Professor of Drama and Classics at Stanford University, Rush Rehm has  written several books on Greek tragedy and is the Artistic Director of  Stanford Summer Theater. Experience aging through scenes from  Shakespeare, Didion, and Beckett. Joan Didion’s Year of Magical Thinking (about dealing with grief, loss, inevitable change that comes with age/human time); Act 5 of King Lear (about forgiveness and understanding in the face of age and decline); a section of Beckett’s Happy Days (about the will to continue in spite of physical limitations), and a general piece on the stages of aging (Jacques in As You Like It, some poetry–Yeats, Sarton, Wilbur–and others).

Personal stories shared by audience members are instantly transformed  by the ensemble into improvised theater pieces using movement, ritual,  dramatic spoken word and music. The work of Playback theater helps  performers with their listening and memory skills. Performers range in  age from 60 – 75. Director Martin Holtz is the Associate Creative  Director and founding member of the Bay Area Playback Theatre.

Participate in The Anti-Witties, featuring Barbara Scott and Daniel  Savio on piano. Join this group of improvisers of a certain age, who  have ‘wowed’ the SF Theater Festival three years in a row, as they  create scenes on the spot and even improvise musical numbers based on  suggestions from the audience. The theater games often involve audience  participation. Barbara Scott is a longtime member of Bay Area  Theatresports and the founding member of TRUE FICTION MAGAZINE improv  company. She has directed the Antic-Witties for the past 3 years. Daniel  Savio is a composer and musical director who has worked with the SF  Mime Troupe, Porchlight Theater and Stagebridge. He is the composer of  the musicals City Green, Grandfather’s Journey, Grandpa’s Teeth and  Chicken Sunday

Joan Holden (award winning playwright of Nickel and Dimed and the SF  Mime Troupe) features a play dealing with breaking the stereotypes of  aging working professionals. Playwright Joan Holden and actress Joan  Mankin along with director Sharon Lockwood will discuss their nearly 40  year collaboration starting with SF Mime Troupe. The play is loosely  based on the award-winning book Counter Culture by Candacy Taylor  (featured in the New Yorker and SF Chronicle).

Martha Boesing’s new, deeply moving play, SONG OF THE MAGPIE is about a 69-year-old woman who goes out to experience the world as a  homeless person. Growing out of the work of the Faithful Fools, a San  Francisco-based organization that enables non-homeless people to go out  into the streets of the Tenderloin and live there for a day, or in this  case a week, the play portrays the dangers, hardships and unexpected  humanity that is found there.

“SONG OF THE MAGPIE is a masterpiece of homeless drama. It  conveys both the individual’s harsh experiences on the streets, along  with the political injustices perpetuating homelessness. Most  importantly, Boesing somehow reveals the inward fears and joys and the  hidden, deep emotions that very few artists could render so well on  stage” (Street Spirit, March, 2006).

Debora and Barry Barkan use music and communal poetry to cultivate a new  culture of aging for elders. They originated Life Oak Institute and  Elder’s Guild Project and helped found spiritual eldering work with Reb  Zalman Schacter Shalomi. They are among the founders and leaders of the  the Pioneer Network, which has engaged hundreds of thousands of people  to transform the culture of eldercare. Barry is an Ashoka Fellow.

Bob Kanegis listens for stories, tells stories, and lives a storied  life. He performs at schools, libraries and at community events  nationwide. His passion for encouraging others to tell their stories,  has led to long term teaching residencies and projects with incarcerated  teens, corporate leaders, farm worker families, and the United Nations  Association through the “Visions and Voices project.