Every year the Entertainment Industries Council, Inc. (EIC) – with help from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), FX Network, and News Corporation – presents the PRISM Awards to recognize accomplishments in the accurate portrayal of mental health issues in movies, television, comic books, and other entertainment venues.

Now, thanks to the RETHiNK Theatre Challenge, you too can flex your own scriptwriting fingers to bust stigma as well as “challenge preconceptions of mental illness.”

From the Titirangi Theatre website (one of the venues that will – along with YouTube, RETHiNK, and DramaTrain – exhibit the winning scripts):

The challenge is this: write a ten-minute theatre script exploring the theme ‘madness is a matter of degree.’ Teams of actors and directors will be given just 24-hours in which to workshop the best ten scripts for performance. The final outcome will be a live show to challenge preconceptions of mental illness.

The deadline for submissions is September 1, 2010, and exact performance dates and venues have yet to be confirmed but they’re shooting for Titirangi Theatre on Saturday, October 9th and in Auckland City on New Zealand’s National Mental Health Awareness Day, Sunday, October 10.

Also, anyone performing must be in Auckland, but script submissions can come from anywhere.

For more information, check out the RETHiNK Theatre Challenge media release and the Challenge’s Notes for Writers.

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Dr Antoine Spiteri (July 23, 2010)

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    Last reviewed: 23 Jul 2010