“Many years ago a sponsor gave me the assignment to write the show I had talked about for years about my journey towards recovery from food addiction. But also the relationship with my mother and the loss of my eldest sister Linda, who died at the age of 12 from a blood disease.  It was devastating from my parents and they had me so that my other sister wouldn’t be an only child. The first two years of my life were the last two years for Linda. 

So for 15 minutes a day, I scoured all my journals for poems and songs I had written over the years expressing what was going on at that time. It never got me abstinent or sober, but it helped me make sense of the world. Thats what art does, I believe: Help us make sense. So this is the result.

 I offer it as one of many stories, as we all have our own. I touch on and travel through difficult parental relationships, loss, grief, addiction, rage, despair, discovery and in the end, forgiveness.

My piece is called My Mother’s Purse. 

The act of working on it was a healing journey in and of itself because of the discoveries that I made. It is my desire to take this piece around to whomever may be interested as a kind of calling card or introduction for discussion or to the idea of writing our narratives and putting them on their feet. I would love to continue to work on this, perform it, and then do a theater workshop with participants afterwards to start them on their journey of telling their own story to others: to perform it for others. The actual act of creating it is so informative and healing. “

SLIP

By

Michael Egan

SLIP is an original family drama about love, family, art and Alzheimer’s.

Mick, Mary, and their son Patrick are a family caught in the quicksand of Alzheimer’s disease. As Mick’s mind spins between past and present, real and unreal, the family’s pottery studio—and their entire life—begin to fracture. Mary is forced to put her accomplished fiddle career on hold as Patrick battles the confusion of watching his father’s life being swallowed by the abyss of dementia, all while holding the family business together. Pushed to their limits, they open their doors to a personal care assistant and welcome the hand of hope within the hopeless.

Cast in order of appearance:

Mick, Stephen Yoakam

Mary, Molly Sue McDonald

Patrick, Michael Egan

Lee, Thomasina Petrus

Written and co-produced by Michael Egan

Directed and co-produced by Austene Van

Musical direction by Victor Zupanc

Original fiddle composition by Libby Larsen

Development Consultation by Sandy Hey

Lester Eugene Mayers, a proud Brooklyn native, is an accomplished member of the Department of Theatre Arts at SUNY New Paltz and an MFA graduate of the renowned Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics. A multi-hyphenate artist whose work spans directing, writing, performance, choreography, and dramaturgy, he currently serves on the faculties of Ramapo College and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. In 2023, he was honored as the inaugural Artist in Residence at Ramapo College.

More information on this performance to come soon!