Where
Crystal Theatre inside The Silk Road Restaurant515 S. Higgins Avenue
Missoula, MT 59801
Driving Directions
5/28/15 Melissa Bangs: Playing Monopoly with God & Other True Stories
After 2 SOLD-OUT SHOWS in February, and BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND...
Melissa Bangs makes her way to the stage for four nights of storytelling.
In September 2012, at 40 years old, Melissa Bangs gave birth to her beautiful daughter Adelaide. A month later, dramatically hormone depleted and sleep deprived, Melissa is admitted to the Providence Psychiatric Facilities in a complete manic state. After nearly a month, she is sent home with a bipolar diagnosis and on lithium. What comes next is an extraordinary journey back to wholeness, back to love.
Bangs shares, "There was a moment, in the psych ward, that I considered telling no one - ever. How would I possibly describe the profound shame, the unbearable loss? How could I tell anyone what really happened when I had no idea what was real?”
This moment passed. When Bangs arrived home, little by little, she connected with many other mamas. One by one, she found a way to share her story and, in return, heard extraordinary and painful post partum tales from dear friends and strangers. Far too many of these stories included elements of shame and silence. One dear friend told her that she had, for many months, pictured herself over and over hanging from the kitchen rafters. Bangs was the first person she was telling. Embracing that friend, with tears rolling down both of their cheeks, she decided to share her story from the mountain tops, again and again, in an effort to shatter the silence, lift the shame and help women find the help they needed.
On her journey back to wholeness, one of the things Bangs did was read her entire 100 plus page hospital record. Somewhere, around page 87, there is a nurse’s note. It reads, “Patient says she will do comedy on this experience.” Upon reading this, Bangs laughed out loud.
She remembered deciding in her hospital room to, at some point, take all the pain and transform it into a funny and healing tale. She told nurses, social workers, her psychiatrist that they’d have front row seats. They couldn’t have possibly known that Bangs has been a storyteller her entire life and did comedy for a stint, as a student, at Upright Citizens' Brigade, in New York City.
They could’ t have known that transforming the layers of the most painful experience of her life into a room full of laughter would prove healing for dozens of people, if not more.
Join Melissa for an evening of true stories full of bewilderment, chaos and hilarity. Bangs has a knack for telling true stories that cut to the bone of our shared, vulnerable human condition. Her true gift, however, comes in the moments in which she’s able to string away the shame or agony of an experience and transform the room into an uproar of laughter.
Live Performances Nightly, May 28-31
Tickets $12 in advance, $15 day of show
6pm Cash Bar - 7pm Show
at the Crystal Theatre
inside The Silk Road, 515 S. Higgins Ave.