DistrACTed

Playwright Lisa Loomer has written about cancer, race, class, and other heavy subjects for Mixed Blood Theatre. Her newest play, Distracted, kicks off the 2008–09 season and takes on another heady topic: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, 5 percent of American kids aged six to seventeen have been diagnosed with ADHD, a fact that intrigues Loomer. “I started to wonder, ‘What is ADD in an ADD world?’ ” she says. “Does anyone ever do fewer than three things at once? Can I, or anyone, go an hour without checking e-mail? What is the effect of our info-rich, 24/7 world on the mind of a child? Are we paying attention to what is really important?”

Distracted focuses on the life of a mother who has become consumed by her nine-year-old son’s ADHD diagnosis and on the effect it has on her relationships with her husband, neighbors, and doctors. Some might find the play controversial, but, ultimately, Loomer hopes audience members will question what they’ve seen and what they think they know. Here’s to hoping we can pay attention long enough to . . .

Sorry, can’t finish this. My brother just IMed me. TTYL! Sept. 25–Oct. 19. Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. 4th St., Mpls., 612-338-0937