Unlocking Creativity in Dementia with Jake Broder, Lucy Davenport & Bruce Miller, MD
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What is the Memory and Aging Center’s Hellman Artist‑in‑Residence program and why does Emily love it?
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You're listening to The Nocturnist Conversations. I'm Emily Silverman. One of my favorite places at UCSF is the Memory and Aging Center. They do amazing, internationally renowned biomedical research, but they also have a thriving artistic community, including a Hellman Artist in Residence program, which I was lucky enough to participate in in 2020, and the Global Brain Health Institute Fellowship, which brings in people from all over the world to create art inspired by neuroscience. I have to admit, I feel like I have found a bit of family at the MAC, which brings me to today's episode featuring the 2019 Hellman Artist-in-Residence, playwright, actor, and producer, Jake Broder. You may have seen Jake on TV shows like Silicon Valley, The Morning Show, The Patient, but he also has deep roots in the theater.
He wrote a play, Our American Hamlet, which premiered at the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company and was nominated for Best New Play by the Independent Reviewers of Boston. He wrote a musical, Miravelle, which won the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Score. He's written for TV. He's a musician who trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. The list goes on and on. Jake came to UCSF to write a play about Ann Adams, a brilliant biologist who got sick with a type of dementia called primary progressive aphasia, or PPA, and after she got sick, started painting prolifically, even though she had virtually no artistic background. Anne's most famous painting is a visual representation of a musical piece, Bolero, that repetitive piece of music that was composed by late 19th and early 20th century composer Maurice Ravel.
Interestingly, Ravel too was thought to have suffered from PPA. You may have heard the story of Anne and Maurice on the podcast Radiolab, and we'll put a link to that in the show notes. But Jake turned their story into a full length play where Anne and Maurice commune with each other across time to explore not just what they've lost to dementia, but also what they've gained. Because Jake wrote the play during the pandemic, its first performance was staged virtually, and his wife, actor Lucy Davenport, delivered an amazing performance as Anne, and the rest of the cast was fantastic too, which is impressive considering that they were acting on Zoom. Although I have learned that the play is going to be staged in person in San Francisco this summer with a full orchestra, which I can't wait to see.
But for now, I want to set up this excerpt from the virtual version of the play. We have composer Maurice Ravel, who is preparing for brain surgery because his doctors think there's a small chance his symptoms could be from a tumor. And he's arguing with Anne. After the clip, you'll hear a panel discussion that I moderated live at the UCSF Memory and Aging Center with Jake, the playwright, his wife, Lucy, the actor, and of course, the director of the Memory and Aging Center, neurologist Dr. Bruce Miller. Because the panel was recorded live, the audio is a little rougher around the edges than usual, but I hope you'll still enjoy the conversation as much as I did. Take a
listen. So, it's been decreed. I'm not mad.
How did Jake Broder become a playwright, actor, and TV writer before creating *UnRavelled*?
There's an actual medical problem. They think it might be Pick's disease or perhaps a tumor. I'm told surgery is a great risk, but the only chance of returning to any semblance of normal. It might cure me, but will most likely not go well if it's a tumor.
It's not a tumour. There's no tumour.
You don't know that.
I do. Don't have the surgery. Don't just
give up. Why not? What's better? If you can answer that. I don't know. I can't. You can't. Pathetic. Shall I hang around until I forget how to breathe? That's what you do. That's just cruel. No, no.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the Memory and Aging Center’s Hellman Artist‑in‑Residence program and why does Emily love it?
0:00–3:55
2
How did Jake Broder become a playwright, actor, and TV writer before creating *UnRavelled*?
3:55–6:22
3
Who were Anne Adams and Maurice Ravel, and how does their story inspire the play’s core themes?
6:22–14:02
4
Why was *UnRavelled* first staged virtually during the pandemic and what challenges did the Zoom format create?
14:02–20:35
5
How did Lucy Davenport prepare to embody Anne’s character, especially when filming from a garage?
20:35–24:59
6
What does Dr. Bruce Miller explain about the brain regions that stay active in dementia and their link to creativity?
24:59–31:09
7
Why does the team believe hope and artistic expression are essential for future dementia research?
31:09–33:55
8
What are the upcoming live‑orchestra and film adaptations of *UnRavelled* and how can listeners experience them?
33:55–34:43