Taught in the Act
Immersive theater
programs are just one
of the ways active adults
engage in the arts today.

MARISSA STERN | JE STAFF
ingo and knitting might be the first activities you think of when
“senior resident community” comes to mind.

And while those are popular hobbies (and for good reason, be-
cause bingo is fun), seniors are finding more ways to entertain them-
selves — sometimes, in the most literal sense of the word.

Arts and culture programs at resident communities are push-
ing those activities aside in order to allow the residents to par-
ticipate in programs they have always enjoyed, from art to writing
to theater.

Theater programs have taken on key roles in many senior com-
munities in the last few years.

Philly Senior Stage is the brainchild of Robb Hutter, a Toronto
native and past artistic director of Temple University’s intergener-
ational educational theatre program, The Full Circle Theatre.

It started in 2007 as a way of working with seniors through acting
classes to find their comfort zone, and then pull them out of it, as
Hutter described it.

Since its inception, Hutter and his team of educators and work-
shoppers have continued to share the program with more than 15
senior centers around the Philly area, bringing the love for perform-
ance with them.

One such place is Shannondell at Valley Forge, which was where
Philly Senior Stage got its start.

The center had completed a brand-new auditorium in 2005, and
Hutter learned that it was being used for hosting musicals and per-
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DECEMBER 17, 2015
formance, but no one used the stage for theatrical performances by
the residents.

He had to change that.

He created an 8-week course, which evolved into developing
semiannual shows by the “The Shannondell Actors Studio” where
his “kids” strut their stuff through acting and drama classes.

The benefit of this program, which includes improvisation ex-
ercises, musical theater performances and more, is one that Hutter
notices every time he works with them.

“It breaks down barriers,” he said. “It accesses a level of intimacy
that many people — that by the time they’re in their 80s they’ve lost
that — with maybe another person or group.”
Hutter, 60, works with the seniors, or “geezers” as he affectionately
calls them — “They hate it,” he said, laughing — to come out of their
comfort zones through acting.

“My rule is to go into their comfort zone and then take them out
of it,” he said. “I stretch my actors. I take them to a place that’s further
or deeper than they thought they could or might want to go, and
they’re always grateful afterwards that I’ve taken them there.”
With the Jewish residents he works with, Hutter, who is Jewish
himself, noticed that there is a stronger affinity for the arts. They
love their subscriptions to the theater, he said, and the proximity to
these activities is part of the attraction to places like Shannondell.

With performing, they work with other people to access the inti-
macy Hutter described and, in the process, find a sense of belonging.

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“I really think the theater provides them with a real strong sense
of belonging,” Hutter said. “Not that the knitting group or the bingo
group doesn’t, but this is more powerful because you’re interacting
with your fellow performers and residents.”
He sees the program and theater itself as a way of tapping into
the seniors’ “vitality” in ways that other activities might not.

“If people want intellectual stimulation, they’ll go to a lecture,
but my whole philosophy is: People go to the theatre to express their
feelings,” he said. “That’s why we love musicals: Music, in general,
it touches our hearts in a way that going to a current event lecture
might not.”
Sidney and Dolores Tessler have resided at Shannondell for a
little more than four years.

They have kept busy through many programs — from arts pro-
grams, lectures and even concerts.

“Seniors don’t want to just sit and do nothing,” said Dolores
Tessler, 85.

While the community isn’t entirely Jewish, Sidney Tessler, 90,
decided to start a club that attracts those who are Jewish to get in-
volved, though there are many non-Jews who participate as well.

“They want to learn more, they want to hear more about Jewish
history,” said Dolores Tessler of the non-Jews who participate.

“They’re very interested in the topics, learning about how other
people do things or live.”
The Jewish Interest Group has brought in speakers such as the
Israeli Consul General, musical performances, lectures about topics
such as Jewish history and Jewish humor — all in the spirit of bring-
ing people together, both Jewish and not Jewish.

They also bring in a maestro two or three times a year who talks
about Jewish composers of waltzes, to attract the musically inclined.

“We try to vary the topics,” Tessler said. “We’ve had a lot of good
success with the people that have come.”
For her, an art and poetry enthusiast, she has found many ways
to keep herself occupied, and so have many others who live there.

“If I were speaking on behalf of the whole community, there
would be a lot of things I could tell you about because there are so
many things of varied interest here,” she said. “I’ve gotten into an
art program. We’re kept very busy with all kinds of lectures and pro-
grams and musical programs.”
The benefit of theatrical activities and musical performances
also includes transformation.

Benjamin Lloyd founded Elkins Park-based White Pines Pro-
ductions back in 2009.

See Theater, Page 14
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DECEMBER 17, 2015
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