Last Lists of My Mad Mother

The Center for the Arts and Ewing Ventures present
July 29, 30 and 31, August 5, 6, & 7
by Julie Jensen
Starring Lois Ewing, Corinne Gelfan and Andrea Fox
Two weekends ONLY
8:00PM Friday and Saturday, 2:00PM, Sunday
$15 members, $18 non-member

Ewing Ventures’ Thinker’s Theater presents theatrical endeavors with social relevance designed to inspire, to enlighten and to help people along to the next step in their life’s journey.  With this production the company offer a window into the soul of adult children of aging parents.

Scott Ewing, the man who recently brought The Full Monty to the Nevada Theater, brings an encore performance of Last Lists of My Mad Mother to the Off Center Stage.

People move to Nevada County to retire and the area boasts a great many retirement and senior living facilities.  This play is designed to help caregivers learn that they are not alone.  Dot, masterfully played by Lois Masten Ewing, is the daughter of aging Lilly Grimshaw.  Here “Ma” a convincing aging parent with Alzheimer’s descends deeper into the disease over the course of the play.  Dot and her Sis are faced with issues like, when to step in to help, eventually when to “send ma to the bin” and ultimately, they get the call that the retirement home wants to put Ma on Haldohl, the drug that helps staff manage their residents but “sends their brains to Pluto with no hope of return.”

Ewing says, “This play shines the bright light of reality on the issues facing today’s adult children of aging parents.  And in the end, the message is that families can find peace now, later, a lot later, after their loved one has passed, or never.  The basic message is that we are always at choice.”  He adds, “Lois, Corrine and Andrea Fox each turn in magical performances that make this seem less like a play and more like a visit to a support group for adult children of aging parents.

Review: Humor and tears mix in performance about Alzheimer’s
By Hindi Greenberg
Special to Prospector
March 31, 2011

“Last Lists of My Mad Mother,” written by Julie Jensen, is an insightful and accurate look at a disease that steals the memory and intellect of a sufferer and the effect it has on and between her children. Yes, there are difficult parts, when tears were shed by most everyone in the audience, either because they were empathizing with the characters or because something said or done resonated within their own experiences with a loved one. I used up a few tissues during the play, as did most of the men and women sitting around me. But the often clever dialog and the characters’ interactions, all which ring completely true, also elicited out-loud laughs from attendees.

The dialog and acting are so natural that I felt as if I were eavesdropping on a family’s exchanges. Real people speak and act towards each other the way these characters do. The caregiver daughter, Dot, is so well played by Lois Masten Ewing that you absolutely feel her frustration, love, sadness and anger, all mixed together towards both her mother and sister.

Corinne Gelfan plays Ma with such a blend of sweetness, stubbornness and, at times, painful blankness that she masterfully captures the devastation of dementia. Andrea Fox as Sis, the daughter who gives advice by telephone but is absent for any caretaking, spot-on personifies the sibling you dislike for being self-righteous and frivolous.

Director Scott Ewing seamlessly combines his characters, the action and the story so that it seems like the audience is part of Dot’s dementia support group, listening to her share her story. Making it even more authentic, the set is an actual part of the community room at Quail Ridge Senior Living in Grass Valley. After the play, the audience could join in a facilitated discussion with experts on Alzheimer’s.

I highly recommend this production, both for its value as a moving and insightful performance and for its truthfulness about a devastating disease.

Presented with support from