The challenging issues of aging and dementia is addressed with humor and heartache when VIVA Theater/Society for Creative Aging, in partnership with the Boulder County Arts Alliance, presents “The Outgoing Tide” at Boulder’s Nomad Playhouse.
Bruce Graham’s “The Outgoing Tide” is set in the present-day at the Concannon beach cabin on the Chesapeake Bay with prior events shown through a series of flashbacks. It chronicles the family of Gunner Concannon, his wife Peg and son, Jack as they wade through issues of fading memory, past and present family struggles to finally find forgiveness and compassion for each other.
Gunner (Steve Grad), after a lifetime of being in charge of his trucking company, his family, and everyone around him, is struggling with losing control of his future as his memory leaves him. He has hatched an unorthodox plan to secure his family’s future, but meets resistance from his wife and son who have plans of their own.
Peg (Abigail Wright) is an energetic, good looking housewife; a well brought up Catholic girl. She can hold her own with her curmudgeonly husband, but the toll of being his caregiver and worrying about their futures is wearying. Peg wants to move them into an assisted living facility, but Gunner will have none of it.
Gunner and Peg’s only child Jack (Bunk Hess) is a member of the sandwich generation, spread thin among demands from his children, spouse, elderly parents and the haunting echoes of his childhood. His loyalties are torn as he continues to feel the push and pull of parents who have put him in the middle. In the trials with his parents he is able to gain some clarity with the issues with his own son.
Local favorite James Carver directs a stellar cast through this realistic account of the toll dementia takes on this family of three with as many laughs as tears.
The “Outgoing Tide” is presented at the Nomad Playhouse, 1410 Quince Ave., Boulder. Evening performances are 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 23; Saturday, Sept. 24; Friday, Sept. 30; and Saturday, Oct. 1. There is a matinee at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25. Tickets are $12 for seniors and students and $15 general admission, with group discounts for 10 or more. Tickets are available through the Society for Creative Aging website, www.s4creativeaging.org/.
For more information, please contact Steve Grad at 303-443-1421 or stevegrad@comcast.net/.