Bonnie L. Vorenberg

I stayed up last Saturday to watch the new NBC televsion show, Betty White's Off Their Rockers. In the program, Betty and her band of pranksters pull a variety of stunts on "real unsuspecting younger people," as they say in the opening. Some of the pranked youngsters laugh, giggle, or look embarassed. The show benefits from Betty White's keen sense of humor. Still some segments are hilarious, others not so much.

When you combine comedy with seniors, there is a fine line between what's funny and what is degrading. At the Senior Theatre Resource Center, we deal with this situation often since most companies prefer humorous plays. Our customers often ask us, "Is this funny?" and we respond with, "It depends on your sense of humor."

When we read plays we have to determine if the banter is in good taste. It's often decided by a 'gut check.' If you feel weird, the comedy crosses the line. If you chuckle, the comedy is ok.

You can't take life too seriously and a good laugh is therapeutic. Use your good sense to push the comedy while keeping it tactful. Take a look at the results of our "Favorite Comedy Survey" and at Betty White's show. Enjoy a good laugh--celebrate comedy!

Bonnie L. Vorenberg
ArtAge Senior Theatre Resource Center, President

Attendee at Beltaine Festival

CREATING A NEW OLD is a major global conference that brings together leading experts in a wide variety of fields to discuss key concerns of an aging population. The event will be held on May 8–10 in Dublin, Ireland, as an initiative of Age & Opportunity and the Bealtaine festival.

Speakers from across the globe will discuss topics based on:

• The potential for creative activity to maximize the ability of all individuals to maintain dignity and independent living throughout older age
• How to harness the creative powers of older people to make a positive contribution to society

“We simply can’t continue to define what is an increasingly large proportion of our life span by reference to an outmoded industrial revolution notion that life after 55 is redundant. We must move from being threatened by the idea of ageing to being excited by it. This is a global problem, requiring a global shift in attitudes,” says Dominic Campbell, Artistic Director of The Bealtaine Festival.

Plan to attend this unique gathering of specialists in health, culture, arts, science, education, gerontology, social policy, and tourism. Get your tickets now and join this important conversation.

Senior Star Showcase dancers to perform at the Festival!

Excitement is building for the 2012 Senior Theatre USA Festival & Conference scheduled for Harrah’s New Orleans Hotel & Casino from June 3 to 7. In fact over 75% of Harrah’s allotted rooms at the festival rate of just $119 per night are already taken. See them for yourself. Visit the website at www.seniortheatreusa.com to tour the beautiful hotel and casino as well as the city itself. At the same time, follow links that will acquaint you with the outstanding headliners, facilitators, and workshops featured at the conference. The registration fee of a mere $150 includes workshops, performances, nightly karaoke, and open mic as well as complimentary opening and closing buffets. Also, applications are now available for performance submissions.

For additional information, contact Dolores Kane, Festival Manager, by email at
dkane1@swbell.net or phone 314-495-1713.

The Pie Ladies Make Bail is one of our popular shows.

We wondered which of our many comedies were favorites, so we did a survey. As you know, the Senior Theatre Resource Center carries a wide selection of upbeat, fun comedies. So it was no surprise that there was no clear-cut winner. Instead, we discovered that our customers are having a great time with many of our funny favorites. Here are the results:

Our Canadian and New England friends are particularly enjoying, At the Border.

Radio and TV themed plays such as, All is Fair in Show Business and The Quibbles Radio Shows are popular. Our customers are sweet on Coconut Cream Pie and The Pie Ladies and the sequel, The Pie Ladies Make Bail.

Also making the list are, Chatterton Country Club, Boy Toy, Joggin’ Along, The Further Adventures of Super Hero and Doris Drive, Old Flames, The Committee, Dance of the Sugar Plump Fairies, Carol Burnett Show Sketches–”The Old Folks”, Zorina, the Mystic, The Little Yellow House on the Hill, No Frills Airline, Make Mine Metamucil, and It's Hell Gettin' Old.

Consider this a list of personal recommendations that you can use to choose your next show.

Use the links above to read more about each play, click the below link to read the responses. Then perform some of these terrific comedies!

Silver Stage Players in Performance

Tuscarora Films, a NC-based production company, is currently shooting a public television documentary featuring the Silver Stage Players, a Senior Theatre troupe in Knoxville,TN. The program profiles the actors, their shows, and the many benefits seniors get from participating in theatre. But, in order for the film to be completed, they need your help.

Tuscarora Films is relying on a lot of people to provide small measures of financial support to bring this vision to reality. You can help by making a donation, of any size. Watch the teaser, then, spread the word. You can make this Senior Theatre film possible!

Dick McMahon

Being an actor is like DROPPING your PANTS in front of a bunch of people…There’s an element of RISK involved. You’re exposing yourself to possible embarrassment by forgetting your lines and making a total fool of yourself.

It has been suggested that people become actors for the same reason they like extreme sports. Both have similar challenges which produce an adrenaline rush and test one’s vulnerability.

As a skydiver the feeling of falling from an airplane is almost the same for me as walking onto a stage in front of a big audience or having a film director’s camera right in my face. The desire to survive seems to be the same in both situations too.

The acting challenge, for me anyway, is getting out of my own way...giving up control of my body to the CHARACTER so he can jump inside and become alive. It feels uncomfortable at times when he does things I wouldn’t do…or uses secret fears and emotions in my own personality to express himself.

It's fun, though, when he CUSSES a lot. I don't know why, but for some strange reason it feels good to say, #>%! and $?*#! in front of a lot of people and not get in trouble for it. In a movie called Franklin Wunder I played a widower who has a major heart attack while swimming and escapes from intensive care wearing only a hospital gown. During filming, I held the back of the gown tightly CLOSED when people drove by laughing & pointing at me.

It’s the story of a dying man who questions whether he has ever done anything 'good' for the world. But, without realizing it, everything he does on the last day of his life starts a chain reaction that benefits the lives of strangers who happen to cross his path.

It’s a beautiful story that ends when Franklin decides to go swimming again in a lake where he had fun as a teenager. There he has another heart attack and dies. This required stripping down to my underwear and jumping from a dock into cold water about 8-feet deep…then swimming to the middle of Cullaby Lake near Astoria, Oregon.

There was a slight wind and it was cloudy when this was filmed with temperatures somewhere in the 50's. The water was FREEZING cold!

When my 'dead' body was pulled to shore and the cameras started rolling again my first thought was how underwear sometimes becomes almost transparent when it’s wet.

And, yeah, the thought ALSO crossed my mind about how cold water can sometimes SHRINK certain things (if you know what I mean)…and that people might not see me at my best.

Between camera takes several members of the crew poured 'warm' water all over me to calm down the shivering…then, to appear dead, I held my breath as long as I could before starting to shake again.

Playing a wet DEAD guy in a movie isn't easy when you're shivering uncontrollably. There ought to be an Academy Award for that.

Dick McMahon

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