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Happy birthday to Samantha Graboske!

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Philadelphia pop artist Perry Milou bringing portraits of Pope Francis to POSH at the Scranton Club

<p>TAYLOR &#8212; Swordplay? Fist fights? Jumping from a moving car? Falling from a great height?</p><p>As a professional stunt woman, Kingston native Heidi Germaine Schnappauf has experienced all those thrills and knows getting hurt can come with the territory.</p><p>&#8220;It was nobody&#8217;s fault&#8221; she said of a &#8220;little neck boo-boo&#8221; from which she is recovering.</p><p>While she&#8217;s on light duty, Schnappauf has devoted herself to producing and directing &#8220;Next To Normal,&#8221; a rock musical that focuses on the ways mental illness affects a family.</p><p>The play, which the Misfit Players will present Oct. 2-4 at the Act Out Theatre in Taylor, introduces audiences to Diana, a woman suffering from anxiety, depression, misdiagnosis and some obsessive behavior.</p><p>&#8220;She&#8217;s making sandwiches,&#8221; Schnappauf said, describing one scene. &#8220;There&#8217;s not enough room on the table so she starts putting them on the chairs. When there&#8217;s no more room on the chairs, she&#8217;s making sandwiches on the floor. And, we decided to have her use the cheese slices still wrapped, to make it look like she&#8217;s &#8216;crazy.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>After the show&#8217;s opening performances last weekend, Schnappauf said, audience members sought out cast members to talk individually about ways the story resonated with them. &#8220;They really related to a lot of things,&#8221; she said. &#8220;This piece of theater shows you&#8217;re not wrong and not bad and not &#8216;crazy&#8217;&#8221; if you struggle with mental disorders or mental illness.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s not just a matter of playing a great role,&#8221; said Alice Y. Lyons, who portrays Diana. &#8220;It&#8217;s a matter of bringing to the forefront things that need to be discussed.</p><p>&#8220;After this first weekend I can&#8217;t tell you the amount of people I know and people I didn&#8217;t know who told me how this show connects to them or to a family member,&#8221; Lyons said. &#8220;Mental illness is a huge killer in our society today, and they thanked us for being strong enough and brave enough to bring the subject to the forefront, because it&#8217;s taboo and usually pushed aside.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;No one&#8217;s going to walk away from this untouched,&#8221; Schnappauf said. &#8220;It will leave you with hope, and maybe relieve a little of the stigma.&#8221;</p><p>Show proceeds will benefit the Children&#8217;s Service Center of Wilkes-Barre, which is running a capital campaign to fund a new outpatient clinic, and the The American Foundation of Suicide Prevention for its &#8220;Out of the Darkness&#8217; campaign.</p><p>The show is 90 percent music, Schnappauf said, waxing enthusiastic about the cast&#8217;s &#8220;perfect blend of singer/actors&#8221; as well as the &#8220;boy-genius lighting director,&#8221; James Jones from Cherry Hill, New Jersey.</p><p>With book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, the musical won three Tony Awards in 2009, including Best Musical Score.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">From left, actors Benjamin Steltz, Alice Y. Lyons, Ericka Law, Dane Bower II and Willie Demyan appear in &#8216;Next To Normal&#8217; at the Act Out Theatre in Taylor. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_nearly.normal.jpg</photo0><caption0>From left, actors Benjamin Steltz, Alice Y. Lyons, Ericka Law, Dane Bower II and Willie Demyan appear in &#8216;Next To Normal&#8217; at the Act Out Theatre in Taylor. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_nearly.normal2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Alice Y. Lyons and Dane Bower II portray Diana and her husband, Dan, in &#8216;Next to Normal.&#8217; </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_nearly.normal2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Alice Y. Lyons and Dane Bower II portray Diana and her husband, Dan, in &#8216;Next to Normal.&#8217; </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;Next to Normal&#8217;</p><p><strong>Who:</strong> The Misfit Players, in conjunction with Act Out Theatre</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Act Out Theatre, 408 N. Main St., Taylor</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2-3 and 3 p.m. Oct. 4</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> $20, $15</p><p><strong>Reservations:</strong> 570-881-4206</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Misfit Players’ presentation of ‘Next to Normal’ in Taylor will benefit cause of mental health