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The Lights are Not Out: Amazing Story of a Woman with Alzheimer's and the Rejuvenative Power of Art

10/30/2015

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Picture Hilgos, who had Alzheimer's, painting with art students. Engaging in creative arts reopened doors of communications and improved her quality of life.

Did you know that Alzheimer’s is the only disease in the top ten causes of fatalities without a prevention, treatment or cure?  And that in
the United States, there are more than 15 million Alzheimer's and dementia caregivers? The disease was first noted over 100 years ago by German physician Aloysius "Alois" Alzheimer. Today while researchers are making strides towards learning more about the mechanisms of this disease, it seems we are still nowhere close to finding a treatment.  What recourse can people take? 

A powerful documentary which broadcasts on public television stations nationwide in October and November 2015 provides inspiration and hope.

Berna Huebner serendipitously discovered one way to tackle Alzheimer’s—through the power of the creative arts. In 1995, her mother Hilda Gorenstein (an artist also known as Hilgos) was moved to a Chicago-area nursing home because of steadily worsening Alzheimer’s. She stopped communicating and became a part of the stigmatization, solitude and isolation that is connected with this disease. The staff at the nursing home commented that her “lights were out.”

Berna was visiting her mother one day, and had the idea to ask her mom if she’d like to paint. Hilgos, who had been uncommunicative for some time, looked at her daughter and had an astonishing reply: “Yes, I remember better when I paint.”

Having been told of this amazing moment, her mother’s doctor suggested that art students engage in painting with her mom. Back in the 1990s, this was an innovative and pioneering idea.

It turns out that the lights were not out. Berna was amazed to see her mother’s steady improvement, in both speech as well as physical mobility, thanks to the use of art and creativity. The engagement in the creative arts reopened doors of communications, and improved the quality of life for Hilgos.

Since her mother’s passing in 1998, Berna has been committed to raising awareness of the positive impact of the creative arts on people with Alzheimer’s and is co-director of a documentary film inspired by her mother’s words which is set to broadcast nationwide on PBS in November 2015. [Click here for broadcast listings.]

As noted in the documentary’s information page: I Remember Better When I Paint, narrated by legendary Academy award-winning actress Olivia de Havilland, is the first international documentary about the positive impact of art and other creative therapies on people with Alzheimer’s and how these approaches can change the way society looks at the disease.

Leading doctors and neurologists explain how parts of the brain can be spared and discuss the life-enriching benefits of these new approaches. Among these experts are Dr. Robert Butler, a founding director of the National Institutes on Aging (NIH) and a Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Dr. Samuel Gandy of Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, Dr. Robert Green of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and Dr. Robert Stern, Professor of Neurology at Boston University.

Inspiring personal stories are featured, including that of Rita Hayworth, as told by her daughter, Yasmin Aga Khan, to highlight the transformative impact of art and other creative therapies and how they are changing the way we look at Alzheimer’s.

“I Remember Better When I Paint” is co-directed by Eric Ellena and Berna Huebner, and is a French Connection Films and Hilgos Foundation production. View the trailer to the film here.


The film is also available on DVD and includes a series of short supplemental films that further highlight special programs and flesh out the how-tos of organizing an outing, a creative workshop or recreating social bonds between people with Alzheimer's and their families.




Picture
The documentary set to air nationwide on public television as of November 2015. The film is also available on DVD.



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English-Language Musical Theatre Scene in Paris

10/5/2015

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PictureAmerican Musical Theatre Live (AMT Live) presents the Salzman and Cunningham musical Next Thing You Know: October 12, 13, 19, 20 November 9, 10, 16, 17, 23 December 7, 18, 14, 15 Doors open at 19h30, Show starts at 20h at The Highlander Pub 8, rue de Nevers, 75006 Paris Metro Pont Neuf or St. Michel
Irene on the Scene chats with Miranda Crispin, an American in Paris, about the English-language musical theatre scene in the city of lights.

Miranda Crispin is in actress, director, singer and musical theatre teacher. She has a masters degree in Music Theatre/Opera Performance from Arizona State University, and a B.F.A. from Illinois Wesleyan University.  She studied French language at the Sorbonne and served as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar to France. Miranda is performing this summer in the Parisian premiere of the musical Next Thing You Know. She is a co-founder and Artistic Director of the Paris-based organization American Musical Theatre Live!

Tell us about American Musical Theatre Live! Paris
Created in 2012, American Musical Theatre Live! Paris promotes international cultural exchange through master classes and Off-Broadway style productions in English featuring performers living in France. Past shows include the Parisian premieres of Edges by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, The Last Five Years and Songs for a New World by Jason Robert Brown. In Fall 2015, we’ll be reprising Next Thing You Know by Joshua Salzman and Ryan Cunningham. The show  premiered in Paris summer 2015 to sold out crowds. 

As an educational organization, we specialize in multidisciplinary and integrated musical theatre training, customized coaching for professional artists, as well as master classes led by our artists-in-residence from Broadway (such as Adam Kantor, Carmel Dean, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul) and the West End (such as David Gardiner). We also bring together performers at our monthly Broadway open mic where people share their musical talent, their compositions and their projects in a fun and friendly atmosphere.

Tell us more about the monthly open mic.
The Broadway in Paris open mic takes place the first Monday each month, except during summer break (July and August). When the open mic was launched in 2012, it was the first of its kind in Paris. The idea is to open up the stage, in a fun and relaxed way, so that performers can present the musical theatre piece of their choice. Performers bring their sheet music and there is a professional pianist who sight reads to accompany the artists. During these evenings, you’ll see professionals who currently play in productions in France, students, as well as guests from Broadway or the West End.

You can stay up to date on the open mic and other events by following us on Twitter or Facebook.

Tell us about the upcoming production of the musical Next Thing You Know.
Next Thing You Know is the story of four New Yorkers as they laugh, love and drink their way through the big questions that face all young dreamers who wake up in the city that never sleeps. Does marrying a really nice guy mean you’re settling down or just settling? Does taking a nine-to-five equal giving up or growing up? Does a decade in the city break you down or break you in.

This contemporary musical play, which takes place primarily in a cozy neighborhood pub, blends New York cabaret style with British pub theatre. The audience follows the humorous and touching stories of four characters who are exploring professional and personal life decisions.

The Paris production of this contemporary musical blends New York cabaret style with British pub theatre at a site-specific location: the underground Parisian pub theatre at The Highlander, located in Paris’ Latin Quarter steps away from the Seine.
The show is performed in the original English language version.

The cast features an international, Paris based group of artists led by Tolgay Pekin (Turkey) and musical director Mathieu Becquerelle (France), Lauren Berkman (USA), Frédéric Brodard (Switzerland), Quentin Bruno (France/USA),
Devon Graves (USA), Marion Préïté (France), Vinicious Timmerman
(Belgium/Brésil) and myself (USA/France).

Tickets available at: BilletReduc
For more information visit:  http://www.amtlive.org/ntyk




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