Actor finds catharsis sharing life with mental illness in one-man play at Cook Theatre
For years, Scott Ehrenpreis brushed off his father’s suggestions that he create a one-man play about the challenges he has faced as an actor with a variety of mental illnesses that have led him on a rollercoaster of highs and lows in his life.
He wasn’t ready, he kept saying, until about a year ago, when Ehrenpreis started meeting with writer and director Jason Cannon for what he calls “jam sessions” that led to the new play “Clowns Like Me.”
The play runs May 18-28 at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts’ Cook Theatre during Mental Health Awareness Month after several developmental workshops that encouraged Ehrenpreis and Cannon to move forward.
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Ehrenpreis says the stage is the one place where he has felt safe and confident during his life as he worked to live with the impact of OCD, bipolar disorder, Asperger’s Syndrome, social anxiety and depression. But he didn’t feel ready to “disclose this to the world. For many years I lived with shame and guilt. People look at you as odd or an inferior race. I was too embarrassed.”
But as he became better at coping with things – “the uphill battle is always there. It’s not only sunny skies,” he says – Ehrenpreis began to think that if telling his story “might empower other people to not be afraid now is the right time to execute my deep confession.”
The timing is important, he said, because “mental illness and suicide are happening at an alarming rate and by sharing my lived experience, I can help bring light to it, to bring more to the conversation.”
The show is frank and difficult, with lighter touches.
“It is very much in the confessional one-man show, but also threading a needle with stand-up comedy and humor and education through storytelling,” said Cannon, who wrote the script from his conversations with Ehrenpreis and is directing the production. “It’s humorous, heartfelt and dramatic.”
Working on the show and reliving his experiences has been “an emotional catharsis,” Ehrenpreis said. “Jason has reminded me that I’m the audience’s therapist. He has ripped me wide open with our jam sessions, pulling out stories. It’s emancipating. I feel more in control of the circuitry and wiring that can go haywire. Acting is my therapy. It’s where I feel a sense of invincibility. I feel like I finally belong.”
Cannon said that Ehrenpreis has actually “been acting in real life. He’s been trained since he was a child. He has been pointed at and been misunderstood. But on stage, he’s actually not acting. He’s himself. He can be who he is when he’s on stage.”
Ehrenpreis’ life has been filled with troubles and bad decisions. “I associated with bad company because I was so starved for affection,” he said. “I had a drug dealer pull a gun on me while I was chauffeuring him around for his drug deals. I committed sexual defilement, debauchery. I looked for love in all the wrong places.”
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He admits to shoplifting as part of “this disgusting attention I wanted. I got it all right, with handcuffs behind my back.” His mania prevented him from functioning as “a normal human being. I didn’t have the ability to assess situations. I reacted a lot off of anger and when you’re angry you can’t think straight.”
He stole from his parents and tried to take his own life. “It was a merry-go-round of hell I was on. So many times it was like ‘Stop the world I want to get off.’ I tarnished the legacy of my family. I almost got kicked out of college for plagiarism. I just did things that were unspeakably unforgivable.”
Today his father, Joel Ehrenpreis, is behind the Lifeline Productions company that is presenting “Clowns Like Me.” In a statement he said the company wants “to use the power of storytelling to take you inside the minds of those who struggle with mental health disorders and offer an enlightening and entertaining experience that leaves you walking away feeling differently about mental illness.”
Cannon said the play runs just over an hour and each of the eight performances will be followed by a discussion.
Ehrenpreis has performed in numerous shows in the Sarasota area, most recently in the ensemble of “Network” at Florida Studio Theatre. He has appeared in productions of “The Sunshine Boys,” “Moon Over Buffalo” and “The Front Page,” the premieres of “The Manager” at the Players Centre and “The Long Reunion” at the Manatee Performing Arts Center, and several television series, including “South Beach Tow” and “Burn Notice.
Tickets are $20 plus a processing fee and available at clownslikeme.com.
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Actor uses humor, heart to share mental health issues in one-man play
