Side Effects May Include ... at Skokie Theatre

To honor National Parkinson’s Month, MadKap Productions will present SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE… for two performances at the Skokie Theatre, 7924 Lincoln Ave in Skokie, Saturday, April 21, 2018 at 7:30 pm and Sunday, April 22, 2018 at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased online at SkokieTheatre.org or by calling 847-677-7761. 10% of all proceeds benefit Shaking With Laughter and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

The performance on Sunday, April 22, will be followed by a be a panel discussion on Parkinson's Disease featuring a physician who specializes in the disease, a representative of the Parkinson's Foundation, who will discuss services available to Parkinson's patients, and an individual who is dealing with the disease. A question-and-answer session will follow the discussion. The performance is approximately 90 minutes.

Written by former Seinfeld writer Marc Jaffe and Emmy nominated playwright Eric Coble, SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE… is a daringly funny, poignant and provocative one-man show about early onset Parkinson’s disease and the effects this can have on both the patient and their caregivers. Phil Rosen is a stand-up comedian who can find nothing to laugh about due to his wife's early-onset Parkinson's diagnosis. Suddenly, an increase in her medications brings on unusual and hilarious side effects. Based on Jaffe’s own bittersweet experience dealing with his wife Karen’s Parkinson’s diagnosis, SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE… is the story of a couple’s love and devotion in the midst of coping with the heartache of an escalating mountain of pills, dangerous (yet faithful) liaisons, marital secrets revealed, questions of manhood and womanhood, age, and desire.

SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE… stars Andrew J. Pond as “Phil Rosen.” Pond is a well-known Chicago actor who is Chairman of the Board at the Eclectic Full-contact Theatre. He has appeared frequently in productions at the Metropolis Performing Arts Center, Citadel Theatre, Redtwist Theatre, Circle Theatre and starred in MadKap Production’s Midwest Premier of Clutter, The True Story of the Collyer Brothers Who Never Threw Anything Out, written by Emmy winning playwright Mark Saltzman.

SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE… toured the country in 2013 helping build public awareness for Parkinson’s sufferers. It has played benefits for the American Parkinson’s Disease Association Midwest Chapter, the Wisconsin Parkinson Association, the Parkinson Association of the Carolinas, and the Neuro Challenge Foundation in Sarasota, Florida.

MadKap Productions will be donating 10% of the proceeds from SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE… to Shaking with Laughter, a charity that was set up by Marc and Karen Jaffe in support of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. According to the Michael J. Fox Foundation, “Marc Jaffe has approached his difficult topic and his family’s private challenges with humor and a sense of optimism. And those are two attributes that all of us at the Michael J. Fox Foundation particularly prize.” Parkinson's disease is a chronic, degenerative neurological disorder with symptoms that can progress from mild tremors to complete physical incapacitation. In the United States, 60,000 new cases of will be diagnosed this year alone. While the average age of onset is 60, an estimated five to 10 percent of people with Parkinson’s experience onset at age 40 or younger.

"Pond, directed by Wayne Mell, is a fine actor with a wonderfully mobile face, an agile body, excellent instincts and a fine head of strawberry blond hair. And he is admirably true to his character." - Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

"This show is part of the message that it's not a good long-term strategy for anyone to keep Parkinson's secret from family members and supporters. "Side Effects May Include …" is thus a very worthy project" - Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

For more information about SIDE EFFECTS MAY INCLUDE… visit MadKapProductions.com or the Skokie Theatre website at SkokieTheatre.org.