Pontine Theatre Receives Grant to Serve New Hampshire Seniors

Thanks to funding from the Lincoln Financial Foundation, Pontine will present a new touring program called Pretty Halcyon Days: Life on the Beach with Ogden Nash at assisted care and nursing facilities throughout New Hampshire.

The program includes a selection of scenes from Pontine's original stage adaptation of thirty-two poems by Nash along with biographical information about Nash's career, his family life, and his experiences as a summer resident of the New Hampshire seacoast. Pretty Halcyon Days is part of the New Hampshire Humanities Council's Humanities to Go program and will be presented for general audiences at public libraries beginning in the spring of 2013

Pontine's program will serve the needs of seniors at assisted living communities and nursing homes who are unable to travel to enjoy cultural events. Pontine is scheduled to bring their program to nine New Hampshire facilities in May and June 2013:

• Birch Hill Terrace, Manchester

• Glencliff Home For the Elderly, Glencliff

• Harvest Hill Retirement Community, Lebanon

• Heritage Heights, Concord

• Langdon Place, Keene

• Littleton Area Senior Center, Littleton

• Monadnock Lodge at Riverwoods, Exeter

• Partridge House, Hampton

• Summerhill Assisted Living, Peterborough

Seniors are a growing, but often neglected segment of our population. While many seniors are still active participants in their communities, others have been restricted by the need to enter assisted care facilities. These seniors face not only physical and cognitive challenges; they also often battle depression and a sense of isolation from the larger community. Arts programs, such as Pontine's, help to keep seniors connected with the larger community and with their own cultural heritage.

Activity directors at these facilities see enormous value in bringing arts programs to their residents. However, the cost of live performance is prohibitive to most retirement and nursing homes. Funding from Lincoln Financial Foundation will allow Pontine to substantially subsidize its costs, making the program accessible to senior audiences throughout the state.

Serving audiences since 1977, Pontine Theatre has developed a sterling reputation for high-quality performances and educational programs. With an impressive repertoire of innovative, original productions, the company serves audiences both in its home town, Portsmouth, NH and throughout New England.

At the West End Studio Theatre, located in Portsmouth, an at-home performance series showcases all of the company's premieres and the works of a national roster of guest artists. Two things unite the wide range of work presented in Pontine's at-home performance series: all use expression through movement as a primary dramatic vehicle and all are original works created by the artists who perform them. Pontine is committed to presenting a diverse range of voices on its stage, and a full-range of movement styles.

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