PHOTO BY JACOB KESSLER / THE VILLAGE REPORTER
COMEDY … Matthew Moore performs stand-up comedy during the “Laugh With Parkinson’s” event held Tuesday, March 3 at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Archbold. Moore uses humor and storytelling to share his personal journey living with Parkinson’s disease while helping raise awareness and support for others facing the condition.
By: Jacob Kessler
THE VILLAGE REPORTER
jacob@thevillagereporter.com
Community members gathered at St. Martin’s Lutheran Church in Archbold on Tuesday, March 3, for an afternoon of laughter, reflection, and awareness as playwright, actor, and comedian Matthew Moore presented his stand-up program “Laugh With Parkinson’s.”
The free event, held at 1:00 p.m., was organized through a partnership between the Welcome Place Parkinson’s Support Group and the Black Swamp Arts Council.
Individuals living with Parkinson’s disease, along with caregivers, family members, and community residents, attended the program designed to bring people together through humor and shared experience.
The presentation focused on using laughter as a way to confront and better understand the realities of living with the disease.
Moore, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2019, travels across the country performing both stand-up comedy and a theatrical play that explores the challenges of living with the condition.
During the Archbold event he delivered a stand-up routine that blended humor with honest reflections about his journey.
His guiding message throughout the performance was simple but meaningful. “We don’t laugh at Parkinson’s. We laugh with it,” Moore said, encouraging the audience to find moments of humor even in difficult circumstances.
Before his diagnosis, Moore had spent years working as a professional actor and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in classical acting from George Washington University.
When tremors began interfering with his stage work, he decided not to step away from performing.
Instead, he wrote a play that allowed him to continue acting while openly incorporating the symptoms and experiences of Parkinson’s into the performance. The play, which he began developing around 2021, was based in part on interviews he conducted with a dozen individuals also living with the disease.
Moore explained that hearing the stories of others helped confirm that many people facing Parkinson’s share similar emotional struggles and experiences.
That realization helped shape both his theatrical work and his growing stand-up routine. Through comedy, he said, audiences can gain enough distance from the disease to see moments of humor within it.
The goal, he added, is not to minimize the seriousness of Parkinson’s but to help people approach it with resilience and perspective.
In addition to performing, Moore works as a substitute teacher, which allows him the flexibility to travel and present his programs in communities around the country.
Rather than focusing primarily on traditional theaters, he often performs in churches, libraries, and community centers where audiences may not typically attend theatrical productions.
For Moore, the work has become both personally meaningful and emotionally helpful as he continues living with the disease.
He said sharing these performances keeps him focused on confronting the challenges of Parkinson’s rather than allowing the illness to define his life.
The Archbold presentation was arranged through the Welcome Place Parkinson’s Support Group, led by facilitator Bonnie Lauber, who has worked for years to provide resources and programming for individuals affected by the disease.
The Black Swamp Arts Council assisted by helping promote the event and spread the word throughout the community.
Organizers hoped the program would offer encouragement for those living with Parkinson’s while also helping the broader public better understand the condition.
By combining storytelling, humor, and personal reflection, Moore’s visit provided an afternoon that was both uplifting and meaningful for those in attendance.
