Thinking People's Theatre Debuts QUALITY OF DEATH

Quality of Death by Ruth Jenkins, a Fertile Ground Production supported by a Regional Arts and Culture Council Grant, will premier on February 4-5 live streamed from Bridgetown Conservatory in Portland, Oregon, and on February 11, 12, 13, 18, 19 at Twilight Theater, 7515 N. Brandon Avenue, Portland. There will be an audience enrichment event on Sunday, February 13 (matinee), and a Post Show Discussion with a panel.

Why is it so hard to talk about death? How is it that staying alive is so often prioritized over a comfortable, peaceful, self-determined end? What does a good last day look like? This play examines these questions, following three families who each have a member facing end of life. This journey winds down a road where family of the dying characters are seen in a support group interacting with end of life professionals and other grieving members. These scenes are interspersed with others where the dying try to convince their families/caregivers of the wisdom of leaving for their final voyage on their own terms, expressed with poignancy and, yes, humor.

The subject of death, after experiencing extensive suffering, is most timely given the last fifty years worth of focus on saving and extending life, whether or not it is the most compassionate choice. More recently, this focus has expanded to options including death with dignity (via medication assisted dying) and voluntary stopping of eating and drinking. Yet these options continue to be stigmatized and beset with legal and functional difficulties.

An abbreviated quote from Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, expresses the underpinning of this play:

"...medicine exists to fight death and disease... Death is the enemy. But the enemy has superior forces. Eventually it wins. And in a war that you cannot win, you don't want a general who fights to the point of annihilation... you want....someone who knows how to fight for territory that can be won and how to surrender it when it can't. We are increasingly the generals who march the soldiers onward, saying all the while, "you let me know when you want to stop." All-out treatment, we tell the incurably ill, is a train you can get off at any time - just say when. But for most patients and their families we are asking too much. They are riven by doubt and fear...People die only once. They have no experience to draw on. They need doctors and nurses who are willing to have the hard discussions and say what they have seen, who will help people prepare for what is to come - and escape a warehoused oblivion that few really want."

It is this train ride that the playwright examines in Quality of Death and which is beautifully supported by the set, light, and music/sound design. Director, Theresa Robbins Dudeck has chosen an exceptionally talented cast, many of whom have direct experience in caregiving of the dying, including a career RN and a woman who supported her husband through palliative care to his end.

Photo Credit: Dale Dudeck