Assisted suicide, euthanasia, murder. To some those three words are interchangeable, to others they have more specific meanings. To one of Michigan’s sons, Dr Jack Kevorkian, those words were his profession. Fitting then, that when the documentary theatre specialists The Tectonic Theatre Project performed a series of workshops at Western Michigan University, that the right to die would become the topic of choice. The Tectonic process is one which gets to the core of the emotions of this issue by creating the text in a simple way: a series of first person interviews with doctors, lawyers, terminal patients, family members, etc. etc.Considering this topic, those interviews must have been challenging.They are brought to life by a young cast of students who constantly shift from one character to another, with the occasional digital placard informing us who they are at any given time. While never confusing, that pacing becomes tedious about half way through, especially when the topic shifts from the work and trial of Dr. Kevorkian to discussions with various terminal patients. Discussing death in such a direct way is a challenge for everyone involved, and the students and members of the Tectonic Theatre Project should be applauded for discussing such a touchy subject.If they focused on only one of the overriding arcs their work would have more power. As it stands, the show becomes too much of an emotional slog to have the impact needed.
