Healing Arts and Wellness Programming

MPT has a strong commitment to increasing access to effective healing arts and wellness programming. We create touring shows and workshops for children, youth, families and seniors with a focus on health education. We train artists to work with special needs populations.

Thursday, April 26
Wisconsin Employee Assistance Professionals Association
Annual Conference
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Barbara Leigh
Humor and Healing/The Art of Healing from a Patient’s Point of View

Barbara Leigh is the co-founder of the Milwaukee Public Theater. She has co-created and produced over 90 original plays and revues with the company and has performed and given talks on acting, ensemble creation, diversity, healing and disability issues throughout the US and Canada. In this year’s Keynote, Dr. Leigh will talk about her experience of the healing process following an accident in which she was partially paralyzed. She will include participatory activities for relieving stress for caregivers and their clients utilizing the arts. Barbara's biography

PIECES: In My Own Voice—Journey into the world of those living with mental illness through crisis, self acceptance and recovery, presented in monologues that cover a range of mental health diagnoses. ASK (Access, Support & Knowledge) Program educational messages are woven throughout the show. Presented through NAMI Greater Milwaukee (National Alliance on Mental Illness) and the Milwaukee High School of the Arts in April and May, 2012.

HEALTHY CHOICES—A recent grant helps support four educational and interactive programs encouraging children to make healthy lifestyle choices, taught by professional theatre arts instructors. Read more about APPLIED THEATRE, RAINBOW CIRQUS, FUN&FIT4EVER and FAQS. 

UNCLOTHED…the naked truth: Survivors’ Stories of Sexual Abuse and Healing—A play written by La’Ketta Caldwell based on real interviews with women who have been sexually assaulted, about their experiences and ways they have been able to find healing. Recently revised with a classroom element for high school audiences.

SURVIVAL REVIVAL REVUE—Barbara Leigh’s one-woman musical comedy about the healing process. Dr. Leigh also gives keynotes and workshops for people suffering from serious injury or illness as well as for health care professionals, teachers and the general public.

HUMOR AND HEALING—Humorous monologue/performance on the value of humor and the arts in the healing process following a serious accident. Performances are 20-60 minutes and are suitable for high school through adult audiences.

DRUM CIRCLES AND RHYTHM WORKSHOPS—Truly hands-on workshops involve people of all ages and abilities in the listening, leadership, team-building and empowering experience of making music together.

Tap the Potential, Disabilities Awareness Month--Artists with disabilities take aim at stereotypes throughout October as part of Tap the Potential—a celebration of the talent and vision of individuals with special needs. The project is coordinated by Milwaukee Public Theatre and Goodwill Industries of Southeastern Wisconsin, Inc. Click here for more.

From the Start, Consider the Finish, 2011--Milwaukee Public Theatre received a major grant from the Wisconsin Humanities Council to produce and tour an original musical play that helps families begin the often challenging conversation about end-of-life planning. From the Start, Consider the Finish, presented by MPT in partnership with Voices Theater, told real-life stories in a statewide tour of ten venues in 2011. Three different RESOURCE GUIDES are available. Click here for a complete review and photos of the From the Start, Consider the Finish play and project.

What People Say...

“Learned a lot. . . Very informative. . .very interesting and helpful. . . insightful . . . Enabled members of the audience to personalize the content. . . Good to hear perspectives and stories from people in the community. . . It was therapeutic for others to speak about their experiences”

MINO AYAA or Being Well, 2010-2011 —An innovative intergenerational project encouraged healthy lifestyles among Native American families in the Milwaukee area, supported by a grant from Forest County Potawatomi Community Foundation. The project resulted in a recipe book with traditional stories, and was initiated by the Ignace Health Center and incorporated storytelling, visual art, and performing art workshops. Read an illustrated summary of the 2010-11 program and its resultant cookbook.

Read a past Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article on MPT's healing arts focus.

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Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.
- Thomas Merton -

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