‘Daytrips’ details family struggles

Staff report

WARREN

Kent Trumbull Theatre will present “Daytrips” for two consecutive weekends, beginning Friday.

Written by Jo Carson and directed by Daniel-Raymond Nadon, the play depicts a family of women who struggle with their lives after the family caregiver is stricken with Alzheimer’s disease.

The play is not linear: the continuity in it is emotional. Single pieces tell stories, and the sum of the stories makes the experience. While the play is very hard at times, it is also comic.

Pat (Jenna Cintavey) is a caregiver for her mother, Ree (Pat Rogan), who is a victim of Alzheimer’s disease. Before her illness, Ree used to help her mother, Rose (Donnagene Palmer), but now this, too, falls to Pat. In the play, Pat is divided into two people: one is stuck in the stories, and the other, Narrator Pat (Christine Fowler), has the perspective to tell them.

“Daytrips” explores the relationships among these three women and a ghost or two.

Kent Trumbull Theatre is at 4314 Mahoning Ave. NW. All shows are at 8 p.m. except Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. Call 330-675-8887 for reservations.

The day trips of the title are the trips Rose takes to meet her growing needs. The first goes back to Kyles Ford, Tenn., where Irene was born. Rose reveals things on that trip that Pat has never known before and which establish a fear of men and strangers that has affected her whole life.

The second is a trip in which Pat is obliged to find Rose’s pharmacist. The third trip begins with Ree trying to jump out of the car on the way to Rose’s house and chronicles the growing difficulty of care giving.

The fourth begins with a trip to the emergency room for Rose.