Photo courtesy of Nick Cochran

With their spring musical, “Next to Normal,” All Student Theatre (AST) intends to use the power of storytelling to start more conversations about mental health on campus and to make audiences question what “normal” really means. 

The cult-classic musical will get its WashU rendition on April 10-13 outside on Brookings Quad;  this outdoor spring musical venue has become a 30-year tradition for AST. While AST, one of three student theater groups on campus, tends to focus on the technical aspects of theater — such as lighting and set construction — the group has become a club for actors and all theater lovers to contribute their talents.

This past fall, AST performed their show “The Rest is Silence,” a compelling adaptation of the Shakespeare classic “Hamlet” with an interactive haunted-house-like staging in the Village Black Box. Now, for the past few weeks, the company has been out on the Brookings Quad stage working hard to construct and maintain their set for “Next to Normal.” 

With an outdoor set in a central part of campus, AST has to prepare for extreme weather, curious passersby, and school events, but they are practically professionals at dealing with these challenges by now.

After a presentation from junior Mia Kouveliotes, who is the show’s director, “Next to Normal” was chosen by AST’s executive board to be this year’s musical during their open-pitch process. Kouveliotes first saw the musical a few years ago after falling in love with the soundtrack and was blown away by the power of the show’s story in person. 

“I think it was one of the more accurate portrayals of mental health in media — by no means is it perfect — but it’s starting the conversation, which I think has historically been neglected,” she said.

“Next to Normal” is the pop-rock-powered story of Diana Goodman, the mother and wife of the Goodman family, who lives with bipolar disorder. The show examines both her experience and the effects her disorder has on her family, telling a story of love, hope, and resilience within a situation that challenges what “normal” really is. The musical originally opened on Broadway in 2009, and it won three of the 11 Tony Awards it was nominated for, including Best Original Score. 

This is Kouveliotes’ first time directing a full-scale production, but after having assistant-directed and directed some of the smaller fall shows, she was prepared with a clear, impassioned vision for what the show needed to be. 

“My vision with it, specifically, is actually to make it so grounded in reality that it’s extremely tangible and seems like it’s something that could happen in real life — because it is,” Kouveliotes said. 

The unique impact of student theater is that the stories it portrays are physically in front of you, told by your peers. With this intrinsic connection to the performance, the themes of shows like this one can easily captivate and connect with audiences.

Kouveliotes hopes that “Next to Normal” will positively shift WashU audiences’ views on mental health — as it remains a very stigmatized topic — and create open conversations beyond the people who see the show. Studying public health, Kouveliotes has found in her research that college campuses are some of the biggest centers of mental health stigma, and she wants the campus community to acknowledge and address the complexities of mental health.  

“Life is not as linear as it seems — the person sitting next to you has a story that you don’t know about, just like you have your own stories,” she said, “and even if one scene resonates with someone from the show, I feel like I’ve made a difference.”

Although the subject matter of “Next to Normal” is heavy, AST’s cast and crew try to keep the room light with laughter in between rehearsing the serious scenes, as theater is inherently meant to be fun. Since they are performing a show about a family, AST has bonded in rehearsal and outside of it, including during what they call “set sitting,” where company members babysit the outdoor set as the performance dates get closer.

The entire team behind “Next to Normal” cares deeply about the mission of destigmatizing mental health, and want to put on the best show possible.

“I think that there’s a really fun and unique way to use storytelling for social change, especially in the realm of mental health, and that’s my biggest mission with ‘Next to Normal’,” Kouveliotes said.

“Next to Normal” opens this Thursday, with performances April 10-13 at 8 p.m. on Brookings Quad. Tickets can be bought on AST’s website or through their Instagram, @allstudenttheatre.