ALBANY -It was more than two decades ago. Harriet Comfort was looking for a 'third career,' and a family member was a patient at the Capital District Psychiatric Center.
'I had some experience with public relations and fund-raising, but there were no such jobs available there,' she said. 'Then Jesse Nixon (former CDPC director) told me about the Mental Health Players and asked if I could start one here. I told him, `You bet.' '
Today, the CDPC Mental Health Players remain with Comfort as director. While she is on the staff of CDPC, the 50 or so people who step into roles with the Players are all volunteers.
Begun more than 25 years ago at the state mental health facility in Elmira, the Mental Health Players concept has volunteers taking their role-playing acts into the community, both as a teaching tool and as a way to help overcome fear and apprehension of the public.
The group appears before schools and churches, service groups and nonprofits, all without fee, although it does accept donations to the CDPC patients' fund.
The performances are geared around the specific request of the sponsoring organization but are improvisational, with the players assuming roles from the time they arrive until after the usually hour-long show.
Themes range from family and adolescent issues to divorce and remarriage, substance abuse and mental disabilities.A typical performance includes a narrator and from three to seven players, split into three skits. There may be interaction among the non-narrator players or sometimes the narrator will interview a player. 'Being volunteers, there's sometimes a performance where one or more player can't get there,' said Comfort. 'Being improv and role-playing, the skits can be re-tailored.'
This third career for Comfort follows a decade of singing professionally in New York City and another 10 years producing a local opera company.
At one point, New York had nearly a dozen similar groups at facilities across the state, based on the Elmira model. Albany's is the only one left, she believes, because it relies on the volunteers as cast members. 'At the other facilities, staff members couldn't get time off,' she said.
'We have all ages,' she said of the troupe. 'Some come because they have an interest in acting. Several perform in community theaters. But the bulk of our cast are just people who are hams at heart.'
The Mental Health Players will have training sessions on Saturday, Dec. 10, and Thursday, Dec. 15. For further information or to register, contact Comfort at CDPC, 447-9611, Ext. 6835.
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JAMES GOOLSBY/TIMES UNION STAFF MEMBERS of the CDPC Mental Health Players, seated from left, Julie Lomoe, Phyllis Goldstein and Chuck Rubens gather on stage with director Harriet Comfort, standing. Comfort founded the Albany group more than 20 years ago.
