'Steering Into the Skid' May Change Attitudes About Alzheimer's

Steering Into The Skid will change attitudes about Alzheimer’s disease and the persons dealing with it. Skid is a sweet one-act play about living with dementia, and there will be 2 free performances on Thursday, October 23, 2025 at Ann Arbor’s Unitarian Universalist Congregation’s social hall, 4001 Ann Arbor-Saline Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48103. The event will be hosted by Dementia Friendly Services, a non-profit fostering dementia friendly community awareness in Michigan, and presented by the Minneapolis-based The Remember Project theatre troupe.

Doors will open for the early performance and pre-show social time at 11:00 am. There will be a light lunch buffet and the play will begin at 11:30 am. Doors will open for the afternoon performance at 3:00 pm. There will be light refreshments and the play will begin at 3:30 pm. After each performance, The Remember Project will lead discussions with audience members, exploring the increasingly important issues of living in the community with dementia, and what people and communities can do to make life for their friends and neighbors less difficult, less isolated, more dignified, and more enjoyable. Currently, there are about 20,000 Washtenaw County residents dealing with dementia in themselves or a person they are caring for, and over 75% of them are still living at home.

Steering into the Skid tells the very human, poignant story of a loving couple adjusting to the new demands that living with dementia places on their strong but imperfect marriage. The wife and husband team of Deborah Ann Percy and Arnold Johnston wrote the play because, as they’ve said, “Growing older has led us to think about the effects of aging on ourselves and our relationship. We’ve known friends - couples - who have faced Alzheimer’s or other devastating conditions with such dignity, courage, and love that we felt compelled to write their stories”.

In the play, we meet Tim and Amanda, (played by Twin Cities’ professional actors Jim Pounds and Danette McCarthy). The 12 short month-by-month scenes– starting on New Year’s Eve – take place in Tim & Amanda’s SUV, and the audience comes to know this loving couple and witness the early progression of dementia. As the months pass, the audience sees the subtle changes and adjustments the couple is forced to deal with due to memory loss.

“Our goal,” said facilitator and actor Danette McCarthy, “is to assist community members and leaders to reconsider how they think about, and deal with memory loss and its increasing presence in their community. We help them become aware of local resources that assist persons living with dementia and their families.” Steering Into The Skid has toured the Upper Midwest since 2015, putting on over 350 performances, and stimulating at least as many enlightening, energizing conversations in communities large and small.

Board Chair of Dementia Friendly Services Jim Mangi, himself a caregiver for 17 years, said, “We’re thrilled to collaborate with The Remember Project. They align perfectly with our mission to show Michiganders that persons with dementia are a part of, not apart from, the community. Alzheimer’s is a terrible disease, but it’s not a disgrace. It’s important that we talk about it - either in the public presentations DFS offers, or on stage in one of The Remember Project’s plays.” This program is part of Dementia Friendly Services’ DementiAwareness theatre series and is supported in part with funds from the Michigan Public Health Institute and from several generous donors.

To attend, simply reserve your free seat through Eventbrite at https://DFSMI-Skid2025.eventbrite.com, visit www.dfsaline.org/events or call (703) 395-3824 for more information.

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