The Relational Medicine Foundation Presented The Premier Of Their Emotion Theater Plays

Online, August 25, 2011 (Newswire.com) - The Relational Medicine Foundation announced today that their premier event on July 19th at the Peter J. Sharp Theater at Playwright Horizons in New York of two performances of Emotion Theater Project, opened to full houses to the acclaim of enthusiastic audiences. The goal of the foundation is to create a framework to empower patients to make decisions on their own behalf in a trustful relationship with health-care professionals as partners in their care.

The project presented two original plays inspired by the experiences of two heart transplant patients and their spouses, Mrs. Candace and Mr. Jim Moose and Mr. Robert and Mrs. Amy Milo, and their relationship with their physician, Dr. Mario Deng, renowned cardiologist, currently Director of the Heart Transplant Program at UCLA. The idea to present the Emotion Theater plays as a method of introducing the concept of Relational Medicine, created by Dr. Mario Deng and Dr. Federica Raia, was the brain-child of Vanda Monaco, renowned Italian actress, who also starred in one of the plays.

Playwright Craig Lucas, twice nominated for a Tony Award, known for many works including Prelude to a Kiss, Reckless, and the book for Light in the Piazza, wrote for this premiere, "The Catherine Wheel", about two women who barely know one another, when one is blind-sided by a catastrophic illness. Lila Feinberg, MFA candidate at Columbia University ("Heirloom", "Monkey Bowl") wrote "Night Float", a story about a young woman who reexamines the meaning of commitment when her fiance is wait-listed for a heart transplant. The director was John Henry Davis, who directed Oz for HBO as well as new work at many theaters including Playwrights Horizons, Avery Fisher Hall, and The Mark Taper Forum. The plays featured a very talented cast including: Dorothy Abrahams, Lowell Byers, Madeleine James, Britt Lower, Scott Speiser, and Vanda Monaco.

After the plays were performed at 2:00pm and 8:00pm, open dialogues about the plays and Relational Medicine Theory were hosted by Dr. Deng and Dr. Raia, the Relational Medicine Foundation Team, and the patients who inspired these works. Dr. Deng commented following the performances, "The dialogue and feedback triggered by the plays and linking patients, families AND health professionals in solidarity by embracing the emotional needs of ALL involved in the process of medicine, was a transformative experience for me. The melding of professional actors, visionary playwrights, strong direction, skilled crew, and imaginative designers produced inspiring performances. The Emotion Theater production of the plays and discussion afterward has energized our entire Relational Medicine Foundation to pursue the Foundation's vision."

The vision of The Relational Medicine Foundation is to promote the mindful and transformational person-to-person relationship of compassion and trust between Doctor and Patient throughout the medical communities of the world. Empowering patients to make decisions in a trustful encounter with a health care provider has the potential to be a powerfully-positive force in healing.