The intimate new play “Two Drink Minimum” tackles “the sweet, the bittersweet and the funny of aging parents,” opening at the Academy Theatre in Hapeville from Sept. 6 to 22.
The story follows a mother entering the early stages of dementia and her son as he struggles to keep their relationship grounded in reality. Director Lynna Schmidt and playwright Bill Balzer recently sat down with “City Lights” host Lois Reitzes to discuss the upcoming production.
Balzer wrote the play directly out of his own experience with his mother’s struggle against dementia, and the title refers to the two drinks he required to tackle the situation on a daily basis.
One “drink to get the courage to make the call and then a second drink to stay on the call,” Balzer shared with Reitzes.
The play provides an emphasis on the humorous moments that accompany the difficulty and sadness of losing someone slowly to memory decline. Like any family dynamic, the relationship between the two main characters oscillates between “delightful and crazy and funny and sad” says Schmidt, who has her own experiences with familial dementia.
