From The Alan Parkinson’s Project
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Vertigo Theatre
Thursday, June 12 - Sunday, June 22
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The theatre is not often the place one goes for an education in health. However, Ghost River Theatre’s upcoming musical, The Alan Parkinson’s Project, is an exception. Doug McKeag, who stars in the production, says an audience will receive a “fundamental, brutal education of what Parkinson’s disease is and what it does.”
Ghost River first mounted the collaborative piece in 2006, and it was nominated for seven Betty Mitchell Awards. In staging this remount, McKeag says the actors (most of whom are different from the original cast) and crew went back to the table and honed in on refining the main purpose of the story. “Last time, we were flying on a wing and a prayer,” laughs McKeag. “We didn’t know the parameters. This time, we’ve decided we’re trying to create a story that’s the world’s play about Parkinson’s.”
The Alan Parkinson’s Project is inspired in part by Ghost River Theatre’s founding artistic director, Doug Curtis, who suffers from the disease. “Things that have happened to me are wrapped up in this show, but it’s not a story about me. It’s inspired by the true stories of many people,” says Curtis.
The play tells the story of an up-and-coming filmmaker, Alan Parkinson (McKeag), who is diagnosed with early onset Parkinson’s. It looks at how the disease manifests itself in its victim and the impact it has on those around him.
Curtis acknowledges that few people know much about the disease, beyond its characteristic feature that causes people to shake and have an unsteady hand. He says, however, that Michael J. Fox’s advocacy has done a lot to draw public awareness. “A lot of people told us they missed the show so we thought, ‘Why not bring it back?’” says Curtis.
Curtis describes Parkinson’s as “an extremely secretive disease.” “One day you’re fine, the next day, you’re not. It doesn’t discriminate. It attacks anybody. The disease is growing exponentially in our society,” he adds, noting that it’s now spreading to places like China and India, that previously had low incidences of the disease. “I had to start girding myself the month previous to rehearsal,” says McKeag, of preparing to reprise his Betty Mitchell Award-winning performance. “It’s a weird headspace you have to get in, and it’s physically and emotionally demanding,” he says, explaining the drugs used to treat Parkinson’s can have hallucinogenic effects. Curtis recounts how one rehearsal exercise on shuffling made some of the cast and crew break down and cry.
Despite the seemingly serious subject matter, Ghost River Theatre takes it and puts it to song. “One way to get around the perceived gloominess of a subject is to sing about it,” laughs Curtis. This is certainly not the first time in its 11 seasons that Ghost River has gone down the path of the unorthodox musical. The company has previously created such shows as An Eye for an Eye, about environmental vigilante Wiebo Ludwig.
Including a song that personifies anti-oxidants and free radicals, the approximately 10 musical numbers sprinkled throughout the show add some levity to the production. “The disease wants you to be serious. But talking about the disease, having fun with it, is liberating, and you take the power away from the disease,” says Curtis.
In recalling the 2006 production, McKeag says some people afflicted with Parkinson’s who came to the show “were unbelievably grateful that somebody made an attempt to understand the disease.
“Empathy is another message in this play,” he adds. “We can learn from Doug [Curtis] and we can walk about 100 yards in his shoes. You can’t have empathy enough for someone with Parkinson’s.”
