Sunday, February 4, 2018

Mirrors and Movies

Watching an interview with Maggie Smith on YouTube. When asked if she likes watching herself on the screen or on TV, she replied, "I usually do not, unless I am forced to at a ceremony or such. I hate it. I mean mirrors are tricky enough."



My thoughts exactly as I sit here in Mexico, working a little each morning preparing for a number of appearances with the "ALHEIMER's: A Love Story" documentary. It is always disconcerting to see my face, large than life on a theater screen talking about my experiences during the journey Gregory and I traveled for 12 years before his death on October 4, 2015.

I will be "performing" my "one man show." The evening begins while the audience is being seated with a slide show of all the festival logos(90) to which the documentary has been accepted. The slide show is backed with"anticipatory" music. After a brief introduction, a three minute slide show of Gregory and I, in smiling while embraced photographs from when we first met until shortly before his death. This slide show is backed with a piano version of "Some Day He'll Come Along, The Man I Love."

Next I tell a 20-30 minute story about Gregory and my living with Alzheimer's. It is a raw, honest,  moving story that does not have a happy ending but is uplifting and hopeful in the power of love, creativity, and willpower. 

A "Question/Answer" follows and the evening ends with an informal get-together of the audience members and Michael over wine and cheese. 

The "Evening with Michael and his Alzheimer's Love Story" will take place on April 17 at Pride Film and Plays on Broadway Avenue in Chicago at 7:30. Tickets are not yet on sale. I will broadcast more information when we are closer to the day.

I will also be presenting the show for Evanston's New Studio Salon on the second Tuesday in October at the Evanston Arts Center on Central Street. More on this later as well.

A submission to the 33rd Annual Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI) Convention and to Northwestern Cognitive, Alzheimer’s Disease Center Conference have been made and I wait to hear from them. These presentations will be in conference format and will fill the time allotted. The documentary will most likely not be shown but a link to watch it will be provided.

Also, I am in contact with Proud Seniors Greece, an LGBTQ organization for seniors out of Athens, Greece. Besides showing the documentary, they have invited me to present in Athens in May. If I attend, this presentation will look like the "one man show."




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