Sunrise – Life Transitions and Cognitive Function: A Play-Inspired Exploration

Presented by:
Barry Stoltze, Actor
Barry Stoltze has been a professional actor for nearly 50 years. He has voiced hundreds of commercials, worked on audiobooks, animation, and gaming, and has appeared extensively on stage and screen. In 2022, he was a proud participant in CEU Creations’ online production of TURNING INTO THE SKID with Judith Gantly. In 2023, he was part of the ensemble of PRAYER FOR THE FRENCH REPUBLIC at Actor's Express which won the Suzi Award for Best Play, a thought-provoking production that included his current CEU Creations scene partner, Carolyn Cook. In the winter of 2025, he will be portraying an immortal prophet in the new musical KING OF PANGEA at the Aurora Theatre in Lawrenceville, GA. He has appeared on camera in OZARK, HALT AND CATCH FIRE, and SLEEPY HOLLOW and in the films THE LONGEST RIDE and TYLER PERRY’S BOO! 2, among others. Additionally, at Synchronicity Theatre in 2018, Barry wrote and produced I CAN’T TECHNO: A MUSICAL GUIDE TO MODERN TIMES, with song parodies and comedy sketches about Mankind dealing with technology down through the Ages. And in October at the Shakespeare Tavern, he co-produced the 21st annual LEND ME AN EAR, a night of Old Time Radio recreations by union performers, which this year raised food assistance money for Open Hand.

Carolyn Cook, Actor/Director
Carolyn Cook is the founder and first artistic director of Theatre du Reve. She has more than twenty-five years of experience as a professional actor, director, producer, teacher, and acting coach. Carolyn has worked as an actor and/or director with some of the top theaters in Atlanta including Georgia Shakespeare, Horizon Theatre, The Alliance Theatre, Actor’s Express, Theatre in the Square, Seven Stages, and Theater Emory. She has taught acting and theatre studies at Emory University, Oglethorpe University, Pebblebrook High School, and the Robert Mello Studio. She is a graduate of the 2015 Memory Bridge Training Retreat, a five-day intensive program leading to positive, meaningful dementia relationships. Carolyn co-developed and performed in Blackberry Winter, a play by Steve Yockey about a woman coming to terms with her new role as a caregiver, and wrote and performed the one-woman autobiographical play, Walk With Me, where a woman sets out to meet her loved ones with dementia where they are — and returns with a guidebook for fellow travelers.

Yura Lee, PhD, Associate Professor, Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee
Dr. Yura Lee is an Associate Professor at the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Her research primarily focuses on individuals with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD) and their caregivers. Dr. Lee’s dedication to ADRD research stems from her personal experience as a primary caregiver for her grandfather, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This experience has significantly nfluenced her gerontological social work research, which centers on two key areas: (a) identifying risk and protective factors for ADRD, and (b) understanding the needs and challenges faced by dementia caregivers. Dr. Lee has investigated a range of risk and protective factors, including educational attainment, multiple chronic conditions, life transitions (e.g., widowhood, retirement), late-life engagement in activities (mental, physical, and social), and sociocultural influences (e.g., acculturation and social support). Notably, her research on the biopsychosocial mechanisms of widowhood and its impact on cognitive function was funded by the Rutgers University Asian Resource Center for Minority Aging.
Additionally, Dr. Lee currently serves as the principal investigator for the “Going Home” project, a reminiscence intervention for individuals with dementia and their family caregivers, funded by the Alzheimer’s Association. She actively collaborates on several interdisciplinary aging research initiatives with scholars from diverse fields, including neurology, nursing, public health, biomedical engineering, kinesiology, and information science, focusing on dementia care interventions utilizing assistive technology. Dr. Lee earned her PhD in Social Work from the University of Southern California.