Student-written Whitby high school play explores living with anxiety disorders

Ashley Higgins fidgets in her chair as she finds the words to describe the anxiety she feels every day.

“It makes really mundane tasks seem really overwhelming,” Higgins said. “If one small thing kind of goes wrong and then another small thing goes wrong, they kind of build up to become one big … pile of emotions.”

The Brooklin High School student is one of several who wrote, and are performing in, a new play about anxiety disorders called, “To Alex, with Love.”

The main character, Alex, represents an average teenager who struggles with the disorders.

“We wanted him to have other interests and other friends and relations with people.”

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Alex is a student, son, friend and boyfriend, and every other character in the play has to come to grips with understanding how he feels.

In one scene, he becomes flustered at a party while loud music blares in his ears. He tears off his sweater in frustration and clutches his hair, panting. People at the party stop what they’re doing to look at him, lift him off the floor in a choreographed move and put him back on the stage. Alex’s body is now curled up in fetal position, and everyone yells questions at him and shakes him to make sure he’s okay, not fully understanding what’s happening to him.

“This really is our love letter, essentially, to anyone who is struggling with anxiety and, maybe, hasn’t found a way to talk about it,” said Lauren Jeffs, a drama teacher at the Whitby school who directed the play.

The students used the play as an opportunity to delve into the psychology behind the disorder, and as part of their research, many of them received a tour of the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences.

Dr. Nadia D’Iuso, a psychologist at the centre, said because of social media, many teenagers may feel more anxiety at this age than other generations had.

“Adolescents right now don’t get a break from school,” she said. “They’re on their Facebook. They’re on their Twitter. They’re on their Instagram accounts, and I think that a lot of what they experience at school follows them home.”

D’Iuso said many of the teenagers she counsels suffer from anxiety disorders, which the Anxiety Disorders Association of Ontario says are one of the most common mental health problems for children and youth.

Higgins said she hopes the play will help people better understand that while anxiety can make people feel alone, there are others going through the exact same experience.

“You can just lead a normal life and do anything that everybody else does,” she said.

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The cast and crew of “To Alex, with Love” invite all members of the community to their performances at Brooklin High School on March 6 and 7.