ArtsEmerson Presents Sleeping Weazel's EVERYDAY LIFE AND OTHER ODDS AND ENDS

ArtsEmerson presents the world premiere of Sleeping Weazel's Everyday Life and Other Odds and Ends at the Emerson Paramount Center Jackie Liebergott Black Box from March 12 - 27, 2022. Boston's acclaimed experimental theatre troupe, Sleeping Weazel, which this year marks its 10th anniversary, is strongly guided by social justice ideals.

A multi-media work from playwright Charlotte Meehan, Everyday Life is a powerful and frequently hilarious story for anybody who has ever loved somebody, and reveals the inner life of those living with and affected by Parkinson's disease. Meehan, whose previous play The Audacity: Women Speak won the 2019 Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Production, introduces audiences to three very different couples, each of their relationships uniquely impacted by Parkinson's disease, in a bold multi-media experience that delves into the intimate experiences that take place between heartbeats.

Striving for unconditional love, each pair responds to the avalanche of advice heaped on them with a mix of hilarity, pain, and love. Meanwhile, every mundane daily pattern, interlude of absurd bickering, and moment of human connection takes on emotional urgency. As this story illuminates so poignantly, being able bodied is, like life itself, temporary. Everyday Life weaves these diverse realities into one story that evokes laughter and tears, leaving no audience member untouched. In addition to videographer Lee François' multimedia imagery and onscreen therapists, doctors, and Parkinson's specialists, this play contains a film of actual people with Parkinson's and Peter DiMuro's Public Displays of Motion dancer/collaborators bombarding the scene in a big dance of joy and rebellion against the onslaught of their diminishing mobility.

"This play has been three years in the making, and began well before that, as I was experiencing my husband Steven Bell's decade-long struggle with Parkinson's disease," says Sleeping Weazel Artistic Director Charlotte Meehan. "During that time, we dreamed together of a future in which he would be part of it. Since Steve passed away in May 2020, at the height of Covid's first wave, I have continued with this project, hoping to share a more expansive view of our love via three differently configured couples enacting their daily lives while stumbling through the challenges that life brings. We feel the compression of time caused by an incurable disease, and how mortality itself robs us all of the "happily ever after" promise in childhood fairytales. Rather than focusing on the gloomy inevitability of death, this play celebrates the precious moments of life together now. Through the strength of love and the gift of grace, unpredictable little triumphs emerge amidst the larger arc of life that we all share."

"We are so excited to partner with our talented friends at Sleeping Weazel for this special world premiere performance," says ArtsEmerson Executive Director David Howse. "Everyday Life and Other Odds and Ends tells a story of resilience and celebrates the power of love - it is bound to be a moving experience for our audiences."

Tickets for Everyday Life and Other Odds and Ends may be purchased 24/7 at ArtsEmerson.org, or by calling 617-824-8400 (Tue-Sat from 12:00PM ET - 6:00PM ET). The Paramount Center Box Office (559 Washington Street, Boston) is open for walk-up service Thu-Sat from Noon - 6:00 PM ET. Groups of 10+ attending a performance save up to 30% (details here), and discounts of up to 20% are available to those purchasing a 4-Show ArtsEmerson Season Package (details here).

Thanks to generous support from Rockland Trust, a limited number of $10 Mobile Rush tickets will be available at 10:00 AM ET each performance day on a first-come, first-served basis, exclusively through the TodayTix mobile app. For more information, please click on "General Public'' when you visit ArtsEmerson's Offers web page.

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