“The Center Cannot Hold” – A Chamber Opera Presented by UCLA Healing & Education Through The Arts

“The Center Cannot Hold, Part 3: Beyond Recovery” tells the story of Elyn Saks of having schizophrenia, becoming a psychoanalyst through training with colleagues, falling in love and marrying Will Vinet, struggling with having cancer and finding it less stigmatizing than mental illness, and continuing her journey with changes in her psychoanalyst, and winning many awards for her creative work and advocacy for those with severe mental illness. Music by UCLA’s Dr. Kenneth Wells and Libretto by Wells and Elyn Saks, based on Saks’ memoire “The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness.”