Rob Mermin’s ‘Act 39’ portrays Medical Aid in Dying in real life
June 16, 2023 | By Jim Lowe | Times Argus Staff Writer
Play poster image courtesy Sterling Hill Productions
Bill and Rob were friends, close friends who lived next door to each other, who shared everything. One day, Bill shared the doctor’s visit, where he was diagnosed with terminal stage four pancreatic cancer — and Bill asked Rob for the ultimate sharing, assisting him with his planned death.
The story is true. Bill Morancy was known locally as the projectionist of Montpelier’s Savoy Theater, and a film expert. He and fellow expert Rick Winston presented more than 200 “Talking About Movies” programs for ORCA community television. Morancy passed away on Dec. 28, 2015.
Rob Mermin’s new play “Act 39,” premiering Thursday at Goddard College’s Haybarn Theatre, chronicles his friendship with Bill Morancy, who ended his own life in 2015. Here, J.T. Turner and Donny Osman rehearse a scene as Bill and Rob. Courtesy Pushcart Productions 1 of 2 “After my friend Bill died using Act 39, I was asked to tell my story to different groups of people who were undergoing similar experiences,” explained Rob Mermin, protégé of legendary mime Marcel Marceau and founder of Circus Smirkus.
“There was a hospice nurse who asked me if I was willing to talk to a family considering using Act 39. So, I was going around telling people what we did, the emotions around it, the protocols of doing it. The more I told the story and met with families that were going through the same process, I realized that putting it into dramatic form would be a way to get the story out there.”
And Mermin did.
Pushcart Productions will present the world premiere of Mermin’s play, “Act 39,” June 22-July 2 at Goddard College’s Haybarn Theatre in Plainfield. Directed by Monica Callan, the production stars Donny Osman, J.T. Turner, Maren Langdon Spillane and Dominic Spillane. Talk-backs, including Patient Choices Vermont representatives, will follow the June 23, 25 and July 2 performances.
In 2013, Vermont became only the fourth state to legalize Medical Aid in Dying (MAID). Vermont’s law, Act 39, permits a physician to prescribe to a terminally ill, capable, adult patient medication to be self-administered for the purpose of hastening their own death. (Vermont became the first state to remove a residency requirement in May.)
'Act 39' cast members at rehearsal. Left to right: JT Turner, Donny Osman; in back, Dominic Spillane, Maren Langdon-Spillane. Photo by Monica Callan
Mermin’s “Act 39” is the true story of what happened when Bill decided to use Act 39. Rather than depressing, it is a deep, often humorous story of friendship, sharing the vulnerability of human life.
When Morancy was diagnosed, neither he nor Mermin knew anything about Act 39.
“It’s clearly an issue that affects us all,” Mermin said in a recent interview. “In the play, I try not to take the stance of an advocate for Act 39. What I’m doing with the story is telling what happened, how it went, and people will make up their own minds if it’s something they would do or not when the time comes.”
In the play, Mermin actually makes himself very vulnerable.
“Yes, I do,” he said. “I thought long and hard about that, talking about my Parkinson’s, and breaking my neck. In the first draft, I didn’t get that personal, but then I realized, wait a minute, this is a very personal story anyway. Part of the drama of how I tried to impart the story showed my frailty, and that Bill was the strong and healthy one.
“It ended up with a switcheroo, where he was the one who ended up dying rather than me,” Mermin said.
The authenticity goes beyond the story to the dialogue itself.
“For the three months that Bill was dying, I’d go to his apartment, which was right next to mine on School Street (in Montpelier), and we would have these wonderful conversations about everything,” Mermin said. “I remember going home evenings and writing down notes of what we had talked about because it was so fascinating. I was able to utilize a lot of that dialogue that was true to life.”
For Mermin, who has performed across the world, and directed scores of circus productions, this is his first play.
“When we got to the first rehearsal with the actors, I had no idea how my dialogue was going to sound,” he said. “It was such a relief for me to see the actors play me and Bill in their own way — you know, they’re not trying to impersonate us at all, they’re doing it with their own personalities — and it really works.
“And a lot of the humor I was hoping would come out really does,” Mermin said. “It was a big relief for me to realize, yeah, the audience is going to laugh — and at the same time they are going to cry.”
Pushcart Productions presents the world premiere of Rob Mermin’s “Act 39” June 22-July 2 at Goddard College’s Haybarn Theatre, 123 Pitkin Road in Plainfield. Performances are at 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. Admission is by donation ($20 suggested). Tickets online at sevendaystickets.com. Talk-backs, including with Patient Choices Vermont representatives, will follow the performances on June 23, 25 and July 2.
This story was originally published by the Times Argus on June 10.