Based on interviews by current and former FST Staff and community volunteers, a scripted view of aging in Sarasota tells stories about the process and many of its products. “Old Enough to Know Better” rightly labels itself a documentary, but it’s not really a drama. Rather, it presents acted out readings of what interviewees said about themselves and others related to them.
Chapters present such major themes of the elders’ stories as: Lines of Inquiry, Defining Aging, Road Rage, Bundles of Joy (dealings with younger people), How an Older Time of Life Is Spent, Companionship, Advice on Self Care, A Good Death. Marking off the divisions are relevant projected quotations, usually from well-known people like Winston Churchill and (an audience favorite) Groucho Marx. The middle-aged couple next to me considered the quotations the best part of the show.
Because of the affluence of so many Sarasota residents (among the oldest by percentage of any in the country), and the fact that FST patrons are, for the most part, those interviewed, the show is tilted to these commentators. No one seems to be homeless or a financial wreck. Few are still in the working world. Observers of the sick and dying are mainly health care and hospice personnel.
There are some welcome humorous comments and interactions like little skits. The project has a noble purpose of integrating those on and off stage with understanding and perhaps social change as byproducts. The show does not, however, involve a new type of theatrical creation. Collective creation has been around for over half a century, most spectacularly in France with the Theatre du Soleil at Vincennes. The Open Theater in NYC was a prominent follower, using Megan Terry’s device of “transformation” to train actors who went on to create shows.
If Old Enough to Know Better descends into tediousness, it is not the fault of the excellent performers. It is always a (too rare) pleasure to see Lonnetta M. Gaines, Dan Higgs, and Bob Mowrey, whose lights aging have not dimmed. The case nicely integrates older and younger, thanks to as lively as possible—given the restraints of his material—direction by Jason Cannon.
The technical staff is fully supportive with varied lighting and an appropriate sound design that doesn’t draw attention to itself.
