Alan Pierceman thinks his wife is a doorknob. Although there are some times when he thinks she’s a lamp.
Pierceman, the main character in “Counterpoints,” written by Speech senior Meredith Nelson, suffers from visual agnosia – a neurological disorder that prevents a person from naming an object even if his vision is intact.
An agnosic can see each part of a subject but is unable to comprehend the whole. For example, he might be able to see a piece of paper and describe it as a white sheet with four corners, but he is unable to call it a piece of paper and may instead call it a pencil.
“It’s hard to explain because it’s really not very developed in terms of what (the disorder) means in the medical profession,” Nelson said.
Suffering from this perplexing disorder, Pierceman, a high school music teacher played by Speech sophomore Mark Spottswood, might see a purse on the ground and recognize it as a bag with straps, yet he would talk to it, mistaking it for a student.
Pierceman’s world unravels in “Counterpoints” as he grapples with his condition. The 62-year-old is at first in denial of the problem and struggles to deal with the disorder. Everything he knows – his music, his paintings, his life – crumbles around him. He is unable to identify familiar faces, can no longer play the piano and doesn’t even recognize his own shoe. Ultimately, he visits neuropsychologist Dr. Oliver Sacks, played by Speech senior Ehren Fournier.
“Pierceman’s sort of caught in this balancing act where, on one hand, he’s fighting to regain his lost capacities and regain control of his life,” Nelson said. “On the other hand, I think he’s really learning to let go of control and learning to let people in like Dr. Sacks.”
Pierceman’s wife Eleanor, played by Speech junior Sarah Boscak struggles to cope with her husband’s disorder while Dr. Sacks, one of the leaders in his field, learns he doesn’t always have the answers like he once thought he did.
“Sacks goes from being a man who really only sees the patient for the disease to someone who is forming a personal relationship with Pierceman and is learning to see that the disease finds a home in the whole person,” Nelson said.
The play is the culmination of a year’s worth of work for Nelson. Written for her Northwestern playwriting class, “Counterpoints” takes its name from a musical term given when contrasting melodies are combined to form a dynamic harmony.
Nelson was inspired to write “Counterpoints” by an article in “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat,” written by the real neuropsychologist Dr. Oliver Sacks.
“The article is definitely where I took my initial ideas for the play and the names of the characters. But these characters (in “Counterpoints”) are not the ones you will find in Sacks’ book,” Nelson said. “They’re totally different, living, breathing characters separate from all that.”
In “The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat,” “Dr. P” suffers from visual agnosia and turns to Sacks for help, just as Pierceman does in “Counterpoints.” However, that is as far as the parallels between the two pieces go.
“What’s in that article is featured in maybe one scene of my play, and even that I’ve changed,” Nelson said. “The play takes a huge sidestep from the article.”
“Counterpoints” is the winner of the Agnes Nixon Playwriting Festival, which was created more than 20 years ago to celebrate playwriting at NU. The play attempts to bring some understanding of the complex neurological disorder that is visual agnosia.
“It’s a questioning of what neurology has been thought of,” Nelson said.
“I see the lives of these three characters interweaving with each other and often working against each other,” Nelson said. “But in the end, they build a music that the three of them need.” nyou
