We are off and running on our first day of rehearsal for Constellations! We already have some fantastic questions from the cast and creative team!
Q: What does having glioblastoma multiforme look like? How would it affect Marianne's physicality? A: Most of the symptoms of glioblastoma multiforme are not necessarily apparent to a casual observer. The most common symptoms include headaches, speech aphasia, trouble concentrating, nausea, drowsiness, and sudden shifts in mood or personality. However, in certain cases, the effects of the tumor can be more visually apparent. For example some patients experiencing visual or sensory impairment may behave in noticeably different ways to cope with their sensory loss. More rarely, some patients experience hemiparisis or weakness on one side of the body (this is more common when the tumor is on the brain stem instead of the frontal lobe). Others losing physical coordination may appear to have trouble walking or exhibit a change in stride. Another less common side effect is spasms in the wrists and ankles. In one case I found, a young woman with GBM was misdiagnosed with Bell's Palsy because the tumor affected her face and the line of her mouth. Q: There is a scene in the play in which Marianne and Roland communicate via sign language. Is the part of the brain a person uses to speak the same area of the brain that would control communication via sign? A. Most likely, yes! Clara Moskowitz's 2010 article for Live Science explains that scientists used a PET scanner to observe the brains of English and native ASL speaker as they were shown an object and then spoke or signed the name of that object. Scans showed no difference in brain activity between the two groups indicating that the parts of the human brain that handle language are the same whether it is spoken or signed.
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