Orlando auditions are open for 'This Is My Brave,' a show about living with mental illness

This Is My Brave: The Show will hold open auditions this weekend in Avalon Park for a performance in September.

"This Is My Brave" began in 2011 as a blog by Jennifer Marshall, upon the surfacing of her bipolar disorder. It eventually evolved into a theater production with the help of Kickstarter campaign. Now it's a nonprofit group with a mission "to bring stories of mental illness and addiction out of the shadows and into the spotlight."

Shows like the one happening this fall in Orlando are put on all over the country by the nonprofit. Participants are encouraged to craft a performance of poetry, comedy, music or spoken word about living with mental illness.

"Our brave storytellers have been coming forward for five years now — since our start right here in Arlington, Virginia — and I couldn’t be more proud of the movement we’ve built," Marshall said in 2018, upon being named a Washingtonian of the Year. "We are changing the way the world views mental illness and addiction, one story at a time.”

The auditions will take place at the Total Life Counseling East Orlando office, 13013 Founders Square Drive, Orlando 32828, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, May 18, and from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 19.

Those interested can reserve a spot here.

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