A new Canadian entertainment production company is blending live theatre with the patient experience, in hopes of highlighting the importance of engaging patients in their healthcare.

Patient Commando’s debut production, Cancer Can’t Dance Like This, is May 12 in Toronto at the Glenn Gould Studio, CBC Broadcast Centre, 250 Front St. W.

Zal Press, Patient Commando founder, has had Crohn’s disease for 30 years and recently sold his business to start the company. Press plans to take the productions across the country to give patients, families and health providers the opportunity to look at illness and the patient experience from a fresh perspective.

“It’s not just a story for patients,” Press tells Axiom News.

“It is about experiencing and understanding (the patient perspective) through new eyes.”

Patient Commando uses public speaking, humour therapy workshops and live theatre to present compelling stories from the patient perspective. Cancer Can’t Dance Like This is a one-man show and comedic dramatization of Daniel Stolfi’s two-year battle with cancer.

Press hopes healthcare providers attend and learn more about the patient narrative.

“By making them open to the patient experience would be a voice to guide practice change. It’s instructive. It helps create a culture of safety.”

Proceeds from Patient Commando’s feature stage events [...] continue the story