‘Daytrips’ Lightens the Darkness of Alzheimer’s Disease

Seen any good comedies about Alzheimer’s disease lately?

“One of the things you realize in the course of this kind of degenerative (process) is that either you develop a sense of humor and a sense of patience--or you don’t cope,” said Steven Kent, director of Jo Carson’s “Daytrips” (at the Los Angeles Theatre Center).

The play focuses on three generations of a contemporary Tennessee family: grandmother, mother and daughter (whose character doubles as the narrator). The mother has Alzheimer’s and doesn’t recognize her caretaker-daughter, Pat. The grandmother refuses to acknowledge her daughter’s illness--and has deluded herself into thinking that Pat is her other, now-dead daughter.

“Of course, this is tremendously undermining for the care-giver,” said Kent, 48. “She has no identity from her mother or her grandmother--and the two of them are constantly arguing about who she is.” The title refers to the trio’s “daytrips” on a succession of shopping expeditions--”variously scary and funny and sad.”

The laughter, Kent added, is often that of surprised recognition. “The playwright says that comedy is dangerous--because when you’re being funny, you can deal with things that nobody wants to talk about.”

“We all have to deal with it,” he said of the specter of aging parents. “And this is biographical for Jo--she was the daughter. She also was in on the whole rehearsal process, and sometimes it was very difficult for her to watch--because as it gets deeper, it gets closer. I mean, it’s a very brave thing she’s doing. Both of these women are still alive, in institutions; it all happened in the last 10 years. So it’s very fresh.”

For Kent, too. “Right now, I’m dealing with that,” he said slowly. “My mother does not have Alzheimer’s, but she’s very ill. She’s not eating.” He paused. “Of course, my sister in Denver is doing the major caretaking. But I have the daily need to check in on her. And it certainly brings an urgency to the work; it’s not being done in the abstract. I know how powerful these issues are.”

Kent and Carson are also old friends, members of Regional Organization of Theatre South (ROOTS), where “Daytrips” received its first staged reading.

“That’s when we all knew what a piece it was, because of the audience response--big belly laughs with tears running down their faces,” he said. “A woman’s piece? Yes, in that it’s certainly the three ages of woman: young, middle-aged and crone. But I think women in this society are the caretakers. Women understand that duty more than men do . . . lamentably.”

Although he made his name more than 20 years ago in Los Angeles theater--as one of the founding members of the Company and ProVisional theater companies--Kent has been relatively absent from local stages recently.

“This will be the longest period I’ve spent at home in Los Angeles in five years,” he said with a shrug. “I go where the good projects are. I’ve been working a lot with Tennessee Repertory Theatre in Nashville--a regional theater where I direct things like ‘Hamlet,’ ‘Evita,’ ‘Death of a Salesman’ and ‘West Side Story.’ I’m also an associate director of a group in Atlanta.”

Why the South? “My mother’s maiden name is Crockett (as in Davey), and a lot of my people are from Tennessee. I have a strong feeling about that section of the country--and about how the rest of the country has an oddly pejorative attitude toward Southerners. Hey, the South is fabulous. There’s a real renaissance down there.” He’s not as sure when it comes to assessing his own reputation.

“I know I don’t have a heavy vibe,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m not scary. A lot of people in my profession are scary; sometimes people do theater by intimidation. I take theater so seriously, I can’t be grim about it. I love it too much. And I love the people. I have this mission--I know it’s odd to talk about missions--about theater from the heart, theater with a social conscience.”

It’s not that far from where he started out. “I was going to be a minister,” Kent said. “Growing up in Deadwood, S.C., I loved music and visual arts and literature and congregations of people and social action. In a small town, the only forum I could find was the church.”

Enrolling at USC to study architecture, Kent was quickly corralled by a drama professor into building a set. “Suddenly, there was a place for all my interests. There was ritual, philosophy, communities of people working together. And it’s such a gregarious art form. I didn’t have to decide if I wanted to be an artist or a musician or a poet--because it was all there.”

(Kent will return to USC this fall, to guest-direct Ted Hughes’ “shocking” version of Seneca’s “Oedipus.”)

After graduation, he and a group of like-minded students formed the Company Theatre; under Kent’s direction, it became known as one of the most progressive and innovative theatrical influences of the ‘60s. But in 1972, Kent and others splintered off into a new group.

“The people who wanted to work collectively with works of intensely social nature became the Pro-Visional,” he said. That group lasted till 1982. “We were all tired. I also think a lot of people in the ProVisional were doing theater not because they loved theater, but for political reasons--a way of achieving a kind of social progress. I, on the other hand, love theater. Theater is absolutely relevant to me.”

Still. “I never seem to change,” Kent noted. “I was very fortunate to find something (25 years ago) that I still love. I like the stuff of it, in the way that potters love clay and people who play instruments love their instruments. I like being in a hot, dark room with a Styrofoam cup of coffee, a piece of paper and actors in this big space--and out of our communal stuff, make something that wasn’t there, share that experience with other people.”