Watch: Southwick Recital Confronts Dementia

The Communication Studies Department explored the challenges and heartbreak of dementia with its annual Southwick Recital, held both virtually and in-person at the Semel Theater on Friday, November 5.

More than 200 people, including 60 in-person, saw the two-part event, Communication Studies Chair Gregory Payne said in a letter to faculty.

In the first part, Executive-in-Residence Ken Grout delivered a monologue, “Who Is She?” that spoke to the personal toll of dementia.

“The simple act of storytelling – one person telling their story to another person is the very core of communication, and the personal narrative is a dominant format and foundation of our Department and the College,” Payne wrote.

The second part consisted of a panel on dementia that included Communication Sciences and Disorders faculty Laura Glufling Tham and Lindsey Griffin.

The Southwick Recital, named for Emerson’s third president, Henry Lawrence Southwick, began at the College in 1900. It continues the tradition of “platform performing” — presentations of prose, poetry, or plays in single-person staged readings. 

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