Curtain Calls

Reducing social isolation through senior theater programs

Text and Photos By Shahrzad Rasekh

Basking in the sun on an abnormally sunny March afternoon, Giovanna Zaccaro’s mind was anywhere but Manhattan’s Lenox Hill. The 87-year-old was revisiting her favorite Shakespeare sonnets, reading them aloud in a delicate Neapolitan accent. She was sitting on a bench outside the Older Adult Center at Lenox Hill, where she has been attending rehearsals for a production of The Music Man for several weeks.

Giovanna Zaccaro reads Shakespeare outside the Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House.

The center is open to residents of the five boroughs, and some of its members commute over an hour just for its theater program. Canarsie resident Annette Renschowicz, 71, says the program keeps her from isolating herself at home. This is a particularly important aspect of such a theater program for seniors, as social isolation particularly impacts those who are caregivers, have recently lost a loved one, have limited social support, or are not meaningfully engaged in activities, according to the National Institute of Aging.

The problem of social isolation among the elderly has intensified so much since the start of the pandemic that the New York State Office for the Aging has announced a plethora of new measures to help combat the issue. This theater program is an alternative that taps into traditional social activities to create an engaging dynamic that promotes social and cognitive skills.

Actors find their lines before rehearsals begin.

While not far from Broadway where the version starring Hugh Jackman premiered, this performance will be slightly different. One additional word adorns the title: “senior.” Thirty-odd older men and women had auditioned to earn spots in The Music Man Senior, directed and adapted by Scott Klavan, an award-winning director and performer with experience on and off Broadway.

“It’s a senior production. I’m not gonna have people on their knees,” quips Scott to an actor who crouched down to truly get into character during a rehearsal. Like the junior version designated for school productions, the script has been abbreviated to an hour from the original, which runs nearly three hours long. In this case, movement has also been somewhat reduced to accommodate some mobility concerns.

Scott Klavan (left) directs actors.

By the time they perform, actors will have attended fourteen weeks of rehearsals to perfect their roles in this version’s first New York production. Some will choose to learn their lines, while others find it easier to read them.

I’m excited because it’s challenging,” says Giovanna. Although the actors can choose to read their lines, Giovanna chooses to memorize hers, “even if I have to improvise.”

Cast members rehearse The Music Man.

Giovanna had always loved acting, but her accent had prevented her from pursuing it full-time. So, she decided to forego an acting career and applied to Barnard College, where she ended up studying English literature and Shakespeare. She later even earned a master’s degree in the subject. Her first venture into acting was a 2011 role in a Hunter College production of The Vagina Monologues, where she gave a monologue in the role of a 72-year-old woman describing her sexuality.

The experience felt so enriching that she takes the subway down from the Bronx several times a week just to participate in the productions at the center.

Annette was the caregiver to her husband Ralph for five years while Alzheimer’s took over and left him in hospice care. She kept him at home until his last day, his condition becoming her daily focus and purpose. When nurses would ask Annette what she would do when he died, she declared that she would take acting classes. Two months after his death, she stuck to her word, logging onto her computer and finding acting classes with Scott Klavan.

Annette Renschowicz stands outside the Center @ Lenox Hill Neighborhood House.

“I said I’m just coming through a thing of nurses feeding tubes, death, hospitals, and I just want to have fun,” says Annette, recalling how she first felt when she first began preparing for the Music Man. That was three years ago, before the Covid-19 pandemic hit.

Now, having resumed rehearsals, she still feels that way. “I'm not there to be a film star or whatever. I’m just there to have fun.”

Unlike Annette, Diana Mullman, 81, came to the center from a professional background. She met her husband Hal when she was 20 and he was 25, and they planned to move to the city to knock on doors to find acting opportunities. Their time together was cut short when Hal passed of cancer only a year after their marriage. After a lifetime switching through a long list of jobs, she has found solace in her relatively newfound acting community. “There is truly nothing else like this,” she regularly raves. “I'm thrilled to pieces that we're doing [The Music Man].”

The program extends beyond simply combatting isolation. Suzie Engel sees the production as a form of therapy. A retired teacher, she now volunteers in mental health centers and as a trauma therapist. “It helps me decompress,” she says, describing the benefits of getting into character. “It gives me a sense of community, accomplishment, and creativity.”

Suzie Engel sits at a rehearsal.

After working for the government for 35 years, Zygy Susser, 73, decided to pick up comedy as a retirement hobby. There was one problem he hadn’t considered. “My voice is very soft,” says Zygy. “I've even done a show where I have a microphone, in the back somebody yells ‘Louder!’”

Zygy Susser performs a comedy set at The Stand.

Thinking of creative solutions, he says, “I signed up for an acting class, thinking that actors had to project.” While his new practice didn’t dramatically change his voice, something else happened. “I really didn't have much interest in acting per se,” Zygy recalls, “but I ended up liking the class.”

No matter their life path, participants have found a purpose in this program that some say they haven’t found elsewhere. The success of the program among its members suggests a solution to isolation and an effective promotion of healthy aging that others might consider replicating.