By John Lyle Belden

Any day is a good day to feel alive.

Epsilon Theatre Company, which usually showcases the talents of youth, has the grown-ups take the stage for a production of “Tuesdays with Morrie,” by Jeffrey Hatcher with Mitch Albom, based on his best-selling book.

Local performer and ETC board member Afton Shepard directs. She said she first saw the show shortly after high school and had since wanted to work it herself. The two-person cast are J. Charles Weimer as Albom and Scott Stockton as Morrie Schwartz.

Mitch Albom established himself as a sportswriter and columnist in Detroit covering major sporting events including the Olympics and Wimbledon, but many years earlier had been a student at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, taking every sociology course that Schwartz taught. Mentorship became friendship and, upon graduation, Mitch promised to keep in touch with Morrie. He did not keep that promise.

In 1995, Mitch was surprised to see Morrie on television’s “Nightline,” and even more surprised to find the professor was diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”), and didn’t have long to live. At first to ease his conscience, Mitch went to visit Morrie at his home, on a Tuesday. He returned the next Tuesday, and then every week “until the end.”

Indulging their impulses – Mitch’s as a journalist, Morrie’s as a teacher – the visits became a sort of course on living and dying, with lessons for all of us.

Under Shepard’s guidance, Weimer and Stockton deliver a very gentle and human story, seasoned with appropriate humor. Morrie would be quick to laugh at his situation, and unafraid to cry when he felt it was needed. Stockton easily shares his brave optimism as well as a sense of his pain. His ailment is mostly physical, while Mitch’s is more of the soul. Weimer provides in his narration and performance a sense of honesty as both the character and we who follow along come to understand the significance of this journey.

Uplifting and life-affirming (a bit ironic, I know), “Tuesdays with Morrie” has performances Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (June 12-14) at Broadway United Methodist Church, 609 E. 29^th St., Indianapolis. Get tickets at epsilontheatricalco.org.