ABOUT
INTERVIEW WITH ARCHIE
TO ENGAGE – ENTERTAIN - ENLIGHTEN
Interview with Archie is a new play by John McDonnell Tierney that focuses on two themes: Faith and Dementia and yet it is not “about” either. Rather, this play explores the experience of “two men-of-the-cloth,” one old, one young, with Faith and Dementia. “Archie,” a 90 year old retired Catholic Bishop who doesn’t believe Heaven exists, meets Elijah, a 20-year old Evangelical Seminarian who whole purpose in life is to get to there.
The play is quick at “engaging” your attention; everything you need to know is upfront as you learn, even before Elijah does, that Archie is in stage four of Alzheimer’s disease. As to what that means? Well, that’s the “enlighten” part because, it is quite possible, after seeing Interview with Archie, and having been “entertained” along the way, you will know a lot more about the deeply human experience of having Alzheimer’s and loving someone who does.
Here’s the story in a few words. Elijah Whitman, a 20-something Seminarian preparing for religious ministry, arrives at The Interfaith Retirement Home for Elder Clergy to interview Bishop Archibald Doherty, aka “Archie,” on the occasion of his 90th birthday. Unknown to Elijah, Archie is in Stage Four of Alzheimer’s Disease and increasingly relies on his caregivers, Brother Murphy and Mrs. Crowningshield. Elijah, the son of a popular Evangelical TV Preacher, is thoroughly invested in his father’s belief system and says so, whereas Archie is more mysterious. He does proffer a major revelation; it seems that Archie, in some 65 years of ministry, has never told “the truth” about what he believes, until now. Archie agrees to give Elijah an interview that turns into a year of regular visits as Archie sinks deeper and deeper into the disease but not before he and Elijah can engage in spirited debate about their particular and sometimes peculiar views on Faith and Dementia.