community care roundtable:
Join the DC Theatre Community in a Candid Conversation with Elder Care Experts about Issues in Caretaking
Co-Written by:
ARI ROTH, A. LORRAINE ROBINSON, VANESSA GILBERT
with original stand-up material from JIM MEYER
and excerpts from the work of M.T. CONNOLLY and her book
“The Measure of Our Age: Navigating Care, Safety, Money, and Meaning Later in Life”
Directed by
KATHRYN CHASE BRYER
Staged At
UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL MEMORIAL CHURCH
1810 16th Street, NW • Washington, DC
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roundtable description | TICKETS
MODERATORS | panelists | partner links
roundtable description
With the prevalence of caregiving seemingly everywhere, including more and more on current DMV stages, VFP’s Community Care Roundtable will examine how the tools of art-making can offer new paradigms in addressing issues of social invisibility, neglect, bureaucratic dehumanization, and familial strife often experienced during the throes of caregiving. The roundtable will be co-moderated by MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient and elder-justice advocate Marie Therese Connolly (author of “The Measure of Our Age: Navigating Care, Safety, Money, and Meaning Later in Life”) and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and recent caregiver David Shipler. The roundtable will feature an array of elder care experts in conversation with DC theatermakers Alex Levy, Artistic Director of 1st Stage, and performer Lisa Hodsoll from the 1st Stage production of The Waverly Gallery, as well as Sam Simon, creator and performer of Dementia Man which is being presented at the Phillips Collection in November, director Derek Goldman, and performer Raghad Makhlouf from the Mosaic Theater production of The Art of Care. These experts will be in dialogue with the VFP Who Cares co-writing team.
The Community Care Roundtable will be followed by the world-premiere production of Who Cares: ♥ The Caregiver Interview Project, running January 9 – February 2, 2025, and preceded by free workshop readings of the play on November 17 & 18, 2024 as part of National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. Who Cares is based on over 20 interviews with local colleagues, elder justice advocates, and close friends whose lives have been disrupted – but also transformed – by unexpected caretaking for loved ones contending with memory loss. Often funny, always intimate, and powerfully informed, Who Cares: ♥ The Caregiver Interview Project moves from church basement support group, to comedy club, to rockstar book event, revealing fault-lines within families, and bonds challenged and strengthened, forming newly generative communities of care.
MEET THE moderators
M. T. CONNOLLY (CO-MODERATOR) is a leading national expert on elder justice, a MacArthur “genius” grant awardee, and author of the 2023 book, The Measure of Our Age: Navigating Care, Safety, Money, and Meaning Later in Life. She was the architect of the federal Elder Justice Act, founder of the Department of Justice’s Elder Justice Initiative, and lead author of the Elder Justice Roadmap, shaping federal, state, and local research, policy, and practice. She is also co-designer of the community-based “RISE” model intended to introduce holistic, hopeful, and effective ways to empower older adults, reduce harms, and promote elder justice.
DAVID K. SHIPLER (CO-MODERATOR) is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of nine books of non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. For 20 years he reported for the New York Times from New York, Saigon, Moscow, and Jerusalem, and as Chief Diplomatic Correspondent in Washington. He has taught at Princeton, Dartmouth, the University of Southern California, and American University, and has worked at the Brookings Institution and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He writes an online journal, The Shipler Report and co-hosts a podcast, Two Reporters. He cared for his wife, Debby, during her terminal illness with cancer.
MEET THE panelists
SAMUEL A. SIMON (DEMENTIA MAN, THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION)(Playwright-Performer) describes his theater work as his “fourth age.” He comes to it after a career as a prominent member of America’s consumer movement. Trained as a lawyer, he started his career at Ralph Nader’s first advocacy group in Washington, DC in 1970. He then started a public affairs firm. Over his career, Sam was a regular in the national news and talks shows such as Face the Nation, The Today Show, Good Morning America, NBC Nightly News, Phil Donahue, and the Oprah Winfrey Show. Sam started performing in community theater and in 2000, started to train in improv with Artistic New Directions as a student of Gary Austin, Jeffery Sweet, and Carol Fox Prescott. He has appeared as part of the Gary Austin Workshop in New York and Washington, DC. Dementia Man is his second play. His first play, The Actual Dance, Love’s Ultimate Journey Through Breast Cancer, debuted in 2013. It was adapted into a book by the same name in 2021.
ALEX LEVY (THE WAVERLY GALLERY, 1ST STAGE) is Artistic Director of 1st Stage, a nationally recognized theatre in Tysons, VA. For 1st Stage, he recently directed Kenneth Lonergan’s The Waverly Gallery. He is a five-time nominee for The Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Director. Since joining 1st Stage in 2014 the company has been nominated or won 11 Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Production. He directed 1st Stage’s production of Lobby Hero which was named Best Regional Revival of 2016 by The Wall Street Journal. 1st Stage is the recipient of the American Theatre Wing’s “National Theatre Company Grant” and was named “One of America’s most impressive smaller theater companies” by The Wall Street Journal. Alex holds an MFA in Directing from UCLA.
CATHERINE FLYE (THE WAVERLY GALLERY, 1ST STAGE) Catherine recently appeared at 1st Stage in The Waverley Gallery. She graduated from London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and has worked extensively in the Washington DC area, writing, acting and directing. Acting credits include principal roles at Arena Stage, The Shakespeare Theatre, The Folger, Signature, Ford’s, Studio, Olney, Round House, MetroStage, The Kennedy Center, and throughout the UK including London’s West End, As Artistic Director of Interact Theatre Company, she wrote and and produced over 45 commissioned plays and entertainments integrating the performing arts commissioned by such organizations as The National Archives, The National Gallery of Art, The Corcoran, The Folger, The Smithsonian, Washington’s National Cathedral, The Library of Congress, and the Supreme Court of the United States. She has been nominated thirteen times for Washington’s Helen Hayes Awards, winning for her production of The Pirates of Penzance. In 2019, she received the Anderson Hopkins Award for Excellence in the Theatre Arts.
DR. DEREK GOLDMAN (THE ART OF CARE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY/MOSAIC THEATER) is an award-winning international stage director, playwright, producer, educator, festival director, adapter/ deviser, curator, and published scholar. He is Artistic and Executive Director of The Laboratory for Global Performance & Politics at Georgetown University. He is director and co-author of the internationally celebrated play Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski and the award- winning feature film which aired on PBS Great Performances. Goldman has directed over 100 theatrical productions and worked as an adapter/playwright at Steppenwolf, Berkeley Rep, Chicago Shakespeare, TFANA, Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, Folger, Ford’s Theater, Lincoln Center, Baltimore Center Stage, and many others. His world premiere devised production The ART OF CARE premieres this Fall at Mosaic Theater.
RAGHAD MAKHLOUF (THE ART OF CARE, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY/MOSAIC THEATER) (Actress/Director/Playwright; she/her) DC area credits include: “Agreste” (Helen Hayes Award nominated for Outstanding Ensemble), and “Sonnets for an Old Century” at Spooky Action; “Selling Kabul” (Understudy) at Signature Theater; “Timon of Athens” (Understudy) at Shakespeare Theater Company; “In This Hope” with The Welders; “Hamlet” (Stage Reading) at Folger Theater. VT: “Hamlet/The Tempest Rep” at Shakespeare in The Woods. International credits include: SYRIA: “Wretched Dreams” and “AB negative” at The Opera House; “The Poster” at The Russian Cultural Center; “Tactic” at Alhamra Theater. DENMARK: “Venus Labyrinth” at Masnedo Fortress. Education: The Higher Institute of Drama, Syria: B.F.A; Shakespeare Theater Academy at GWU: M.F.A in classical acting. Coming next: The Art of Care at Mosaic Theater
@raghadmakhlouf
JULIE B. KENNEDY (CEO/CO-FOUNDER, RUBYWELL) Julie is the CEO & Co-Founder of RubyWell, a software company that is building tools that help family caregivers save, find, and earn money throughout the caregiving journey. Prior to RubyWell, Julie was the founding Chief Operating Officer of Trusty.care, a Medicare technology company. Her work as the founder and leader at DC SCORES and AMERICA SCORES earned her local and national awards, including Washingtonian of the Year, a Daily Points of Light award from President Clinton, and a finalist mention for the Presidential National Service Award. Julie holds a BA from Georgetown University, and an MPA from Harvard University.
LATIMBERLY JOHNSON (UX Research & Product Lead, RUBYWELL) Timmy earned a BFA from Syracuse University and has worked in the fashion, beauty and now financial health and literacy markets. With ample family caregiving experience under her belt, Timmy connects deeply with RubyWell families’ frustrations and goals. She harnesses this combination of empathy and insight to make the family caregiving journey more manageable.
Timmy has helped care for her grandmother, great aunt, and mom.
STEVE GURNEY (FOUNDER/DIRECTOR/PUBLISHER, POSITIVE AGING COMMUNITY) is the founder of the Positive Aging Community and the Positive Aging SourceBook, a comprehensive resource dedicated to helping older adults and their loved ones understand choices and make connections. Inspired by his family's experiences caring for his grandfather, Steve launched his first publication in 1990 to fill a critical gap in information for those facing similar challenges. An award-winning advocate for seniors, Steve continues to innovate and educate through events, publications, and digital platforms, promoting purposeful living for all ages.
NEPHELIE ANDONYADIS (THEATERMAKER & GERONTOLOGIST) is a costume and scenic designer based in Southern California and Washington DC with a long-time practice in community engaged art making. She is also a gerontologist, and a certified TimeSlips facilitator, interested in working at the intersections of community, arts and policy to help change the culture of care for all older adults.
CODY WHITFIELD (PROGRAM MANAGER, THEATRE WASHINGTON) spent thirteen years as a freelance stage manager, production manager, and electrician in the Washington, DC area before the pandemic shifted her career path. In that time, she worked with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Arena Stage, Studio Theatre, Constellation Theatre Company, and more. She joined Theatre Washington in November 2020 to manage the Taking Care Fund, and quickly took on administrative responsibilities for the Helen Hayes Awards as well. Since March 2020, the Taking Care Fund has awarded over $1,000,000 to local theatre artists experiencing hardship – $650,000 under her purview. Please donate at https://theatrewashington.org/takingcare.
who cares: roundtable - links
An expert on elder justice maps the challenges of aging, how things go wrong, and presents powerful tools we can use to forge better long lives for ourselves, our families, and our communities.
