Mike Tan (right) and Ashley Thomson (left) perform an online play reading of Jim Forgetting from the comfort of their own homes on March 4.
New West Theatre is putting the spotlight on an Albertan playwright during an online play reading in early March.
Col Cseke is a Calgary-based playwright, performer and the co-artistic director of the Verb Theatre in Calgary. Cseke joined the partnership with New West Theatre to present Jim Forgetting, a play he wrote in 2012.
“Kelly Reay, [artistic director at New West Theatre] had a real interest in showcasing Alberta-based writers and then in my case as well I grew up in Lethbridge, attended the U of L and my first ever experience with theatre was through New West summer camps as a kid. So, that connection of not just Alberta, but that Lethbridge connection was even stronger,” said Cseke.
Jim Forgetting is about a middle-aged couple struggling with Jim’s early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The online play reading was made up of a small cast, Mike Tan as Jim and Ashley Thomson as Donna performed the show from their own homes via Zoom. Cseke says he got the inspiration for the play from real-life encounters with Alzheimer’s.
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“I was interested in writing about Alzheimer’s in part because my Nana at the time was living with Alzheimer’s and it just felt like something I wanted to write about.”
“I got connected to a support group for middle age couples in their 30s, 40s, 50s where one of the spouses had Alzheimer’s or dementia and then their other spouse in a lot of ways became their caregiver. So, I met this group and they let me for a year just attend their support group meetings and just sit in on their conversation so I could hear what kind of stuff they are facing in their lives and how that is often pretty different than what life is like for someone in their 70s or 80s who has Alzheimer’s,” added Cseke.
Reay says the idea behind an online play reading was to stay connected with the community and give people a show from the comfort of their own homes during the COVID-19 restrictions.
“The idea was largely born out of necessity looking to stay active and stay present and engaged with the community and so we thought we could use play readings because we can’t do live in-person theatre so let’s do play readings online.
Reay says he wasn’t sure if people would attend online play readings, but the support shown during January’s show quickly changed his mind.
“At the end of January, we did another play reading and we were kind of unsure of how it would be received because we thought people may have a lot of Zoom fatigue. But we kind of discovered the opposite, that people are just hungry for storytelling, for theatre and for that kind of engagement.”
New West Theatre is currently working on different projects for the summer months. As long as the weather cooperates, audience members can hopefully plan for a few outdoor performances in order to adhere to COVID-19 protocols. To stay up to date with everything going on at New West Theatre, visit its website and social media pages.
