The Senior Theatre Resource Center

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 Photo from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Bingo

Mount Shasta Senior Theatre was formed in 2006 and is part of College of the Siskiyous LifeLong Learning Program. Joan Lucas is the Artistic Director and Jan Stensaas is the Music Director. The first semester includes: improvisation, movement, singing, acting, storytelling and readers theatre. The second semester is dedicated to rehearsing the show for the Spring. Last year we performed a revue entitled These Are the Good Old Days to sold out houses and standing ovations. Some of the comments were as follows:

Old age is often referred to as the Golden Years but in the case of the senior cast, platinum might be more appropriate. As it celebrates growing older, the show offers a wide range of entertainment and introspective experience that ranges from the whimsical to the intensely personal. Stories of overcoming hardship and receiving redemption are worth the price of the ticket alone. In several skits, the nature of growing old is mercilessly lampooned with clever dialogue and good humor.”  Paul B from the Mt. Shasta Herald Review

Theatre-goers' comments included:

 “Your show was awesome. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was inspirational, wonderfully conceived and tremendously entertaining.”  Bob S

“I came home feeling hopeful and full of gratitude to our elders in the community for sharing their insight and wisdom, humor and compassion.” Meadow B

“The show you brought to our school was presented with professionalism and heart, and was a remarkable opportunity for our children to experience the talent and vitality of members of our senior community.”    Julie B, a teacher

With comments like that our 2008 revue A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Bingo has a high bar to jump over. This year we have added a septet of excellent singers who perform Madrigals in the first act and an Andrew Sisters Medley in the second act. Dorothea Joyce will sing her composition which won a Grammy Award for her and the Fifth Dimension and a dance was choreographed by Joan Lucas to an original composition of Marge Wheeler from Mt. Shasta using young dancers which is called intergenerational theater.

I gather material all year and create each revue based upon who signs up for the course (Senior Community Theater) and who will take the course when I ask them to participate in the show. We are looking forward to two shows this year with a performance in November. It includes a one act readers theater play entitled The Committee (Click here to read about the play) which was written especially for Mount Shasta Senior Theatre by Charles Alverson and excerpts from a 2 act musical called, Funny You Don’t Look Like a Grandmother. It will be a departure from our regular revue format but I want to spread our wings into different types of theatre presentations to keep us on our toes.

What’s so wonderful about having started this company is that it’s a win/win/win/win situation. I’m being creative doing what I love to do, the students enjoy the classes and performances and we laugh a lot, the audience has a wonderful time at the show and the College can boast that it is in partnership with a Senior Theatre Company .

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