Upper Valley_Podcast_Final.mp3

Back in February, performing artists Ham Gillett, Michael Zerphy, and Marv Klassen-Landis launched a series of workshops in Woodstock called, “Creative Play for Seniors.” They kicked things off with a demonstration of what they meant, “We’re Never Too Old to Play,” for which they themselves sang, joked, told stories, clowned around, and performed for an audience of about 70 people at the Norman Williams Public Library.

Klassen-Landis is a poet and co-founder with Zerphy—storyteller and physical comedian—of Children’s Voices Theater. Gillett, who in his day job is recycling manager for the Greater Upper Valley Solid Waste Management District, is an actor. As Adithi Jayaraman writes, “Each of them having their own respective careers in the arts, these three old friends want to bring laughter, joy, and play into the lives of the elderly, a demographic that is oftentimes overlooked in American society.” The workshops—and the performance this report highlights—are co-sponsored by the Norman Williams Public Library and the Thompson Senior Center and funded in part by the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Here’s the next workshop, on April 5.

Adithi Jayaraman is a Dartmouth senior from Livingston, NJ. This is one of a series of podcasts produced by Dartmouth students in Sophie Crane’s winter 2024 class at Dartmouth, “Tell Me A Story: An Introduction to Nonfiction Radio and Podcasting.”