Playing Monopoly With God & Other True Stories at Kuumbwa Jazz Center

At 40, Melissa Bangs births her beautiful daughter Adelaide.  A month later, deeply sleep deprived, she lands in the psych ward.  After nearly a month, she is sent home on lithium, diagnosed bipolar.  What comes next is an extraordinary journey. On her path back to wholeness, Bangs reads her entire hospital record and finds a scribbled note that reads, “Patient says she will do comedy on this experience.” Upon reading this, Bangs laughs out loud.  The psych team couldn’t possibly have known that Bangs studied comedy at the Upright Citizens’ Brigade in NYC and that transforming this excruciating experience into a performance that would inspire laughter (and tears) would prove healing for so many....

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At 40, Melissa Bangs births her beautiful daughter Adelaide.  A month later, deeply sleep deprived, she lands in the psych ward.  After nearly a month, she is sent home on lithium, diagnosed bipolar.  What comes next is an extraordinary journey. On her path back to wholeness, Bangs reads her entire hospital record and finds a scribbled note that reads, “Patient says she will do comedy on this experience.” Upon reading this, Bangs laughs out loud.  The psych team couldn’t possibly have known that Bangs studied comedy at the Upright Citizens’ Brigade in NYC and that transforming this excruciating experience into a performance that would inspire laughter (and tears) would prove healing for so many.

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