Review: TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE at The Pocket Community Theatre

I really tried to prepare myself before I went to see TUESDAYS WITH MORRIE at the Pocket Community Theatre, 170 Ravine St, in Hot Springs Friday, Feb. 10. I said 'I'm not going to cry....I'm not going to cry,' and dang it! They got me! This touching two-person play was something special. It pulls at your heartstrings, and we left a better person because of it.

Based off the book written by Mitch Albom, the story follows the real-life relationship between Professor Morrie Schwartz (Steven Mitchell) and student Mitch (Dan Breshears), who form a strong bond during school. Once Mitch graduates, life happens, and he doesn't think about his professor until he sees Morrie on tv talking about having ALS- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, a life-threatening progressive neurodegenerative disease. Shortly after that, Mitch decides to visit Morrie, and what was just a one-time trip, turns into a weekly visit to chronicle the last moments of Morrie's life, in which he imparts wisdom and words to live by.

This was such a sweet, but moving play. The two actors embraced their characters and took the audience on a journey of empathy and love. Their storytelling was brilliant. Mitchell had the task of going from a healthy, caring sociology professor to an aging, deteriorating-well, still-sociology professor to the end. At the beginning, Mitchell emphasized the character's passion for teaching, and he kept that passion known, even when he could really only use his eyes to portray his feelings. Mitchell took Morrie from an animated character to an immobile body, still being able to evoke feelings through his emotional deliveries. Tears were shed during the last moments of Morrie's life.

Breshears' character journey was noticeable as well. He took Mitch from a tough workaholic who had no time for relationships, to a perceivably softer-hearted caretaker. After his 16-year absence, Mitch was standoffish for the first visit. It didn't take long for Morrie to start wearing the harsh exterior down on Mitch, and Breshears made the transition effortlessly. My heart ached at the end for both of them.

Before each show, the Pocket Community Theatre holds a raffle to raise funds for various projects. The winner of the raffle generally gets the best seats in the house, which are some really nice recliners at the front of the auditorium. Instead, the pre-show raffle prize was two tickets to their next production, which will be THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG. Proceeds were donated to the ALS foundation so that someday scientists will find a cure for Lou Gehrig's disease. Also, the audience had a chance to chat with Jon (I didn't catch his last name) in the lobby, who is a big fan of Mitch Albom. In 2009 Jon was diagnosed with hereditary spastic paraplegia, which is similar to ALS. He shared his experience, educated play goers about the spastic paraplegia foundation, and took donations for the cause.

Both ALS and HSP are diseases that deal with muscle deterioration. More information can be found at https://www.als.org, and https://sp-foundation.org.

To find out more about what's coming up at the Pocket Theatre, visit their website at https://www.pockettheatre.com.

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