NextStage Productions is a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization that connects 50-and-up adults to their community through the performing arts. Marking its 10th anniversary this year, NextStage helps older adults find their performance groove through singing, dancing and theater.
And NextStage continues to devise new ways of providing lift to those trying to spread their creative wings.
It includes a six-week series of classes, The Artist’s Way, that provides tools to stimulate creativity. The next series starts in October.
NextStage also has begun sessions to teach storytelling in the Moth radio hour format, in which students learn to write and perform a story about a time when they experienced “magic.” Their work will be presented Aug. 31 at Santa Cruz Actors’ Theater.
President Kathryn Adkins says, “We’ll be auditioning for our musical holiday show in September.”
Adkins says that isolation and depression is a leading health concern, and NextStage has three wheels of participation: Performance, Education, and Health and Wellness. The Health and Wellness branch hosts programs such as Taiko Drumming classes for those living with Parkinson’s.
“Each week the comradery and joy are evident, and what they say about the health benefits of music and movement is true. There is very little shuffling in the feet on the way out of the room,” she says.
A nonprofit, NextStage has no brick-and-mortar home. Performers and players visit senior centers, civic groups and other venues. To learn more visit nextstagesantacruz.org.
Storytelling: Encounters With Magic will be staged Aug. 31 at 2 and 7pm at Santa Cruz Actors’ Theater, 1001 Center St. Admission is $20.
