Report on the Serendipity Theater Tour of Southern California – July 2009.
Two members of this company presented “Open Doors” in 13 apartment complexes for senior citizens in 9 cities in Southern California. Close to 300 seniors saw the performances and many more heard about them afterwards.
“Open Doors” is a compilation of Irish, French, German and Spanish songs and stories performed by singer and guitarist Hedda Kaphengst and pianist Josh Johnston. This tour was in collaboration with EngAGE, a non-profit (please see www.engagedaging.org). whose mission is to promote awareness of successful aging and facilitate healthy communities by keeping seniors actively engaged in life, physically and mentally healthy, reinvigorated with a sense of purpose, and given the opportunity to act as sages and mentors to our younger generations.
The audiences were comprised of residents of affordable active aging apartment communities and their guests. The age range is 55 to 93 and the median income is 10,000 US dollars per annum. The first languages of the seniors included Spanish, Korean, Vietnamese, Armenian, Russian, Filipino, Hindi, Arabic as well as English. It is a tribute to the power of music, to the repertoire chosen, and to the talents and enthusiasm of the performers that barriers of culture and language were transcended to make for a very popular presentation.
There have been requests for the performers to return and when residents are told that the group is from Ireland people are impressed and also feel important and empowered to be included in an international project. This matters because many low-income old people in this area feel overlooked, ignored and discounted by society in general. EngAGE consistently faces the challenge of low self-esteem in our constituents. The results of Serendipity’s work show in general positive feelings at the complexes and increased willingness to be involved in the instructional programs that EngAGE presents.
Many Thanks and Good Luck in your work in Ireland.
Maureen Kellen-Taylor, Ph.D.
Chief Operating Officer
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