Are you craving a creative life, but fear it’s too late?
Here’s some inspiration.
In mid-November, 96-year-old Sylvia Kerckhoff, former Mayor of Durham, North Carolina, USA, will perform a two-minute monologue for Way Off Broadway, a drama group at The Forest at Duke retirement community in Durham, where she lives.
“Sylvia does one terrific job when you hand her a script in large type,” Way Off Broadway director Rosemary Kitchin said.
And here she is, delivering the monologue!
Sylvia, is proof that it’s never too late to start – or restart – your creative life.
Here’s further proof, closer to home.
The Acting Out Troupe, a community theatre group in Mt Barker, South Australia, comprised mostly of older women, will premiere Breaking Up is Hard to Do, a new short play about book clubs on November 26 and 27, as part of its show, Bookish, a humorous look at libraries, librarians and book clubs.
I’m proud to say I wrote Quite a Sensation, the monologue Sylvia will read, and the book club play Breaking Up is Hard to Do that the Acting Out Troupe will perform.
The play (which is no reflection on any book club I’ve been in, where everyone was lovely) was commissioned by Acting Out Troupe director Anne Marie Serrano, The monologue was inspired by an older woman who is anti-graffiti advocate in my town.
Read BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO here
One of the fun parts of my own creative life is to provide 10 FREE short plays for people of all ages and more than 50 FREE contemporary monologues for older female actors, directors and drama students who want to enter or re-enter the world of theatre.
The plays and monologues are available free on my website on the condition that users credit me, let me know how and when the work will be performed and send photos and feedback.
In the three years since I made them available, these have been performed in 47 places around the world – including the USA, UK, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.
Most recently, permission has been sought from performers from all walks of life in Canada, Florida, Merseyside (UK) and Auckland NZ.
And Members Only, my most popular short play, which has been performed nine times in the USA, New Zealand and Australia by actors young and old, will have its 10th production at Virginia Wesleyan University in the USA on November 23.
To keep track of where my work goes, I plot them on a map through PinMaps, a custom map creator to pin multiple locations. Here’s a screenshot to give you an idea of what it looks like:
Many of the monologues are written particularly for older women, who often struggle to find relevant material.
As English actress Geraldine James, who played Queen Mary in Downton Abbey, told The Guardian on 16 August: “Diversity goes in every direction.”We’ve got to keep creating roles for older actresses, because we do represent more and more of society.”
However, the current fashion for age-blind casting can also provide opportunities, as James found when she made her debut at the Royal Shakespeare Company two years ago as Rosalind in As You Like It at the age of 72.
The late Maggie Smith, who died this year on September 30, was a huge inspiration for older women in the theatre.
She was perhaps even better known for her later work as an older actor, with such roles as the Dowager Countess Violet Crawley in Downton Abbey, and Miss Shepherd in The Lady with the Van, where she excelled.
It gives me great pleasure to write for older women in particular, who bring such rich life- experience to their work, and I’m always excited when I receive an email from someone who has found my work and wants to perform it.
Making a living in the theatre is always a struggle, made more so since Covid, and this is my way of helping. It also provides me with an opportunity to showcase my work, to learn and improve, and to be part of a worldwide community.
I have other work that is licensed with agents and for which I receive royalties (FULL LENGTH and ONE ACT plays) when they are produced.
Check out my other monologues here.
(Want to suggest a topic? Contact me here).
For more inspiration about discovering your creativity in later life, read the story of UK actor Liz Jones, featured on the blog Late Bloomers, which champions late-bloomers of all genders and artistic persuasions. Late Bloomers is the initiative of Debra Eve – a late bloomer herself.
https://laterbloomer.com/liz-smith/
And for more about the amazing Sylvia Kerckhoff, click here:
https://whoswhoofprofessionalwomen.com/tag/sylvia-kerckhoff/
Are you a late bloomer? Tell me your story in the comments below.
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