蜜柚直播

But they are more than that in Ain Gordon and Josh Quillen鈥檚 play 鈥溾��; they are signposts on a lonely and painful road that Quillen鈥檚 mother, Sue, navigated when his father, Jerry, was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in 2006.

The car keys Sue took from Jerry when she learned he was using his cane on the gas pedal when he was driving.

The journal Jerry kept chronicling the disease鈥檚 progression that began with 鈥淚鈥檝e got a little drag in my foot.鈥�

Jerry鈥檚 playlist woven throughout the hour-long play that 蜜柚直播 Arts Live brought to Centennial Hall on Thursday, Sept. 19, and Friday, Sept. 20.

蜜柚直播 is only the third city to see the play, which Gordon and Quillen worked on during a weeklong University of 蜜柚直播 residency in 2022.

鈥淩elics鈥� is the story of Sue鈥檚 caretaker journey, which she recounted to her son and Gordon in a podcast recorded at Josh Quillen鈥檚 Dover, Ohio, childhood home in 2019. The bulk of the play came from the podcast transcript, interwoven with soundbites of Jerry鈥檚 playlist, including a song whose title and lyrics came from that fateful statement 鈥淚鈥檝e got a little drag in my foot.鈥� Quillen and Gordon sang the song with UA music students Brandon Arzate and Nicandro Guereque.

The play uses unconventional stagecraft, starting with having the sold-out audience, about 50 of whom were local ALS caretakers or family members, on stage with the performers.

We were sitting spitting distance from Gordon, who played himself, and Sue, alternating between two mics depending on who was talking; and Quillen, who sat behind a small soundboard asking Sue questions about the three years she spent taking care of his father. As she talked, she smoked; throughout the conversation, Quillen keeps track of the number of cigarettes.

The play opens with Gordon recounting Sue making her special Reuben sandwich for dinner, even though Gordon is gluten-free and eschews the Rueben鈥檚 Thousand Island dressing. Not to be deterred, Sue runs out to Buehler鈥檚, the area鈥檚 leading grocer, we鈥檙e told, and buys overpriced gluten-free bread to accommodate the dietary restrictions.

We go through Sue鈥檚 journey, from the neurologist delivering the diagnosis with emotional detachment 鈥� 鈥�... you will eventually lose all muscle control, and then you will die within 1陆 to three years. Do you have any questions?鈥� 鈥� to Quillen鈥檚 memory of losing track of his father during a walk and finding him doing donuts in his wheelchair on a busy street. Turns out Jerry had slumped over onto the joystick and couldn鈥檛 straighten out the chair, which was going round and round in circles.

There is no resounding moral of the story with 鈥淩elics,鈥� no angry outburst of why me, why us. Instead, Gordon and Quillen balance humor and sorrow to tell us a wonderfully paced, colorful story that doesn鈥檛 feel devastating or superficial.

鈥淩elics and Their Humans,鈥� co-commissioned by 蜜柚直播 Arts Live, is Gordon and Quillen鈥檚 second collaboration. In 2015, Gordon, an Obie Award-winning writer, director and performer, and Quillen, a composer, writer and percussionist with the New York quartet S艒 Percussion, created 鈥淩adicals in Miniature鈥� based on Gordon鈥檚 youth in New York City鈥檚 alternative scene.

Friday鈥檚 performance starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $30, $10 for students through