RETIRING THE CHAMP

Judith Black's one-woman show deals with serious subjects: family relationships, Alzheimer's disease, elder care, the machinery of the medical industry, and the death of a loved one. Laugh? How can we laugh when mother and former teacher/union organizer Trina suddenly loses all awareness of what has been her world for 83 years? How can we laugh when son Michael realizes it will fall to him to help his mother though the little boy in him does not want to take on the responsibility? We can laugh because Judith Black is an extraordinary writer, sensitive and accurate, who understands the need to find humor in the darkest of situations. Bittersweet and timely, this is first-rate storytelling. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: FEB/ MAR 06]