Special Showing of 'After Words' to be Held at Block Museum

EVANSTON, Ill. --- A special showing of “After Words,” the acclaimed film that explores the lives of people with aphasia, will be held at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 11 at the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art on the campus of Northwestern University, 40 Arts Circle Drive in Evanston.

Hosted by the Speech, Language and Learning Clinic and the Aphasia and Neurolinguistics Research Laboratory, Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, the film, by Emmy Award-winner Vincent Straggas, movingly illuminates the struggles and triumphs of individuals touched by aphasia, an acquired communication disorder that results from stroke, head injury, brain tumor or other neurologic causes. Tickets are $15.

The 55-minute film features famed neurologist and author Oliver Sacks, Tony Award-winning actress Julie Harris, Grammy Award-winning musician Bobby McFerrin, and many others whose lives have been touched by aphasia. “After Words” is produced by Flag Day Productions, Jerome Kaplan and Ellayne Ganzfried. 

Following the film, a panel discussion will continue the conversation, sharing research, strategies and real-life experiences of living with aphasia. Moderated by Steve Bynum, senior producer of “Worldview,” the panel includes Cynthia Thompson, renowned Northwestern University Ralph and Jean Sundin Professor and aphasia expert; Belma Hadziselimovic, Northwestern University clinical faculty member and instructor in the communication sciences and disorders program; an individual with aphasia as well as a member of their family.

Advance registration is available but not required. For more information, call the clinic at (847) 491-5012 or visit http://AfterWords.Northwestern.edu.

Construction alert

Due to construction on the south end of campus, Arts Circle Drive is currently closed to traffic. Free parking is still available on weekends and after 4 p.m. weekdays in the two-level lakefront structure located on Campus Drive. Turn onto Campus Drive from Sheridan Road and enter the parking structure on the right by way of ramps leading to the upper and lower levels. For vehicles with handicap placards, reserved spaces are available on weekends and after 4 p.m. weekdays in the lot directly west of Louis Hall. A handicap drop-off ramp is located on the west side of the museum. For more construction and parking information, visit http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/docs/block_directions_6_25_2012.pdf.