Davis Arts Council brings free theater to senior citizens
Actors Jayne Luke and Ron Frederickson perform in one-act plays being presented at Davis County senior centers and assisted living centers in October and early November 2015.
Actors Jayne Luke and Ron Frederickson perform in one-act plays at Davis County senior centers and assisted living centers in October and early November 2015.
One-act plays are being performed at Davis County senior centers and assisted living centers in October and early November 2015.
One-act plays are being performed at Davis County senior centers and assisted living centers in October and early November 2015.
Actors Jayne Luke and Ron Frederickson perform in one-act plays at Davis County senior centers and assisted living centers in October and early November 2015.
LAYTON — Davis County senior citizens are being treated to live theater over the next several weeks — and for many, it will come right to their doors.
The program is called “Senior Stages, the Art of Aging.” It includes three one-act plays written by local playwrights Elaine Jarvik and Robert Benjamin.
The show is a partnership between the Davis Arts Center and Walk-Ons, a small performing and directing group created by Jayne Luke and Justin Ivie. The two took their one-act plays to senior centers and assisted living centers in Salt Lake City over the past two years with success.
Luke is friends with the Davis Arts Center outreach coordinator, Teri Cowan. They thought it would be a good fit for seniors in Davis County. Cowan found a sponsor, Davis Hospital and Medical Center, and so the shows are free for the seniors.
The show runs through the second week of November in 13 different senior centers and assisted living centers in Davis County.
The three plays are about issues and topics that senior citizens face, but are written in a humorous way. The actors spend time talking with the seniors after the performance as well.
“It is really fun to talk and share things about our lives,” Luke said.
Luke has been a professional actress in Utah for 45 years. “As you get older there are less and less parts available,” Luke said. “Plus, seniors love the theater. If you look in audiences at local theaters, there are a lot of us there.”
But, as some get older, it’s harder to get out and enjoy those types of things, so she and Ivie love the idea of taking the theater to them.
“The shows are not condescending. They are intelligent comedies about getting older,” Luke said.
One of the shows is about a couple reading obituaries at the kitchen table and talking about them and how their obituaries will be. The second is about an older couple that meets through an online dating site and their first date is at an amusement park while stuck on a roller coaster. The third is about an older couple who have recently remarried and they are visiting the grave sites of their deceased spouses.
“They are all smart, touching pieces,” Cowan said.
Cowan said the shows are open to all ages and that so far, family members have come to watch the shows with their relatives in the senior and assisted living centers. “It can be a great time for families,” Cowan said.
Friday, Oct. 30, 1:30 p.m., Chancellor Gardens, 1425 S. 1500 East, Clearfield
Monday, Nov. 2, 11 a.m., Davis Hospital and Medical Center, 1600 W. Antelope Drive, Layton
Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1:30 p.m., Heritage Place Assisted Living, 1150 S. Main St., Bountiful
Thursday, Nov. 5, 1 p.m., Legacy House of Bountiful, 79 E. Center St., Bountiful
Friday, Nov. 6, 11 a.m., Pheasant View Assisted Living, 1242 E. Pheasant View Drive, Layton
Theater
