A few words from the director of Still Alice THE PLAY, opening this April at the Lookingglass Theatre in Chicago

Christine Mary Dunford on Still Alice

I was interested in adapting and directing the book Still Alice, by Lisa Genova, for two reasons: one was personal; the other professional.

Personally, I have a quirky memory. Since as far back as I can remember, I have been able to rely on my memory failing me at fantastically inopportune times. Because of this I have a deep interest in memory, and great empathy for others who cannot rely on their memory to feel anchored in day-to-day life.

Professionally, I started working with people with Alzheimer’s disease, and noticed that a lot of discussion about the disease was about loss, or focused on people dying from Alzheimers. I am interested in thinking about living with memory loss. Still Alice was one of the first books I read that presented a person with Alzheimer’s disease, Alice, as a whole person working, like all of us, to stay connected.

Early in the development of the script, a friend cautioned that there was no clear antagonist in my story—except Alzheimer’s—and that without an antagonist there could be no drama. This observation helped me realize that the antagonist in the play is not Alzheimer’s, but something much closer to all of us. Something very scary to most of us. Change, and especially change that we cannot control. Still Alice is a play about a woman who uses her creativity and humor to stay connected to herself and to her family in a world changing must faster then she expected. I could not be more thrilled about working with an amazing cast of actors and incredibly ingenious designers on Still Alice this Spring.