THEATER : ‘Long Warm Winter’ examines Alzheimer’s with hope and sympathy.

When Wanda Waters tries to change her 70-year-old mother’s diapers, the older woman strikes her. Moments later, her mother has completely forgotten the incident.

This difficult scene is among several recounted by Wanda and her family in “Long Warm Winter,” a production of the Norris Theatre’s Prime Time Players that will be presented at four locations during the next month.

“Long Warm Winter” follows the Waters family during an eight-year period. The matriarch, Jane, slips deeper into the dementia of Alzheimer’s disease, taking her clan on a “journey into the great unknown of aging,” says playwright Kathy Fleming, who is a Norris Theatre staff member.

Jane is never seen, but her dilemma provides the center of the drama as family members try to preserve her quality of life--and their own.

The family’s poignant and sometimes comic moments are woven together with commentary and folklore on aging, death and eternity from literary figures, such as this one from Mark Twain: “If you can’t reach 70 by a comfortable road, don’t go.”

Material from Twain, Emily Dickinson, Lewis Carroll and even French actor Maurice Chevalier serve as transitions in the show, offering a variety of perspectives on growing old.

The Prime Time Players, the theater’s seniors outreach program, premiered “Long Warm Winter” at the Norris last August as part of “Aging and the Family Dynamic,” a project exploring Alzheimer’s, sexuality, remarriage and other issues of aging.

After each hourlong performance, Palos Verdes gerontologists Ed and Olga Gilroy lead a discussion of some of the topics raised in the play. This gives audience members the chance to ask technical medical questions or talk to Fleming, Director Linda Hamilton and the actors about how the play deals with aging.

“You really get the emotional impact when you see a live performance,” Hamilton said. “It’s not just dry factual material. . . . The show raises concerns for people, and the discussion helps people process these concerns.”

About 5% of the population is afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, a degenerative illness that attacks the brain, Ed Gilroy said. “Long Warm Winter” accurately depicts the heartbreak of the illness, explores the harsh challenges confronted by everyone during the aging process and ultimately presents an outlook that is realistic but uplifting.

“I feel pretty good as a gerontologist being on stage with this play, this script and these characters,” he said.

The characters manage to grow closer through their struggle, Gilroy said, adding that their example should give some audience members hope.

“When people see this family cope,” he said, “They think, ‘Gee, if they can do it, I can do it.’ ”

The characters’ united triumph over adversity carries a message to families and audiences of all ages, Fleming and Hamilton agreed.

“Aging is a difficult experience for everyone, both for the individual and their family,” Hamilton said. “But there are resources out there to help unite that family and get them through crisis without damage.”

“Long Warm Winter” will be presented at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at Temple Beth El in San Pedro; 2 p.m. Jan. 29 at Little Company of Mary in Torrance; 2 p.m. Jan. 30 in the Hancock Auditorium of the USC Andrus Gerontology Center in Los Angeles (tentative), and 2 p.m. Feb. 26 at the Celebration of Wellness Health Fair at the Industry Hills Sheraton in City of Industry. Depending on response, the troupe hopes to tour again later this year. All performances are free. For more information, call (310)544-0403.