REMEMBRANCE By Patricia Goodson is Coming to Theater for the New City

Plays and movies about Alzheimer's Disease tend to focus on the patient. However "Remembrance," a new play by Patricia Goodson, centers on their caregivers. A product of Theater for the New City's Emerging Playwrights Program, it's Ms. Goodson's second produced play and her second one to be inspired by her mom's twelve-year journey with the disease. Her first play, "Aging is Not a Fairy Tale," debuted last season at TNC. It was a delightful rumination on aging, told with once-young fairy tale characters who have ripened into their dotage. "Remembrance" is a drama meant to educate and inspire the caregivers of the world, whether they are fighting for a person with Alzheimer's or any other chronic or fatal disease. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., will present its world premiere March 20 to April 6, directed by Joan Kane.

The story traces a daughter's long and arduous journey with her mom who has Alzheimer's. It follows the mom's deterioration and shows their physical and mental effects on her daughter through the latter's sessions with a psychiatrist. The play aims to reveal the victimization of the caregiver, as exemplified by a statement in the play's opening dialogue which says, "my mother has Alzheimer's so therefore do I." Five actors play six characters: the patient (Mom), her daughter (present and past), two doctors (a Geriatrician and an Alzheimer's specialist), and a brilliant middle-aged Caribbean woman who is a professional caregiver, Lincoln Center usher, dancer and deeply religious woman. The play is staged in three playing areas:  the doctors' offices, the patients' room and the family's living room.  The play tells us that a caregiver is not alone in this world:  that there are people and forces that will help them through their difficult task and that positive things can come out of a seemingly helpless situation.  As her Mom declines, she inspires her daughter with a proverb about butterflies as symbols of hope. She says, "when you see butterflies, you see Angel wings and it means God is looking after you."  While dealing with serious issues like survivor's guilt, "Remembrance" is also filled with hope. Goodson writes, "We all have our stories of frustration, our feelings of loneliness and helplessness. We feel we have no control, no defense, but we do. Our caring is our control and our bonds of love and the appreciation of the patient for our efforts are our weapons of defense." 

Playwright Patricia Goodson made an auspicious playwriting debut at TNC last season with "Aging is Not a Fairy Tale." A heavy subject treated with a light heart, directed by Robert Liebowitz, it was also inspired by her mother's struggle with Alzheimer's. Goodson realized that no one is ever prepared for their end-of-life crisis. So she wrote a fairy tale comedy to answer the question of what would happen to characters of our bedtime stories (Cinderella, Snow White, Three Little Pigs, etc.) as they get older.  Edward A Kliszus,wrote in Front Row Center, "The play is a delightful, charming, humorous admixture of favorite fairy tales and characters. Repartee was well crafted and sophisticated, and the cast masterfully executed the many subtle and less subtle jabs with splendid, natural timing and assurance."

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