Chance = Change

Please , please let me find the words to adequately describe the experience I had yesterday, at the premier public performance of The Village Players at 4610 Village!

"The Village Players" is what my wonderful group of elderly actors finally decided to call themselves (after rejecting the self-humorous but finally not acceptable "Village Idiots"), and yesterday, at 2:00 PM, in the Dining Room that is now our official Village Players Theater, they gave a premier reading of sweet play for the delectation and delight of not only their fellow Home residents, but their family, outside-world friends, Staff, Caregivers, and Village Cares officials as well! It was an enormous crowd, considering we were expecting very few people to show up, and the entire Dining Room was filled, abuzz and excited! It felt like an actual audience (which it was), and as darling Ruth Selman put it: "It turned into Theater! A real live theater!Flowers and laughter! A miracle!" (or something to that effect) .The entire company (we can call ourselves a true "company" now, since we have been through this first test of fire...) the entire company felt like part of something important,and, if I can begin to do it justice, you'll see why they all felt that way. It is an afternoon I know I will never forget.

Somehow, in beginning to volunteer with this group, at the beseeching of that same adorable Ruth Selman (an old friend of Pat Yonka's from Montessori), I was doing a nice woman a favor, and in continuing to work with this self-styled drama group, and then finally being asked to allow them to pay me to do so, and now working with them for over a year, I know that I am learning as much from them as they are learning from me - as much about myself as they seem to be learning about themselves - a deep lesson, not only in patience and compassion, but in the sheer truth about human beings: we are all the same, wanting the same things, to be alive and communicative for as long as we can be , to fully experience life for as long as we can, to give to others from our hearts for as long as we can - and that no matter that the years pass- we are still the same excited and caring children we once were - that it's only our minds that tell us we are not -we think it is our bodies telling us "no" - but I have seen what people with failing bodies can do now, if they really want to -

I have walked into a year's worth of Village Players weekly meetings where most of the "actors" were tired, lethargic, uncaring (seemingly) and late - and have watched as the power of reading a writers words aloud, urging each other on, laughing at each others' lines, and simply breathing more ( in order to read aloud) woke people up and made them actually feel better than when they walked in - AND that has been only the beginning. Once they were reminded that they actually chose to be there (and they were reminded both by there own actions and my weekly "sermons"), these "senior adults" began to allow themselves to really be there and gave of themselves totally - these are minds that have been put to good use for 7, 8, 9 decades, then suddenly thrust into a dry, relatively empty landscape of both old age and an old age home....4610 Village is among the best of these sorts of places- a truly good home for those who choose to live there - a caring staff and administration - a clean and lovely place - But that does not make up for the mental switch that seems to be turned off once the elder ones move in to what they must know will be there last home......a certain decision is made, whether conscious or not, to let go and accept the ease of no longer trying....

As all know who read this blog: acting, theater and especially an acting company, cannot afford to stop trying!!!!! So, by virtue of the fact that they chose to create a drama club (not to dabble in seeing plays but to ACT THEM!) , and we have the intrepid Peggy Keating ,the strong and motivating Ruth Silverman, and the brilliant Ruth Selman to thank for that), these particular 10 or so people decided not to give up yet!!! Something made them want to be actors at this time in their lives - maybe once they wanted to be , maybe they wished they could be - but they have decided now TO BE, and little did they know that by asking me to coach them, they would not be allowed to get away with anything short of being the best actors they could possibly be right now. I treat them like professionals , and when faced with physical limitations, assess those problems the way I would any younger actors' limitations and cut just the appropriate amount of slack for those problems- no more, no less - and we move on....Insisting on punctuality (the elderly seem to lose track of time if they are allowed to do so, and a couple of the group actually have short-term memory problems), courtesy (older folks speak their minds freely) and mutual support of each other, no matter what frustrations may arise. I preached the idea of "company" early on and made them aware that actors stick together through thick and thin...meeting each Tuesday night, they became responsible for each other, had something to plan for and look forward to each week....and when we started rehearsals for the June 19th opening, they even began to call themselves together for extra rehearsals...how terrific! So, slowly (and at times it felt extremely slow) but surely, they formed a true company - and yesterday, at the "matinee" performance , that company shone brilliantly! They truly told the story of the play, and took very good care of themselves and the grateful audience. There was even a standing ovation (again from those who could stand) and it was heartfelt.

But more on that later....I find I have written and written, and not even hardly begun to tell all I want to tell...so more tomorrow...or later today...