Elephant Flowers photo by Dianna Banner
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Something to Laugh About: Bozeman’s Last Best Geri-Actors
By Bernice Karnop The Bozeman Senior Center’s Valentine’s Day Dinner sold out immediately, but the prime rib dinner was not the main draw. The Last Best GeriActors topped the program with a show called Love is a Many Splintered Thing. Cupid, in the starring role, was no chubby, naked cherub. This savvy, six-foot, 70-something matchmaker dressed for Montana in February wore a red union suit, camo, and hiking boots. The Last Best Geri-Actors is one of a growing group of senior theater groups in the U.S. and the only one in Montana. Reader Theater actors
Members of the Last Best Geri-Actors read Dr. Seuss stories at the Country Bookshelf in Bozeman in celebration of Read Across America on March 2. In the back row are Neil Gregersen and Joe Genovese (l to r). In the front row (l to r) are Joyce Shepart, Nan Gergersen, Gloria Hansard, Joe Mallory, and Lonnie Johnson. (Photo provided by Last Best Geri-Actors) love the magic of being on stage. They love to laugh, and they love to make others laugh. The Readers Theater group started at the Bozeman Senior Center in March 2013. Its first show was on Mother’s Day, and by Christmas it was so popular they did six shows in ten days at different venues. A favorite of the first Christmas show was an outgoing gal in a wheelchair who kept people in stitches in her role as a mechanical toy. The second Christmas show featured Christmas ornaments talking after the lights were turned off. Faye Christensen, a retired English/Drama teacher, moved to Montana from Alabama nine years ago. She volunteered at the Senior Center and noticed they had painting and music groups, but nothing in the performing arts. She thought there might be creative individuals who would like to try acting, so she talked to center director Judy Morrill. With a small grant in hand, Faye announced a meeting for people who would be interested in the theater. Twenty-eight men and women ranging in age from 60 to 91showed up at the first meeting. Two were retired drama teachers, two were professional actors, and others had enjoyed acting in high school, college, or community theater. One 91-year-old had been a professional model for MGM. But Faye was just as delighted with others who had no experience. “Theater is the great equalizer,” Faye says. “Even if someone doesn’t want to act, they can do other techie jobs like help write scripts, make costumes, work on sets, and make posters. (Continued on page 47)