Joel PE King's EXPOSED Brings Mental Health’s Family Impact to the Stage with help from RHOA's Drew Sidora

Tupac Shakur’s infamous poem of a rose growing from concrete was a powerful inspiration for EXPOSED, a new stage drama coming to Marietta. The image speaks to a conversation Director Joel PE King and actress Drew Sidora believe is imperative for the Black community to continue examining.  Mental health has become somewhat of a buzzword over the last decade with little attention given to nuance or is longterm effects and complexities on family and/or community. 

Mental health shapes how people love, communicate, parent and respond to one another; pain left unaddressed can affect a family long after the original wound.

Written and directed by Joel PE King, EXPOSED follows a man forced to face truths he has avoided as old wounds and family expectations collide. Through confrontation, vulnerability and dark humor, the play asks what happens when the pain people carry shapes how they treat those closest to them. Harmful behavior often stems from grief, trauma or childhood lessons, even as its impact on others remains real. Understanding those roots does not erase the damage or remove the need for accountability but it does allow us to see others humanity through a clearer lens. EXPOSED asks audiences to consider what healing requires after the truth comes out.

EXPOSED also addresses the pressure many Black men feel to appear strong and keep private struggles to themselves. King wanted to explore the Black man’s interior life onstage, drawing on his own experiences with expectations. He remembers being an athletic, six-foot teenager who did not play basketball or football, and a Black boy from East St. Louis who sang opera because that was where his natural voice led him. His examples show the narrow expectations placed on Black men. King connects that pressure to his father, a neighborhood hero who often answered questions about his well-being with, “Mighty fine.” He recalls knowing deep down that his father wasn't "mighty fine" it was just his default response he'd been conditioned to recite. King believes the invisible "Superman" cape many black men feel they have to wear has created blocks in communication and stunted healthy relationships. He hopes audiences understand that vulnerability is strength and support can help people move forward.

Drew Sidora, the production’s executive producer, brings her own public experience with mental health to the play. “If you’ve watched my journey on Housewives, you know I was open about my sister’s journey with mental health,” she shares. Sidora has also spoken openly about her own life, describing mental health as central to becoming more grounded and healed. Now, she wants to use her role behind the camera to support a story that can normalize the conversation in Black culture. Her involvement gives the production a personal connection, while King’s writing places the issue within a family story whose consequences reach beyond one person.

That distinction matters because compassion and accountability must exist together. EXPOSED asks whether audiences can understand what shaped someone and still acknowledge the harm that person causes. King says accountability is central to the play, alongside compassion and, at times, toughness. The story brings that tension into the central character’s relationships with his daughter, mother, father and best friend. The rose metaphor does not suggest hardship disappears or that growth absolves responsibility; it asks whether a person can face what they have carried and choose what they will pass on.

Sidora hopes viewers leave willing to sit with themselves and find healing within themselves. Reflection may begin with a family question or an honest look at how silence shaped a home. Dark humor and familiar dynamics can make painful material easier to face. EXPOSED will be presented at the Sewell Mill Cultural Center in Marietta on October 29 and 30, with performances at 7 p.m. King encourages audiences to attend together and carry its lessons into daily life. The hope is that this Atlanta production begins a wider journey for the play and the conversations it brings to the surface. A wider run could move the conversation beyond social media and show what unspoken pain does in real life.

For more information or tickets visit: jpek.org