On the evening of Oct. 19, the sorority community of Baldwin Wallace was presented a night of comedy from touring stand-up comedian Stephanie Foster and a mental health discussion in the BW Student Activity Center.   

Foster performed her touring show, “Without Rhyme Nor Reason,” a comedic act that aims to destigmatize talk of mental health among college students.   

“Suicide is the second leading cause of death amongst college students, yet everyone is still whispering the word, ‘suicide,’” Foster said. “I want to make the topic less taboo and easier to talk about.”  

Foster said she believes talking openly about mental health issues is the way to prevent suicides. 

“I truly believe the easier it is to tell people about the thoughts in-between your ears, the less suicides we’ll experience,” Foster said.  

Foster got her start in comedy while living in Barcelona and has been pursuing the profession for nearly five years. The inspiration for “Without Rhyme Nor Reason,” however, did not come until she lost her best friend Jaci to suicide roughly two years ago.  

Foster and her team have been traveling to college campuses across the United States since spring of 2022, performing exclusively for sororities.  

Sororities were chosen specifically because that is how Foster and Jaci met. The two were sisters in the Gamma Tau Chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha during their time at Texas Tech University.   

The tour is hosted by comedian and actress Courtney Bee Bledsoe and features a guest comic at each stop. The featured comedian for the show at BW was writer and actress Xazmin Garza.  

Another figure that Foster said was instrumental in the process of creating “Without Rhyme Nor Reason” was the Society of Valued Minds, a community that emphasizes creative expression and shared experiences to reduce stigma around mental health issues run by Ostuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.    

Foster said the organization has been a supporter of the show since the tour originally began and has sponsored multiple stops, including Baldwin Wallace.  

More information about Stephanie Foster’s “Without Rhyme Nor Reason” tour can be found on the tour’s website www.wrnrcomedytour.com. 

A previous version of this story referred to the Society of Valued Minds as a charity. In fact, the Society of Valued Minds is described as a “community” by its trademark owner, for-profit Ostuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc.