After years of caring for others through a global pandemic, healthcare workers at Maimonides Medical Center are stepping into a different role: storytellers. Through a new theater initiative, nurses, administrators and support staff transformed their experiences into a one-act play, offering a rare glimpse into the emotional realities of life behind hospital doors.

The project, “Acts of Care: Caregiver Stories on Stage,” was created through a partnership between Maimonides’ Healing Arts Program and Elevate Theatre Company. Designed to address the ongoing emotional and psychological challenges facing hospital staff in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative promotes workplace engagement and support for healthcare workers while celebrating the contributions of caregivers.

Deborah Douek, manager of the Healing Arts Program, said she was inspired to launch the collaboration after recognizing that the trauma and experiences of healthcare workers did not simply disappear when the pandemic subsided. She sought to create a space where staff could process and share their experiences through theater and storytelling.

“I really wanted to both elevate our staff’s voices and also to celebrate our resilience. We go through so many tough times, but we also laugh together,” Douek told Brooklyn Paper. “We also celebrate each other, and I wanted to be able to try to capture all of those.”

A friend connected her with Christine Eskridge, director of Elevate Theatre Company. Together, they created a series of five theater-based workshops that gave clinical and nonclinical staff the opportunity to share their lived experiences. The workshops culminated in a one-act play written by Brooklyn-born playwright Kareem M. Lucas, titled “Activities in Daily Living.”

“It’s kind of like a snapshot of our life here in the hospital, and I think for staff to be able to see that play back on the stage was, I think, eye-opening,” Douek said. “I think it was validating, and it gave a form of support we haven’t seen before. So, this was actually really groundbreaking.”

Actors perform a scene from “Activities in Daily Living,” a play based on the lived experiences of Maimonides Medical Center employees.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann “Activities in Daily Living” explores the challenges, sacrifices and resilience of healthcare workers through stories inspired by Maimonides Medical Center staff.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

Eskridge founded Elevate Theatre Company during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, producing live virtual theater centered on topics such as Black maternal health, Black fatigue during the Black Lives Matter protests following the killing of George Floyd, and environmental justice for audiences nationwide. In 2022, the theater company collaborated with the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing to conduct storytelling workshops that culminated in plays reflecting the evolving roles of healthcare workers during the pandemic.

Eskridge, who holds a Master of Public Health degree from UC Berkeley, told Brooklyn Paper that “Acts of Care: Caregiver Stories on Stage” was an exciting opportunity to use art as a tool to promote healthcare workers’ well-being.

“Elevate [Theatre Company] is here to help people explore health and wellness through storytelling,” Eskridge explained. “[The project] really is a testament of the work that we want to be doing all the time, working with frontline health workers, giving them a sense of joy, relief, using the art as a method to give them a break, but then also reflecting back their stories to them.”

Left to right: Christine Eskridge, Deborah Douek, Victoria Reesman and Rachel Jones described the theater workshop as groundbreaking.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

The play, featuring actors Linda Kuriloff, Gabriel Brooks, Onyx Éspri and Katie Kane, is set in a Brooklyn hospital break room and explores the relationship between healthcare workers and their own health. The story centers on head nurse Lois, played by Kuriloff, and Moses, played by Éspri, a beloved member of the cleaning staff who is secretly battling serious health issues. Moses’ illness forces the team to confront the limits of their own health and recognize that they often neglect their well-being while caring for patients.

Lucas told Brooklyn Paper that he approached the script with “great reverence.” The workshops allowed healthcare workers to openly share their personal stories, daily routines and emotional journeys, giving Lucas insight into challenges such as skipping meals or neglecting their own healthcare needs because of work demands.

“It was very interesting, like just little tidbits that get thrown out there, like how so few people eat and they just keep going,” Lucas explained. “It makes so much sense when I reflect upon it, like yeah, because there’s always a fire to put out, or somebody to deal with, or a phone call, or a patient, or something’s always happening in this high-pressure environment, that something as small as just making sure you eat during your shift is something you can gloss over.”

The one-act play Activities in Daily Living explores the relationship between healthcare workers and their own health.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

Lucas emphasized that the play was not a documentary but a work of fiction. He said he approached the writing process with great reverence because he wanted to respect and examine the participants’ experiences and bring them to the page and stage as authentically as possible.

“I was really inspired by what’s happening here at Maimonides, and I wanted to bring that to what we were investigating. Before we even began, I was really curious about what a healthcare giver’s relationship is to their own personal health, and it was so insightful getting a chance to hear them reflect upon that through written prompts, and then verbally,” Lucas explained.

He added that he made a conscious effort to reflect Brooklyn’s diversity, paying homage to the community where he grew up and to family members who work in healthcare. “So it’s a composite of a lot of different things and references.”

Oncology nurse specialist Victoria Reesman and Rachel Jones, director of nursing at Maimonides, were among the workshop participants and described the experience as validating and groundbreaking.

Reesman said the workshops provided an opportunity to share experiences in a safe space.

“I saw [the play] on opening night, and it resonated so many good thoughts about how we need to care for each other in the community as well as care for our patients in that community,” Reesman said. “Just the support it provided for everybody and the ability for us to have an open forum and safe space to just be able to express ourselves was just lovely.”

Onyx Éspri portrays Moses, a beloved member of the hospital’s cleaning staff who secretly struggles with serious health issues, in the one-act play “Activities in Daily Living.”Photo by Gabriele Holtermann The one-act play “Activities in Daily Living” explores the relationship between healthcare workers and their own health.Photo by Gabriele Holtermann

Jones said she was “shocked” by how much the play resonated with her.

“Even some of the things that [the actors] were saying to each other, or that kind of thought process, I’ll take care of myself later, or I’ll just keep going; that’s something I think that we all say or do in one way or the other. To see it on stage, you’re like, ‘okay, it’s not just me,’ and it builds community amongst us. That way, we see that our experiences aren’t just our own,” Jones said, noting that through the workshops she learned many of her colleagues were struggling with the same challenges, including self-care.

“Sometimes you don’t want to speak up because you’re like, well, maybe I’m just struggling with this, and everyone else has got it figured out. But to see that it was such a pervasive and repetitive theme amongst everyone, from EVs to nursing to administration, everyone has the same struggles we are dealing with while we’re providing care for others. So, I think it absolutely encourages us to speak up more,” Jones said.