The fine art of growing old in Westfield

Main Street Productions stages Geezers for two weeks starting Thursday

By STU CLAMPITT
news@readthereporter.com

Starting this Thursday, Main Street Production (MSP) is staging a heartwarming and humorous tale about both growing old and about learning a little wisdom in the early stages of life. Geezers, a play written by Tommy Lee Johnston and directed by Lori Raffel, will be on stage at Basile Westfield Playhouse, 220 N. Union St., from Feb. 6 to 16.

The Reporter spoke to MSP Producer Rachel Kelso about bringing Geezers – both the play and the actors – to Hamilton County audiences.

According to Kelso, her job is all behind the scenes.

“I take care of a lot of everything going on behind the scenes so that Lori, the director, can focus on bringing her vision to life and the actors can focus on bringing their roles to life,” Kelso said. “I just make sure everything – all the magic – gets done on the administrative side. Everyone in the cast is really great to work with.”

(From left) Brenna Whitaker, Jen Duane Leatherman, Wendy Brown, and Jen Otterman. (Photo provided by Rachel Kelso)

According to Kelso, Geezers centers around a young man named Jack, whose first real job is at a retirement facility.

“He is not used to being around this population,” Kelso said. “It’s all new to him, but he’s also a very introverted and maybe awkward individual. Being tasked with being in a community with people that he’s never really spent any time with is a bit of a challenge for him. The play is about the ways that we interact with each other as humans. It really brings a lot of humanity both to the people residing in retirement facilities as well as people working with them.”

Kelso said the cast has turned the word geezer into a badge of honor.

“They embrace it,” Kelso said. “They definitely make their own jokes about it. It’s a word that can definitely put people on edge, and I completely understand why, but the script approaches that with a lot of sensitivity as well as a bit of humor in a really light-hearted way. It’s more compassionate humor, I would say.”

According to MSP’s summary of the play, Jack, a pathologically shy, 27-year-old man, begins a job there helping the seniors with their daily needs, but it’s the “geezers” who wind up helping Jack with his.

“One major aspect of the show aspect of the show is that the young man is kind of helping the ‘geezers’ to tell their stories,” Kelso said. “I think a lot of people recognize that there’s not a lot of opportunity to do as you progress in life. He gives them that opportunity, so I think that it’s going to resonate with a lot of people in that demographic.”

You can see Geezers on stage Feb. 6 to 16. If you would like to go see the show on opening night, tickets are only $10 for the Thursday, Feb. 6 performance. Call (317) 402-3341 or go to BasileWestfieldPlayhouse.org to reserve your seat.