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June Gross & Viesa Novosielski interviewed by Doug Holder:
Somerville Mother and Daughter Dramatize Their Experience With Mental Illness By Doug Holder An old adage known to most writers is : " Write what you know." In Somerville writer and performance artist June Gross' case it is the painful knowledge of her daughter Viesa Novosielski's mental illness that ironically acted as her muse. The performance piece that grew out of this misfortune THE DANGERS OF EMPATHY, is a work that dramatizes the pain, tragedy and even the lighter moments of mental illness, as experienced by a 12 year old girl and her mother. Gross and her daughter have hit the road with this evocative piece, performing in such places as the: Somerville Museum, Brandeis University, Boston University, and other venues. I spoke with June Gross and Viesa Novosielski in their home near Union Square, Somerville. Doug Holder: One wouldn't immediately think that empathy is dangerous. How did you come up with that title? Viesa Novosielski: This was the original title of a specific piece of my writing that was part of a larger piece. My mother really liked it. It was based on a point in my life where I felt so much for other people that I lost my boundaries for myself. I felt that much for them. June Gross: One part of THE DANGERS OF EMPATHY was about a conversation Viesa had with a therapist when she was first in the hospital at twelve years old. She was getting overwhelmed with feelings for her grandmother who was in concentration camps, and overwhelmed with feelings for the kids on the unit, who had suffered. This is just one of the pieces we act out. I play the psychologist who tells her: " Don't you have enough pain of your own?" So we act out THE DANGERS OF EMPATHY. DH: What is your artistic background? JG: We are both writers. I have a poetry manuscript and two novels in the drawer. I wrote a novel about having a kid with mental illness, and wrote another one about the 70's. I did edit DARK HORSE, a literary magazine for 10 years. DH: Why did you decide to dramatize this painful episode in both of your lives? JG: We decided we wanted to do this to show what it is really like to have a kid fall apart. What is it really like to be a parent when you have a kid you can't keep safe? So this is a real, intense emotional piece. But people really like it, we always have a discussion after. We have presented in such places as the Georgetown Training Institute In New Orleans. We had a very interesting discussion after the performance about managed care. We also performed for the National Alliance of the Mentally Ill. VN: I've been told that I have been too open by many people. Unfortunately I was stigmatized by the alternative methods I used to deal with my illness. DH: You used the Greek myth of PERSEPHONE where a woman's daughter is carried off to the underworld and the mother engages in a search for her, as a vehicle for your daughter's struggle for stability in the face of mental illness. How did you come to use this particular conceit? VN: We heard this myth and we were enamored with it. We decided to a modern version of this ancient myth. For awhile I was lost to my mother and myself in the underworld of my own mind. We wanted something to frame these series of monologues together, so it would have some coherency. JG: We took a little tour of the Goddess Sites shortly after my husband's death.This was where the myth was set. I felt we really went deep with the myth. DH: What kind of response have you gotten from this play? JG: We got lots of responses. We are often asked, " Is it cathartic for you?" It is not. We really want to do it because we want people to know what the experience of mental illness is really like. The "consumers"- psychiatric patients love it. DH: What is it about Somerville that appeals to you as an artist, or just a plain, Mass. resident? VN: I lived in Western, Mass. for some time. There are no bookstores in walking distance, and poor public transportation. Here you can walk around and or take the T. People appreciate the beauty they have.they put so much time in their gardens. In the country it is taken for granted because it is all around them. JG: I lived in Somerville long before there was any kind of identity as an artist place. The BOSTON GLOBE didn't know it existed , besides the WINTER HILL GANG. It is a very vibrant community in terms of the Arts. |