ADRC to present Steering into the Skid April 27

The Aging and Disability Resource Center of Ozaukee County will present a free online Remember Project event featuring the play “Steering into the Skid,” on Tuesday, April 27.

This program is for family members, caregivers, local businesses and the broader community with a conversation about dementia and the most well-known form of memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease.  

All community members are welcome to attend the free program starting at 1 p.m. on Zoom.

“Steering into the Skid,” was written by the husband-wife team of Arnold Johnston and Deborah Ann Percy and published in The MemoryCare Plays, a book of three one-act plays compiled and edited by Dr. Margaret A. Noel.   

Audience members will meet Tim and Amanda, played by Twin Cities’ professional actors Jim Pounds and Danette McCarthy. In 12 short scenes, one per month – starting on New Year’s Eve – and all taking place in Tim and Amanda’s SUV, the audience comes to know this loving couple and bear witness to the early progression of dementia. As the months pass, the audience sees the subtle changes and adjustments the couple is forced to deal with due to memory loss.

“Our ultimate goal,” facilitator and actor Danette McCarthy said, “is to assist community members and leaders to consider new ways to think about memory loss and to become aware of local resources that support families who are dealing with a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.”

This program helps build awareness, share information and invite authentic community conversations. Audience members come together via Zoom and then watch the play together, followed by a facilitated conversation.  

 “Steering into the Skid” was part of The Remember Project, which toured the lower St. Croix Valley in the fall of 2015. More than 100 performances and conversations have taken place to address the isolation and fear associated with dementia.