do you create something interesting onstage when dealing with restraints like mirco budgets? * What do you do when an actor won’t take direction? * How do you ensure your vision is being realized onstage? * How to be flexible when you can’t get what you want * How to keep egos in check (including yours) * How to deal with criticism from artists and reviewers and more.
WHO: Taught by Bygone Theatre’s Artistic Executive Director, Emily Dix, she will share her personal experiences and beliefs in what it takes to direct a show, and will invite others to share their own experiences. This short workshop will be a bit of a tester to see if there is interest in a longer intensive.
ACCESSIBILITY: Please note, The Bridge is unfortunately not accessible as it requires the ability to climb a flight of stairs before accessing the elevator. If you require accessibility assistance please email emily@bygonetheatre.com and we will do what we can to accommodate. The course will be delivered in English, both spoken and written.
We are looking for couples to compete at our Valentine’s Day edition of The Couples’ Game! Join us at The Bridge and compete against other couples for the chance to win some fantastic prizes. It’s easy to apply, simply email info@bygonetheatre.com with the subject line “Couples’ Game” and:
1. Confirm you are available from 8pm-11pm on Wednesday February 14, Valentines Day
2. Confirm you are able to come to The Bridge at that time, located at 379 Adelaide St. W., 4th floor, Toronto
3. Tell us the name of you and your S/O, and send a photo of you together we can share online
4. Tell us briefly why you think you’d make a good team
Open to couples of all ages and orientations, from those in the newlywed stage to those married 50 years – we want a real mix for the battle of the couples!
Looking for 8 sets of couples, so reach out now to secure your slot. And tell your friends!
Congratulations to Emily Dix, Anna Douglas and Chad Allen for their Broadway World Toronto Award wins for their work on our 2023 production of The Birds.
Join us New Years Eve and step back into the past while looking to the future, in a vintage inspired night of burlesque, fortune telling and all things mystical.
DATE: Sunday December 31, 10:00pm – January 1, 2024, 3:00am Performance starts at 11:00pm
PERFORMANCE BY: *Augusta Monet
TAROT READINGS BY: *Laura Hokstad
PLUS: Free fortune telling games throughout the space; free fortune cookies and fortune fish; and fortune-telling themed cocktails and treats for sale at the Vodkow bar.
TICKETS: -General admission $25 -Admission with Tarot Reading $30 (limited quantities) -Early Bird $20 (with code EARLYBIRD before Dec. 22, not valid for Tarot reading)
PLUS, The first 30 people to purchase tickets get a free magpie fortune bag full of little charms that will tell you what 2024 has in store!
Please note The Bridge is unfortunately not accessible. Ability to climb a set of stairs before being able to access the elevator is required. If you have accessibility concerns please contact emily@bygonetheatre.com.
Bygone Theatre receives 20 nominations for our work last season!
We’re thrilled to announce we’ve received a number of nominations for the 2023 Broadway World Toronto Awards. Voting is open now, so if you liked what you saw during our tenth season, please drop by and cast your vote!
Here’s a list of our nominations:
The Birds
BEST PLAY
BEST NEW PLAY
BEST ENSEMBLE Anna Douglas, Alex Clay, Oliver Georgiou, Kiera Publicover, Chad Allen
BEST PERFORMER Anna Douglas as Daphne
BEST PERFORMER Alex Clay as David
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMER Oliver Georgiou as Mitch
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMER Kiera Publicover as Annie
BEST SUPPORTING PERFORMER Chad Allen as Hank
BEST DIRECTOR Emily Dix
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN Wes Babcock
BEST SCENIC DESIGN Wes Babcock and Emily Dix
BEST COSTUME DESIGN Emily Dix
BEST SOUND DESIGN Emily Dix
The Yellow Wallpaper
BEST PLAY
BEST NEW PLAY
BEST PERFORMER Kate McArthur as Woman
BEST DIRECTION Emily Dix
BEST COSTUME DESIGN Emily Dix
BEST SOUND DESIGN Julia Edda Pape
Wayne & Shuster, Live!
BEST ENSEMBLE Matt Baram, Aurora Browne, Bren Eastcott, Leigh Cameron, Oliver Georgiou, Darryl Hinds
The Bridge Offers Affordable Space for Artists in Toronto’s Entertainment District
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: TORONTO, ON (November 21st, 2023) Bygone Theatre is thrilled to announce the launch of our new space, The Bridge, at 379 Adelaide St. W., 4th floor. This 7500sqft mixed-use art space is inhabited by Bygone along with partners UKAI Projects and Vodkow and will provide affordable rentals for artists looking for anything from a self-tape studio to a rehearsal space, a performance venue and more. As well, our eleventh season will feature the return of one of our award-winning plays; an expanded business and financial literacy program; and several fun workshops and events.
ABOUT THE BRIDGE
The art world, like everything else, is in a period of profound transition. The Bridge is a space for research and experimentation on how to best respond to these changes and to make art that engages audiences in the shifts underway.
As a response to the rapidly increasing cost of living, The Bridge is committed to providing artists space at hourly rates that are below minimum wage. “Affordability is really important to us”, says Bygone founder and Artistic Executive Director, Emily Dix, “and I mean real affordability. Affordable for artists who are often making minimum wage. Not just ‘below market value’ – artists shouldn’t have to choose between paying for a space to make and present their art and paying to eat”. It’s this belief that has led The Bridge to prioritize extremely low rates for artist rentals, with rehearsal and performance space starting at $10/hr for eligible artists and art groups.
The space at 379 Adelaide is leased until January 31, 2026, and efforts are already well underway to raise money to support its operations. Allied Properties REIT has provided in-kind support through favourable and flexible leasing terms for the space.; Beanfield is our connectivity sponsor, and has provided us with high-speed internet; derooted is hosting an extensive, responsive lighting set-up, valued at about $30,000; our partners UKAI Projects provide management and grant support; and co-tenants Vodkow have generously sponsored our bar and events.
Our funding goal for The Bridge over the course of our lease is $250,000. Approximately $105,000 of that will be programmatic funding, providing free access and support to a cohort of approximately 45 artists a month. About $5,000 a month will go towards regular staffing costs, and the remainder will cover our lease and overhead. While a large and ambitious sum, the value potential for the community is huge. If we successfully secure this funding then all artists can access the space at the lowest rates of $10 an hour, half the cost of some of the next cheapest rentals available in the city. The first phase of our campaign has been launched on Bygone Theatre’s Canada Helps page as we work to raise $15,000 before the end of the year to complete set-up and add to some of the infrastructure.
THE REAR WINDOW
This May, Bygone is returning to the historic Hart House Theatre, this time with a remount of their award-winning 2019 production, The Rear Window. Bringing back some of the original cast while adding a few new faces, the show is undergoing a few tweaks and will feature some exciting new technical elements. Stay tuned for details.
PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES
For the second season in a row, IG Wealth Management has generously provided us with a substantial donation to expand our Business and Financial Literacy program as well as support community arts. This season’s program will include in-person workshops as well as streaming and will encourage participants to take a more hands-on approach to learning. As well, our partner, Consultant Adam Malcolm, BA Hons, QAFP, RRC, RIS is offering a free drop-in here at The Bridge for anyone looking for financial advice on things from budgets, to RRSPs, estate planning and more.
SEASON EVENTS
DIY Holiday Ornament Drop-In: Saturday December 9, 2023, 11am-4pm This free family-friendly event is part of our Mend and Make Do sustainability initiative. Come craft some holiday ornaments out of scraps and learn how to make something from nothing. Donations happily accepted, including donations of crafting supplies.
Enigma: What Will Your Future Hold? NYE, 10pm – 3am Join us New Years and step back into the past while looking to the future, in a vintage inspired night of burlesque, fortune telling and all things mystical. Tickets starting at $20, see our website for details.
BROADWAY WORLD TORONTO AWARDS
Finally, Bygone is honoured to be the recipient of 20 Broadway World Toronto Award nominations for last season, including awards for Best Play and Best New Play (The Birds, The Yellow Wallpaper) and Favourite Local Theatre. Visit broadwayworld.com/Toronto to cast your vote today.
The ladies behind The Yellow Wallpaper. L-R: Shreya Patel, Bria Cole, Kate McArthur, Emily Dix, Helga Packeviciute and Julia Edda Pape.
This International Women’s Day we’re taking a moment to highlight the lovely ladies who have put together our current production, a new take on Charlotte Perkin Gilman’s feminist horror classic, The Yellow Wallpaper.
EMILY DIX: DIRECTOR, WRITER, PRODUCER, DESIGNER
Emily is thrilled to be working on Bygone’s 10th season. She founded Bygone Theatre in late 2012 and has been running it as Artistic Executive Director ever since, directing, producing, and designing the majority of their productions. Recently she wrote and directed a new stage version of The Birds, a “masterful homage” to the classic Hitchcock film, performed at Hart House Theatre. Prior to that, she wrote and directed The Rear Window, an “engaging and unexpected take” on another Hitchcock classic, winning the Broadway World Toronto Award for Best Direction of an Equity play. She has worked as a theatre freelancer in Toronto for more than a decade, including as a producer with companies like Tarragon Theatre and Crow’s Theatre. She also dabbles in film and tv, most recently working as a researcher for a Cineflix true crime documentary. Her next production is a return to comedy with Wayne & Shuster at Hart House, May 2023. Emily is grateful for the chance to have worked with such a stellar team of multi-talented women on a project that, while very different in style from her usual work, surrounds themes she is passionate about. Learn more at emilydix.com.
KATE MCARTHUR: WRITER, ACTOR
Kate McArthur is a Mad (Bipolar 1 Disorder)/ Queer actor/theatre artist and is a Co-Artistic Leader of Skipping Stones Theatre, a Toronto based company whose mandate is to tell stories through the lens of mental health or stories that centre around it. She received a Prix Rideau Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Performance for her performance as Nurse/Mercutio/Prince in a Company of Fools’ production of Romeo and Juliet. She constantly seeks to grow as an artist and is dedicated to the creation of important work in supportive spaces with professional standards. Selected credits: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, As You Like It with a Company of Fools; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gorboduc, The Changeling with Shakespeare BASH’d; Hamlet(s), Laughing Wild, 4.48 Psychosis with Skipping Stones Theatre; The Rear Window with Bygone Theatre.
BRIA COLE: MEDIA PRODUCER, PROJECTION DESIGNER
Bria Cole is a junior architect and documentary filmmaker. She has worked in the nonfiction film industry and with cultural organizations in Toronto and New York including People Design Cooperative, Philip Beesley Architects, Downtown Community Television, Girls Write Now, Tribeca Film Festival and Mongrel Media. She explores outdoor projection, media infrastructure in border regions, and collective solutions within the design and build community.
Bria is continuously working at the intersection of media arts, architectural design and narrative. The arts always have been and will be vital to her. It’s been a joy to work in this immersive theatre project and she will be on the lookout for more hybrid, public works.
Website: briacole.com
JULIA EDDA PAPE: ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Julia Edda Pape is a current student at the University of Toronto and (hopefully) a future director, writer and actress. She is thrilled to return to Bygone Theatre as Assistant Director for The Yellow Wallpaper after working as Apprentice Director on The Birds last Fall. She is currently directing “Maggie Chun’s First Love & Last Wedding” by Helen Ho which will be debuting at the Toronto Fringe Festival this summer (check it out on Instagram @maggiechun.fringeto)! She is grateful to her friends, family and Bygone for the on-going support, encouragement and opportunities.
SHREYA PATEL: ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Shreya Patel is a multifaceted individual, who has made a significant impact in the worlds of entertainment, activism, and mental health advocacy. Model-turned-actress, filmmaker and mental health advocate, Patel is the honoree of Top 100 Most Powerful Women of Canada, Forbes 30 Under 30, Women’s Achiever Award, Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award and Emerging Leader Under 35. Patel has been acknowledged for her efforts in advancing equity in her community, with an honorable mention from the City of Toronto. She was also listed among DissDash’s “Top 50 Coolest South Asians of 2021” alongside notable figures such as Priyanka Chopra, Kamala Harris, and Hasan Minaj. She has also graced the pages of fashion magazines like Vogue and Grazia. As an actress, she has brought raw emotion and depth to her roles in films like Strangers In A Room, Vivid, and The Intersection, which explore themes of mental health. Patel’s debut documentary, ‘Girl Up’, is an unflinching look at the reality of domestic human trafficking and was partnered with the Toronto International Film Festival and the Civic Action Summit. Her music video directorial debut, Freedom Dance, which featured famous personalities from 7 countries, has over 1.2 million views on YouTube. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she rallied 66 countries to come together for Unity- #LOVESPREADS Faster Than Virus, a documentary that showcases the plight of the human spirit, which was the closing film at the Munich Film Festival. As one of the faces of the Canadian Screen Award-winning national mental health awareness campaign “Bell Let’s Talk”, Patel is committed to raising visibility and breaking the silence around mental illness and support. Currently, she is working on a comedy series, Layla is Relevant and writing a film about trafficking while also producing various projects under her company, Window Dreams Productions.
HELGA PACKEVICIUTE: PRODUCTION DESIGN ASSISTANT
Helga Packeviciute is an Ontario based sculptural artist and architectural designer, and is thrilled to be able to assist Bygone Theatre. After finishing her Master of Architecture, focusing on the relationship between ornamentation, transgression, and fabrication methods within architecture, she is delighted to use her expertise to help support production design for “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Helga is currently producing sculptural works in Hamilton and is happily embracing its industrial heritage and welcoming arts community. The central theme of her work is a playful subversion of one’s expectations of materiality in its representation and use. This is reflective of her experience as a woman within architecture, where investigation of craft and materials has long been associated with male dominated architectural practice. In her spare time, Helga can be found on hiking trails, cross-country ski paths, or wherever there is nature to explore.
Our latest post in the Yellow Wallpaper Diaries series is written by the show’s assistant director, Julia Edda Pape.
The tragedy in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman has always been a contentious one. On one level, the devastating psychological torment and breakdown of The Woman is gut wrenching. The betrayal she faces from a spouse who ought to protect her, the inescapable pathologization that seems to get her from all angles by all the male physicians in her life, the eerie infantilization of being kept in the nursery, and the list goes on. Gilman’s short story is harrowing to read and only made more difficult with added historical context and knowledge of the realities of the so-called rest cure. The Woman’s mental suffering after childbirth is exacerbated by isolation, stillness and boredom until she breaks – becoming terribly obsessed with the facelike pattern in the wallpaper that is her only company. Yet, on the other hand – she won in the end, did she not?
Part of what keeps readers returning to “The Yellow Wallpaper” year after year since 1892 is the mad power in its conclusion: “I’ve got out at last”. Despite the torturing rest cure imposed upon The Woman by her husband John, she carves out moments of liberty and community for herself. While these glimpses at freedom are both fleeting and imaginary, they are real for The Woman and they are hers – the one thing she has that is not controlled by John or her “caregivers”. The woman in the wallpaper is a manifestation of what The Woman needs to make it through each day. She creates a companion that can help her regain agency. In this way, The Woman revives herself in bringing life to the wallpaper.
The Woman’s journal is “dead paper,” meant to be read only by herself and, in fact, meant to remain totally secret for fear of punishment. Contrastingly, when The Woman brings her wallpaper to life, she keeps it a secret not for fear of facing repercussions but because she wants it to be hers alone. By the end of the story, The Woman is crazed, yes, but also empowered by her wallpaper to take control of her situation – She is not locked in by someone else, but has locked everyone out and thrown away the key. As The Woman crawls over top of John, she is taking back her power over him. She is no longer being controlled or caged by her husband.
Powerfully, the narrative of “The Yellow Wallpaper”is analogous to the real world functions of the story itself. In publishing her piece, Charlotte Perkins Gilman transformed her own dead paper. She liberated her mind by putting the pain of her rest cure treatment into words and revived generations of women by creating a community through literature and testimony.
Just as Charlotte Perkins Gilman did by bringing her life to her dead paper – in releasing the woman in the wallpaper, The Woman has released herself.
By Julia Edda Pape, Assistant Director, The Yellow Wallpaper
BIO: Julia Edda Pape is a current student at the University of Toronto and (hopefully) a future director, writer and actress. She is thrilled to return to Bygone Theatre as Assistant Director for The Yellow Wallpaper after working as Apprentice Director on The Birds last Fall. She is currently directing and acting in 7 Letters Since Sunday, a play she wrote for the UofT Hart House Dramafest and will be directing Maggie Chun’s First Love and Last Wedding by Helen Ho at the Toronto Fringe Festival this summer. She is grateful to her friends, family and Bygone for the on-going support, encouragement and opportunities.
The idea to create a staged version of The Yellow Wallpaper first came about back in 2020, when I heard about the new Canada Council for the ArtsDigital Now Grant, and thought immediately of reaching out to our VFX friends about making an animated wallpaper. What started as a simple concept for a one-woman show quickly expanded as more people were brought into the project, eventually culminating in Bygone’s most ambitious project to date.
Emily Dix – photo by Conor Fitzgerald
Bria Cole came on as our Media Producer, but that title does not begin to describe all she’s done for this project. From technical planning and projection mapping, to creative suggestions on how to better create interactive exhibits, Bria is very much a creative influence as well as a tech guru.
Bria Cole – photo by Emily Dix
Kate McArthur and I adapted the script, and wrote additional sections that could be voted on by streaming audience members, making for a sort of “choose your own adventure” feel: we wanted to avoid creating a Zoom show that felt like just a poorly filmed play, and were eager to make sure the footage was top quality and that there was still an interactive element for those watching from home. Accessibility is a key factor for Bygone whenever we are creating a show, and while Campbell House makes for a beautiful and unique venue for this production, it is unfortunately not accessible due to its tall, winding staircase. Often I find that “accessible” options for things really mean offering a lower quality version that has been adapted to accommodate, and we didn’t want this to feel like a back-up. We’ve worked hard to ensure that both the in-person and online versions of the show are unique experiences in themselves, and encourage those who can to experience both.
Kate McArthur – photo by Emily Dix
“Accessibility is a key factor for Bygone whenever we are creating a show…We’ve worked hard to ensure that both the in-person and online versions of the show are unique experiences in themselves”
We rehearsed and blocked scenes knowing that they needed to look interesting not just for the streaming audience, who would see it cut live using Black Magic Technology, but for those who were watching any particular angle at a given time while wandering Campbell House – this was a difficult feat given our limited time in the venue, and meant that on top of memorizing 30 pages of repetitive monologue Kate needed to keep track of some very specific blocking, all learned in a short period of time. Luckily, Kate is an awesome talent and a pro, and makes it all look much easier than it is.
We wanted each room in the house to have a different feel, something interesting and specific to it and the story. Bria and her Production Design Assistant, Helga Packeviciute, came up with the idea of using black light to give audience members a chance to explore and find different elements on their own. When I got a black light pen and saw the blue glow, I immediately thought of old flow blue plates, and so that is what inspired the dishes seen in the dining room. On a beautiful long table, draped in a cloth, instead of seeing a formal dinner set out we see The Woman in her bed, her most intimate moments on display in what almost feels like a medical dissection table. The white plates blend into the projection, but when viewed under a black light reveal perversions of antique chinaware, sharing the secrets and fears of The Woman – things that are right under our noses, but can’t be seen unless you know how to look.
Helga Packeviciute – photo by Emily Dix
The overall concept for the show was to have an experience where you could feel like you understand The Woman’s story, you’re privy to her private moments, but still the isolation and distance she feels is evident at every moment. No one goes into her room. No one sees her directly. Instead you see pieces of her in one room at a time, limited to a certain angle and so never seeing the full story. Or, you watch online, the film cutting to follow the action, but leaving out the chance to see or hear the additional context you would get from visiting the rooms. Partly inspired by COVID-19 and the toll isolation took on our mental health, as well as the way in which social media affects our view and understanding of mental illness, the show leans heavily into the digital elements, using them to purposefully show both intimate things we would not normally see up-close in a play, and to hide others, reminding us that anything viewed through a digital lens is skewed, and incapable of telling the full story – what we don’t see is just as important as what we do.
“you’re privy to her private moments, but still the isolation…is evident at every moment…anything viewed through a digital lens is skewed, and incapable of telling the full story – what we don’t see is just as important as what we do”.
While discussing the ways the different senses could be used in the show, we considered various soundscapes to fill the house. Ultimately, we decided to have Kate’s voice play in all the rooms, to give some sense of linear story to a show that could become confusing without some thread to follow through all the different possible paths. However, we wanted to have a way to limit this in a similar way to how we limit visuals, making it so that you couldn’t get extra information about one aspect of the show without missing out on another. It was decided that we would record conversations between characters that are mentioned but not seen in the show. By picking up a pair of headphones placed strategically in the house, audience members can “eavesdrop” on private conversations between Mary, the maid (played by Barbara Athanasoulas); Henry, the cousin (Davide Sallese); his wife, Julia (Julia Edda Pape); William, the brother (Jonah Waugh); and Dr. Weir Mitchell (Robert Pape). As with real eavesdropping, it is impossible to know what you will hear, and so everyone who listens in will catch a different part of the conversation. While this will give some context to The Woman’s story, while listening to that you will not be able to hear what she is saying, once again emphasizing the fact that it is impossible to ever know the entire story of someone’s life. These conversations were written and directed by our Assistant Director, Julia Edda Pape, who researched mental health treatment of the time to ensure their historical accuracy. Julia also helped us in rehearsals, assisted with setting up the house, and learned how to cross stitch in record time to help me make one of the pieces found in the house.
Julia Edda Pape – photo by Emily Dix
Conor Fitzgerald is credited as Producer, and in the early days of this project that was his only role – securing us sponsors and creating contracts. But as the tech needs of the project grew greater and greater, he found himself learning how to use all of the technology, and set up the streaming and switching, and likely many other things I don’t know the details of as they are beyond my pay grade. Essentially, Conor handled the hardware while Bria took on the software, and I learned how to cue them all.
Shreya Patel was a late addition to the team, but a key one. As Associate Producer she has focused on getting the word out about the show, and knowing her experience as a film maker and mental health advocate, adding her to the team was an obvious choice.
Shreya Patel – photo by Emily Dix
Steve Dirckze is the talented animator behind our creepy yellow wallpaper, and his work helps to bring the audience into The Woman’s madness.
So many people have helped bring this project to life, and in a very condensed timeframe. Nicolino DeFrancesco built the mattress for the bed, making sure it was sturdy and safe for our lovely actress. Oliver Georgiou came and recorded the voice of John, the husband, in about 30 minutes, nailing it immediately. Steven Sangster generously leant us some of his film equipment, and Wendel Wray consulted with us on creative and technical elements in the early days of creation. And of course Panasonic generously provided the projectors that have made this possible.
L-R: Shreya Patel, Bria Cole, Kate McArthur, Emily Dix, Helga Packeviciute and Julia Edda Pape.
Thank you to everyone who had a part in making The Yellow Wallpaper come to life, and to all who will come and see it. We hope it entertains you and makes you think, and we would love to hear your feedback on what is a very different kind of show for us.
The Yellow Wallpaper diaries are written by the team behind Bygone Theatre’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and provide additional context and resources for the show.
Mental health is something that affects all of us, regardless of our gender or background. However, women often face unique challenges when it comes to mental health due to various social, cultural, and biological factors.
As a woman, I understand firsthand the pressures we face in our daily lives. From juggling work and family responsibilities to dealing with societal expectations, it can be challenging to find the time and energy to take care of ourselves. But I’ve learned that prioritizing my mental health is crucial for my overall well-being, and there are certain habits and tools that have helped me maintain good mental health. Let me share a few below:
1. Connect with others
One of the most effective ways to maintain good mental health is to connect with others. Social support can significantly impact our mental health and well-being. I always say sharing can be so healing. We can benefit from spending time with family and friends, joining social groups, or volunteering for a cause we believe in. Talking to a therapist or a mental health professional can also provide a safe space to discuss concerns and receive support.
2. Practice self-care
Self-care is crucial for mental health and well-being. We should prioritize self-care activities that make us feel good, such as taking a relaxing bath, reading a book, practicing mindfulness or meditation, or going for a walk in nature. Adequate sleep, healthy eating, and regular exercise can also boost mental health and overall well-being.
3. Learn to manage stress
Stress is a common cause of mental health problems, and we often face unique stressors, such as juggling work and family responsibilities or dealing with societal expectations. Learning to manage stress effectively can significantly improve mental health. We can try various stress-reduction techniques, such as deep breathing, yoga, or journaling. It is also essential to set boundaries and learn to say no to avoid overcommitting oneself.
4. Engage in activities that bring joy
Engaging in activities that bring joy and meaning to life can boost mental health and overall well-being. We should pursue hobbies, interests, or creative endeavors that make them happy, whether it’s painting, playing music, or learning a new language. Doing things that bring joy can reduce stress and provide a sense of fulfillment.
5. Seek professional help
Sometimes, despite our best efforts, mental health problems can arise. It is essential to seek professional help when needed. We should not hesitate to reach out to mental health professionals or their healthcare provider for support. Early intervention and treatment can prevent mental health problems from becoming severe and improve the chances of recovery.
In conclusion, as women, we face unique challenges when it comes to mental health. However, by adopting habits and utilizing effective tools like connecting with others, practicing self-care, managing stress, engaging in activities that bring joy, and seeking professional help when needed, we can maintain good mental health and prioritize our overall well-being.
By Shreya Patel, Associate Producer, The Yellow Wallpaper
BIO: Shreya Patel is a multifaceted individual, who has made a significant impact in the worlds of entertainment, activism, and mental health advocacy. Model-turned-actress, filmmaker and mental health advocate, Patel is the honoree of Top 100 Most Powerful Women of Canada, Forbes 30 Under 30, Women’s Achiever Award, Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award and Emerging Leader Under 35. Patel has been acknowledged for her efforts in advancing equity in her community, with an honorable mention from the City of Toronto. She was also listed among DissDash’s “Top 50 Coolest South Asians of 2021” alongside notable figures such as Priyanka Chopra, Kamala Harris, and Hasan Minaj. She has also graced the pages of fashion magazines like Vogue and Grazia. As an actress, she has brought raw emotion and depth to her roles in films like Strangers In A Room, Vivid, and The Intersection, which explore themes of mental health. Patel’s debut documentary, ‘Girl Up’, is an unflinching look at the reality of domestic human trafficking and was partnered with the Toronto International Film Festival and the Civic Action Summit. Her music video directorial debut, Freedom Dance, which featured famous personalities from 7 countries, has over 1.2 million views on YouTube. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she rallied 66 countries to come together for Unity- #LOVESPREADS Faster Than Virus, a documentary that showcases the plight of the human spirit, which was the closing film at the Munich Film Festival. As one of the faces of the Canadian Screen Award-winning national mental health awareness campaign “Bell Let’s Talk”, Patel is committed to raising visibility and breaking the silence around mental illness and support. Currently, she is working on a comedy series, Layla is Relevant and writing a film about trafficking while also producing various projects under her company, Window Dreams Productions.
Bygone Theatre 