“Golden Year” Stereotypes Defied In Theater Festival

The 13 local professional and non-professional actors performing in ​“Still Crazy After All These Years!” a new, touring festival of eight one-act plays, may all be AARP-eligible, but their performances deliver a message that busts stereotypes about their age group.

“It’s not all death, senility and arthritis,” said award-winning New Haven playwright, co-director, and co-producer Tom Coash.

The festival is the creation of Coash and Kate Katcher of the Stray Kats Theater Company. They recognized a serious dearth of roles for older actors and decided to do something about it. They reviewed more than 500 script submissions from around the world, many by award-winning playwrights, to arrive at the festival lineup. According to Coash, a common theme that emerged was that writers were ​“treating the ​‘golden years’ as golden, and not just in the sense of fading away into the sunset. These characters are smart, vibrant, excited about having the time to make new starts in life and take on new perspectives and projects.” 

Among the eight one-act plays is Kamasutra, an original romantic comedy written and directed by Coash. The play features acting veterans (and husband and wife) Allan Zeller and Kimberly Squires, who last fall appeared in ​“Zeller and Squires,” an evening of one-act plays at Lyric Hall in Westville. ​“Although Kamasutra is a comedy at heart, it’s also a very human look at aging, sex, and love. It features two people that we can easily relate to and understand.… I think the best comedies are those where the laughs come from characters rather than just one-liners or funny situations,” said Coash.

In Kamasutra, the question of sex percolates amid the heat and biting mosquitos at the Chandela Temples in India, famous for their erotic sandstone carvings. Characters Doris and Harold, an older couple from Hackensack N.J., reexamine their love and marriage surrounded by what Doris hopes will be strong visual cues helping to stir the fading embers of desire. Harold cynically views the same imagery as mere ​“porno.”

Only 11 or 12 minutes long, the play’s arc of emotion rises quickly; romance uncoils, leaving in its wake waves of pent up matrimonial angst, issues usually discussed on a marriage counselor’s sofa — not on a vacation tour bus stop.

For Coash, Kamasutra embodies some common elements with his recent full length, serious drama Veils, a play set in Cairo that deals with the issues of veiling and women’s rights both in the Middle East and here in the States. The play, which also challenges stereotypes, features two young women of color, smart, strong and determined. ​“Most, if not all, of my plays are about communication. Both Veils and Kamasutra really embody that,” said Coash.

Like Kamasutra and like any good food recipe, Coash blends elements that enhance and strengthen one another. ​“Veils deals with very serious topics but also has a lot of humor and even some belly dancing.” The play has garnered several awards, including one from the American Theatre Critics Association, and was staged in London last summer.

Though seven of the eight plays in ​“Still Crazy” providing insights into the aging psyche are comedic in nature, Action and Reaction by Joël Doty, ​“is a serious, intense piece about a woman who steps into an ugly situation on the street to try and save a young man,” noted Coash.

Six additional one-acts include Albert Einstein’s Brain by Ron Burch, Splitting Hares by Brett Hursey, Planning Ahead by Kate Katcher, Second Career by Ellen Margolis, Funny Valentine by Faye Sholiton, and Back Fire by David Lee White.

The festival will be staged at Fraser Woods Montessori at 173 South Main St., Newtown, on May 5, 6 and 7, and in the New Haven area on May 11, 12, 13, at 7:30 pm at the Whitney Center, south entrance, 200 Leeder Hill Rd. in Hamden.

Though the plays are geared to the over-55 set, the directors are certain the play holds appeal for people of all ages. As for the future of the ​“Still Crazy” production, Coash said they hope to tour the show to New England senior centers ​“and anybody else that might be interested. Hopefully this can become an annual event,” he said.

For tickets ($25) and information, visit the Stray Kats Theatre website.