McCormick was the 2017-2018 Digital Managing Editor for the Daily Bruin. She was previously an assistant editor of the A&amp;E section, overseeing the Music | Arts beat.

Emily McCormick

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UCLA employee Joseph Mango (right) wrote the play “The One With Friends” about characters with mental illnesses that find friendship over a shared interest in the sitcom “Friends.” (Anthony Tran/Daily Bruin)

https://dailybruin.com/2016/10/06/theater-meets-psychiatry-in-play-about-mental-illness-and-friends/web-ae_-joemango-at_-jpg/

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web.ae.joemango.AT.jpg - Daily Bruin

Theater &amp; Fine Arts

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Daily Bruin

Theater meets psychiatry in play about mental illness and &#039;Friends&#039; - Daily Bruin

Theater meets psychiatry in play about mental illness and &#8216;Friends&#8217;

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Joseph Mango knows friends can be the best therapy – and Phoebe, Joey, Rachel, Ross, Chandler and Monica are the best therapists. Mango, a senior public administrative analyst for the UCLA Center for Health Services and Society, penned a play called “The One With Friends,” about a struggling Los Angeles actor who meets a writer who is scripting a reunion episode for the television show “Friends.” Both the main characters of the play, which will debut at the Tamkin Auditorium on Friday, struggle with depression and eventually find comfort and healing through their newfound companionship and mutual love for “Friends.” Mango, a lifelong “Friends” enthusiast, incorporated more than just his love of the 1990s sitcom into his play.

https://dailybruin.com/2016/10/06/theater-meets-psychiatry-in-play-about-mental-illness-and-friends/

Thursday, March 19, 2026

Theater meets psychiatry in play about mental illness and ‘Friends’

By Emily McCormick

Oct. 6, 2016 1:35 a.m.