One man, alone on a stage, with a table and chair beside him. What can one man teach us, where can one man take us? In the play “Mercy Killers”, coming to Portland next week for one night only, one man takes us face-to-face with one our deepest fears. Michael Milligan takes us inside the mind of an everyman named Joe, a man who’s built his life by the sweat of his own brow, who’s played by the rules, and who’s never asked anyone for help. But when his beloved wife gets cancer he finds himself battling not just the disease itself but one of the most dreaded monsters lumbering across today’s America… our bloated and voracious for-profit health care system.
Of course, the reason this play has such impact is that it doesn’t deal with the bogeyman fears of psycho slashers but with a real killer that could strike at any minute. We’ve always known that a car accident or a major illness can destroy our lives… that’s the human condition, and it’s scary enough by itself. But add the spectre of slow economic devastation after years of scraping to prevent it, and the simple human condition becomes a Kafka-esque battle against an unbeatable foe.
It’s a battle that Michael Milligan, writer and performer of “Mercy Killers”, renders in gripping detail. The action of the play takes place in the interrogation room of a local police station, where “Joe” is giving a statement about the suspicious death of his terminally ill wife, Jane. He quickly moves from the facts of the arrest to the story that brought him to it. We follow Joe and Jane as they struggle to build an independent and secure life, only to see it brought down around them when Jane gets breast cancer. Home loss, divorce (so Jane can access MediCare), job loss, and ruin follow with death as the capper. Joe, an archetypical American, must come to terms with all of this in the context of his Libertarian ideological leanings.
Says Milligan, “The play is extremely critical of the health insurance industry. The couple loses their coverage, not for a pre-existing condition but because they fail to respond to a questionnaire. They fail to respond because they are temporarily living in a trailer park where they don’t receive mail. That’s something that can happen. That specific example was taken from the case of a woman who was giving testimony to Congress during the health care debate.
“The added thing is this guy (in the play) is actually a Tea Party kind of guy. I wanted to explore and understand that mindset – that sense of self-reliance. He wants to do it all himself and as he’s giving his testimony to the police (about how his wife died) he also is dealing with everything that has happened and confronting his belief about things. It’s tragic; he can’t get over the fact that he has failed…that this was all his fault…that somehow if he was smarter/richer/done more that somehow it would have been different.”
Tom Dwyer Automotive Services is proud to play a part in bringing “Mercy Killers” to town. We really hope you can get out to see it!
“Mercy Killers” has been played to rave reviews across the US and internationally, including recognition at the Edinburgh “Fringe First” festival. Here are just a few excerpts from those reviews… “Milligan is riveting, conveying a fascinating mix of decency, heartbreak, and impotent fury”; “The best theater kicks down walls, pulls off the gloves and starts swinging. Mercy Killers is that kind of play”; “In our ever present day of political discourse, finger pointing, and profitable racket over healthcare, Milligan manages to strip down the arguments by humanizing them to a frustrating, but immensely profound degree”, and “Like Ali Baba opening a cave to a treasure, Michael Milligan’s “Mercy Killers” opens a door to a world that is hard-edged in a way that is compelling, soft but not overly sentimental. “Mercy Killers” rings of truth. It is good theater”.
One of the most unusual parts of “Mercy Killers” is the fact there’s an open discussion forum following the show. Since the play has been staged in front of medical students, politicians, medical ethicists, insurance companies, and more, this after-play has become one of the most popular parts of the show!
“Mercy Killers” is being brought to you in Portland by Health Care for All Oregon, the group that’s been fighting for single-payer health care in Oregon and beyond since 1999. If you miss the show at Portland’s Alberta Rose Theater on September 17th, you’ll still have a chance to catch the remainder of the Oregon tour in Newport, Albany, Springfield, Florence, or Eugene before it returns to its national schedule.
Good theatre and single-payer healthcare rarely overlap, so for that reason alone this play is worth your time. But even more, it’s an opportunity to look at the issue through a new set of eyes. If you’re already an advocate of single payer then it won’t change your mind at all, but questioning your assumptions and challenging your perspectives always helps. That questioning and challenging is what theatre in general, and “Mercy Killers” in particular, does so well. “Enjoy” may not be the right word for a play that’s this compelling, but we think your night with Joe will stay with you for a long time to come.
“Mercy Killers”, Portland performance, Sep 17, 2015
When:
Thursday, September 17, 8pm – 10pm
Where:
Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 Northeast Alberta Street, Portland, OR 97211
What:
Health Care for All-Oregon is bringing Michael Milligan to Oregon in September, for performances of his one-man play, Mercy Killers. The first performance, sponsored by the Portland Health Action Group, will be on September 17, 8 p.m., at the Alberta Rose Theatre, Portland. Open discussion to follow.
For tickets, visit
The Alberta Rose Theater ticket page
For more information, contact
Tom Sincic, sincict@gmail.com
For more information on “Mercy Killers” itself, please visit
http://mercykillerstheplay.com/ or http://www.poetinmo.com/milligan.html
