Making “Team Wristband”: A Conversation with Andy Kirshner and Gillian Eaton
By MQR Staff
When MQR posthumously published James Leaf’s short story “Team Wristband” in our Summer 2019 Issue, we did not know that it was only the beginning of a long life for Leaf’s story. Originally published alongside one of Leaf’s letters and a note from Elizabeth Goodenough, “Team Wristband” has since been adapted for theater in a production interrupted by the pandemic, and later as a short film, titled Why I Fight. In addition to the story itself, MQR Online has published an interview with Malcolm Tulip, Leaf’s former teacher and an actor in the film adaptation and, presented above, a conversation between Gillian Eaton and Andy Kirshner. Eaton adapted her theatrical production of Leaf’s story for the film, and then directed it along with Kirshner. Their conversation considers questions about telling stories across mediums, representing mental illness in performance, and exploring artistic expression as an outlet for those suffering from mental illness.
The film originally screened as part of a virtual event on January 14th, hosted by the University of Michigan’s Heinz C. Prechter Bipolar Research Program, the Residential College, and the School of Music, Theatre, & Dance. A trailer for the film is available here.
Gillian Eaton is a theatre director, actor, writer, educator and arts advocate. She has been honored with The Detroit Free Press award for Distinguished Contribution to Theatre and ARTSERVE Michigan’s prestigious E. Ray Scott Michigan Artist Prize. She has taught Performing Shakespeare at U of M, EMU and Wayne State Theatre Departments, as well as directing BFA and MFA students in contemporary and classical plays. Gillian has also been the guest theatre artist for numerous other Michigan organizations including the Prison Creative Arts Project (PCAP), Flint Youth Theatre, the Detroit Zoo and the Detroit Historical Museum. Her previous theatre work includes London’s West End, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Mark Taper Forum and Ahmanson Theatres in Los Angeles and many regional theatres. She has appeared in numerous stage plays, TV shows and films in the US and the UK and has written for the cinema and the stage. In 2012 Gillian was awarded an MA (a First with Distinction) in Creative Writing at the University of Wales, Trinity St. David. From 2007 until 2011 she was VP of Arts & Humanities for the YMCA of Metropolitan Detroit. During her tenure she created the following programs: The DEEP RIVER Community Choir, the Y Arts MEDIA CAMP (introducing filmmaking to urban teens), the Newcomer program with Freedom House, Detroit (for political asylum seekers), outreach and on-site computer literacy and creative media programs, the Lobby Gallery showing the work of Detroit photographers and artists, varied community based work at the Marlene Boll Theatre and collaborations with over 20 Metro Detroit organizations. Gillian’s Y ARTS Branch of the YMCA was designated a Global Center of Excellence in 2009, by the YMCA of the USA for its work with immigrant populations. From 2012 until 2021 Gillian was a professor of performance in the School of Music Theatre and Dance at The University of Michigan. She is the writer and co-director of the recent short film TEAM WRISTBAND concerning the current crisis of mental health and is excited to live with her sons in California pursuing the new avenues of a creative retirement.
Andy Kirshner uses film, theatre, music, and scholarship to explore complex social, political, and historical questions. A composer, writer, director, singer, and actor, his interdisciplinary body of work ranges from film, to opera, to experimental music-theatre, to performance art. Andy’s unique, hybrid creations have been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, the Michigan Council on the Arts and Cultural Affairs, and the U.S. Department of Education. His recently completed docu-fiction film, 10 Questions for Henry Ford, premiered at the Ojai Film Festival in November, 2021. He is an Associate Professor at the University of Michigan, the first faculty member ever to be jointly appointed by the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and the Stamps School of Art and Design.
