HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – The Montana Actors Theater is preparing to present a three-man play that they hope will spark debates about mental health and race in the community.
The three-man play is based in London and is about how two doctors treat a black patient.
Associate Professor Dr. Joyce T Mphande-Finn is the director, MAT Artistic Director Dr. Grant Olson plays the role of Bruce, MSU-Northern student-athlete Kaymen Cureton plays the role Christopher, and actor Martin Holt plays the role of Dr. Robert Smith.
“It’s labeled as a black comedy,” says Olson. “It’s a black comedy. Because sometimes all you can do is laugh at how ridiculous a situation is where we choose to treat people based on whether we have enough beds to treat them. So it’s even more than just mental health, it’s our health system as a whole.”
Cureton says she auditioned for the play after signing up for Olson’s class and believes that more representation is important.
“As an athlete, I think there are a lot of black athletes that are here that haven’t seen themselves represented here. And I think being able to speak for them and connect them to theater and connect them to things other than the sport itself and connect them to these issues and create those conversations even for the guys on my team, and each other, and heal more of a camaraderie in that sense. If they can come to the site and see what’s going on and create those conversations. See how we can unify with each other. And even make our team even better. That may be something that happens, together with the community.”
This work is for adult audiences and contains profane language.
The play premieres this Thursday and will be exhibited for two weekends at his theater, located in Cowan Hall.
Olson says they’re working to set up a post-show discussion after at least one of the performances, and more details will be released as they become available.
