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Living Life After 50
February 2025 Patterson Delivering Kindness To The World See Page 6
Elko Edition REaching ElkhaRt, kosciusko, noblE and lagRangE countiEs
Vol. 37, No. 12
www.seniorlifenewspapers.com
Community holds opportunities
NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS — Participants in Warsaw Community Public Library’s Fun with Theater for Seniors capped off the workshop with a showcase, including a musical performance of “No Business Like Show Business” from “Annie Get Your Gun” and Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies.” In the front row from left are Dana McAfee, Emily Miller and Sandy Courson. In the back row are Mike Lewis, Kira Lace Hawkins and Duane Huffer. Photo provided by Sara Neel.
GETTING INTO CHARACTER — Mike Lewis, left, Dana McAfee and Kira Lace Hawkins act out a scene during the Fun with Theater for Seniors workshop at the Warsaw Community Public Library. Photo provided by Sara Neel.
for seniors in performing arts
By LILLI DWYER Staff Writer “Theater really meets you where you are as an individual, and then you get to bring what you can to it, and it becomes your own personal performance that no one else can do. I think that’s the beautiful thing about engaging people of all ages in the arts,” said Kira Lace Hawkins, director of education and community engagement at Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts. In November 2024, Hawkins and Dana McAfee, community outreach assistant at Warsaw Community Public Library and a former theater teacher, collaborated on a Fun with Theater for Seniors workshop. For two weeks, seniors came to the library to study the art of performance with them. The process started with a scene study,
Hawkins explained. Scene studies begin with an initial reading or “cold read.” Gradually, participants develop their characters. “You get (a performance) up onto its feet after you’ve identified what the character is after in this scene. So a lot of people will call that your objective or your goal or your need,” she said. Each time the group rehearsed their scenes, new elements like props and choreography were introduced. Through simplified voice lessons, participants learned classic songs. Part of Hawkins’ job is teaching acting at Wagon Wheel Conservatory. “We have an adult acting class anyone can sign up for,” she mentioned. Wagon Wheel has a scholarship program available for those prohibited by class costs. Continued on page 2
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ONSTAGE CHEMISTRY — Beth Anne Brink Cox and Gerald Cox are pictured onstage in their roles as Norman and Ethel in the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts’ 2020 production of “On Golden Pond.” The couple have been involved in theatrical productions together since their college days. Photo provided by Beth Anne Brink Cox.
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