27 Apr Award Winning MemoryCare Plays Come To Seattle
The MemoryCare Plays, three award winning one act plays focusing on the challenges of dementia, come to Seattle for the first time in May. The plays, “Steering Into the Skid,” “In the Garden,” and “Riding The Waves,” are directed by Taproot Theatre’s Artistic Director, Scott Nolte and will run two nights, May 8 and 9. All proceeds support arts programs serving individuals with memory loss and their caregivers. Arts and music are unique in their ability to promote healing, connection and purpose through all stages of dementia.
The three MemoryCare plays were selected from over 91 scripts submitted to Alzheimer’s expert, Margaret Noel of North Carolina in 2012. She sought one act plays portraying the complexity of living with or caring for memory loss with the vision to produce them to lift community awareness and raise funds. In 2014 the plays received a bronze award for best anthology from Independent Publishers. They’ve been produced throughout North Carolina and most recently in Philadelphia and New York City. This is their debut on the West Coast!
“Riding the Waves” tells the story of Isabel Epstein’s life while focusing on the experience of her daughter and son as they cope with their mother’s journey into Alzheimer’s. “In the Garden” follows a family’s reactions when the patriarch, Arthur, begins his journey into Alzheimer’s still wavering between lucid moments and more difficult days of forgetfulness and wandering. “Steering Into the Skid” trace a year in the life of a married couple, Amanda and Tim, as they adapt and change in response to Alzheimer’s. In summary, memorycareplays.org states, “The MemoryCare Plays anthology teaches us that the often difficult and heartbreaking time families have together can be punctuated with poignant moments of laughter and joy.”
Taproot’s production on May 8 is preceded by a reception. Benefactors donating $100 will receive a signed book by local author, Esther Altshul Helfgott. Helfgott is the author of Dear Alzheimer’s: A Caregiver’s Diary & Poems, 2013 and Listening to Mozart: Poems of Alzheimer’s, 2014. Dr Soo Borson, MD, Professor Emeriti University of Washington School of Medicine, a geriatric psychiatrist specializing in dementia, will facilitate conversation following the plays. Tickets are available at brown paper tickets or by calling 1-800-838-3008 ext 1.
