Visitors

Henk Smits and Har Stemkens of

Seniorentheater Vroegwijs discuss

"Get on BOARD" with the troupe.

(Read Henk's diary of his visit to

Stagebridge.)

FROM THE NETHERLANDS...

Senior Theatre colleagues Henk Smits and Har Stemkens thrilled their Encore friends when they attended the opening of “Get on BOARD!” at Amazon Community Center in February '04. Henk and Har are, respectively, the director & producer of Seniorentheater Vroegwijs (Early Wise Senior Theater) in Hoorn, Holland.

Eliza and the Encore troupers have schmoozed with them at several festivals in the last few years. Their availability to attend Encore's opening was thanks to Henk's current project in Oakland, California, creating dance theater with members of Stagebridge (the nation's oldest senior theater company.)

Early Wise Senior Theatre uses dance and music to create beautiful and moving pieces about life. Encore uses words and a different kind of music, but the heart of the work is much the same.

FROM SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO... 

Doug Stewart, another friend from the Senior Theatre Festival in Ohio, flew to Eugene during Spring break '04 to join the Encore troupers in their residency at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn. Doug learned about the Patchwork Players program in a workshop Eliza conducted a few months earlier at the festival in Las Vegas.

Intrigued by the idea, Doug decided to jump right in (maybe that's how Encore's work will spread)! Doug writes plays, acts, and directs with a senior theatre group in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Seniors Reaching Out.

FROM SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI...

Phyllis Frick was in the same workshop as Doug Stewart, and when she heard he was getting to do Patchwork Players at MacLaren, she signed up for the residency at Hillcrest YCF in Salem! So in June she will join eleven Encore women and twelve Hillcrest girls for an amazing adventure in personal theatre. Phyllis hales from Springfield, Missouri, where she directs Seniors as Stars.