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SARASOTA SENIOR THEATER
A Role in Linking Generations

All around the country a most endearing phenomenon, one that is spearheaded by the senior community, is taking root. It is the rise of the Senior Theater as a vehicle to highlight the talents of creative folks over fifty-five. In this program they merge their talents into an intergenerationl canvas that welcomes children from ages eight to fourteen to share in theater presentations and workshops so as to learn all aspects of theater.

The Sarasota Senior Theater, a relatively new non-profit organization, recently gained a spotlight at the International Senior Theater Conference after winning a musical competition written by its founder and president, Irene Silver. It was also awarded the Golden Gavel Award for community service by the Sarasota Herald Tribune.

The Sarasota theater group is especially proud of the ties made with youngsters in their community and presents intergenerational joint ventures with Sarasota County that offer participants a chance to learn to act, dance, and sing, as well as instruction in writing plays and musicals. The idea of having young persons and seniors perform together in major productions was an outcome of the great response received from kids to the group's performances. "We discovered that in audience talk-back after a performance the kids held their own. They were excited and thrilled that their opinions were valued and were awed by the performing Grandpas and Grandmas." Soon afterwards the Park and Recreation Department of Sarasota asked if we could teach acting for children.

Performances and Workshops
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