New play tackles Black women's mental health

941 now will a new play tackles the hidden pain and pressure that many black women face it's called dignity and it gives a voice to a subject women have a pretty hard time talking about Knox medical teams Beth Galvin is here with more on this back and good morning Elise the play tackles some of the real stories of nearly a dozen black women here in Atlanta and it's a message that really hits home for the actresses who are involved because african-americans are 20% more likely to experience serious mental health problems like major depression PTSD and even suicide [Music] for Michelle Taylor Willis and her fellow actors this play dignity feels hauntingly real what it made me realize is that there are you know so many people especially black women suffering in silence running through a final rehearsal before their March 30th performance these aren't just words on paper like this this stuff happens and we're watching it the play focuses on the mental health challenges of real black women that playwright Towanda Kilpatrick says she met at a local coffee shop and it was talking about their issues that they would haven't been depressed having anxiety attacks and so I thought okay that was cool but then when they started talking about that they couldn't tell anybody because of who they were or what they were doing I decided that I wanted to make it a play and the script feels especially real to Taylor Willis because in the middle of rehearsals I come out and find out that my close friend committed suicide so to lose a friend and one is one thing but to lose a friend this way it's a whole it's a it's a totally different type of hurt it's a totally different type of pain it is it's indescribable the women hope dignity will spark conversation and give black women and men a safe space to share their own stories we will have doctors that will be there at the play that they can talk to and get information so we want people to come and if they see themselves on stage and they can get help if they can get help that night that's what we're hoping and dignity dignity will be performed just once on Saturday night at the Martin Luther King jr. International chapel on the Morehouse College campus for more information go to fox 5 atlanta comm and look in the health section for this story and the question the play seems to be asking black women are expected to be a source of strength and courage where does mental illness fit in Elise alright Beth thank you very much for that

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