Play Examines Relationships Amid Illness

OSWEGO – When Mitch Albom returns to visit with his former professor, Murray Schwartz, he has no idea that one conversation on a Tuesday afternoon will lead to a long series of life lessons at the hand of his old, now dying, professor.

“Tuesdays With Morrie” examines not only the relationship of the teacher and student, but the lessons to be learned in the midst of dying.

Schwartz is dying of ALS, Lou Gehrig’s Disease.

ALS, which has garnered a great deal of publicity last year through the ice bucket challenge, is a fatal motor neuron disease that causes muscle spasms and rapidly progressive muscle atrophy, a degeneration that gradually leads to loss of control over muscle movement, leading to paralysis, and eventually death.

The disease is characterized by initial, and often subtle, symptoms of muscle stiffness, weakness and cramps, muscle spasms and complications swallowing, speaking and breathing.

In his book and in the play by the same title, Albom documented his Tuesday meetings with Schwartz, while the dying professor taught Albom lessons about both life and death.

The play, “Tuesdays With Morrie” has been called by the NY Times, “A touching, life-affirming, deeply emotional drama with a generous dose of humor.”

The Oswego Players’ production, directed by Bobby Fontana, features Wayne and Richard Mosher in the roles of Schwartz and Albom.

The play will be presented in the Frances Marion Brown Theater of the Oswego Civic Arts Center on March 4, 5, 12, 13 at 8 p.m. and March 13 at 2 p.m.

For reservations, call the Players’ box office at 343-3158.

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