Review: TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE at DreamWrights Center For Community Arts

"Devote yourself to loving others, devote yourself to your community around you, and devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning." This is just one of many life lessons that Morrie Schwartz teaches to Mitch Albom throughout Tuesdays With Morrie, a thought-provoking play about how to live a truly rich life. This production is based on a true story and is a powerful performance to behold. Morrie, Mitch's former college professor, contracts a progressive neurodegenerative disease called ALS (more commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig's Disease). After seeing Morrie appear on Nightline, Mitch contacts his old mentor and begins to visit with him every Tuesday. As he watches his old "coach" decline from the effects of the ALS (a fatal disease that is very heart-wrenching to watch Morrie cope with), Morrie teaches one of his favorite students some final life lessons that will change Mitch forever. I cannot imagine a more beautiful telling of this story than the production that I watched last night at DreamWrights Center For Community Arts.

Jaci Keagy and her Company did a gorgeous job of bringing this show together in just a few short weeks. One of the big things that stuck out to me with this production was the flow of the show itself. The run crew, consisting of Jennifer Mooney and her daughter Caitlyn, were brilliantly disguised as Morrie's caretakers. This made the transitions between scenes completely flawless and really kept the story moving. There was not a single time that they pulled us out of the play's atmosphere.

The acting was equally phenomenal. Bill Jones (who played Morrie) had the perfect mixture of comedic timing and raw emotion. Mitch's character goes through a wide range of emotions, and Ernesto Rosas showed this range with such strength and courage. You can't help but get swept up in the story right along with them.

You only have two more chances to see this incredible show this weekend, so visit www.dreamwrights.org to get your tickets before they're gone. And bring lots of tissues.

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