About the Play

​* Adapted from the Spork review by Sean Margaret Wagner.

The Forgiving & The Forgetting by Jade Angelica follows Lizzie, her estranged daughter Eva and her son, Tom a priest, as they all learn of Lizzy’s struggle with Alzheimer’s. The siblings work to manage their mother’s illness despite years of bad blood and vastly different ideas of what sort of help Lizzie will need.  They are aided in their treatment by a troupe of medical professionals, nursing home residents with Alzheimer’s. Together, they learn to accept that their lives and family roles are forever changed.  Moving through stormy emotions, they discover that they are more capable of adapting, understanding, and transforming than anyone of them realizes.

What sets The Forgiving & The Forgetting apart is the focus the author has placed in making the experience not just an entertainment, but an opportunity to educate and raise awareness for the audience. Providing the best treatment for persons with Alzheimer’s, means reaching out and joining them in their worlds, Jade Angelica and countless medical experts posit. For example, when Lizzie mistakenly claims that the flowers her son brought her were picked from her garden, we see the stress she experiences when her son negates her strong recollection.  No amount of reason can bring Lizzie around, and she lashes out at her children.  Stark in contrast, Lizzie mistakes her daughter for a beloved cousin, and Eva plays along, diffusing her mother’s tension instantly.  The message is about hope and healing.  Audiences open their hearts and minds right alongside the characters.