Pontine Theatre Shares Holiday Cheer With New England Senior Citizens

Pontine Theatre, a resident company at Portsmouth's Strawbery Banke Museum, recently completed its annual New England Christmas tour which was funded by a $3,000 grant from the Jack & Dorothy Byrne Foundation along with support from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Each season, Pontine Theatre's Co-Artistic Directors, Greg Gathers and Marguerite Mathews, create original stagings of seasonal stories which are presented both at home on the Seacoast and on tour throughout the region. This year Pontine's New England Christmas program included the 1895 Frank Stockton story, Captain Eli's Best Ear and a 1938 memoir, Once on Christmas, by Dorothy Thompson.

This season's tour, which took place November and December 2016, included performances at 15 assisted and independent living communities for seniors. The company visited ten NH communities (Dover, Effingham, Exeter, Glencliff, Laconia, Lebanon, Manchester, Nashua, New London, and Salem) as well as five communities in neighboring states.

Pontine has a special interest in reaching senior audiences. Seniors are the fastest growing segment of the region's population - and are also the most avid attendees of live performances - however, many are no longer able to travel, or have limited access to live productions. By bringing the performance to them, Pontine addresses this important, though often overlooked constituency.

Programs related to New England subjects are of interest to these New England audiences. They engage both intellect and memory, leading to lively, stimulating discussions. They also have a deeper therapeutic value. Many seniors who reside at nursing homes and assisted living communities have lost family, friends and homes. They often battle depression and feelings of isolation. Arts programs help to keep seniors connected to the larger world around them by stimulating curiosity, bringing them together in positive and engaging activity, and reminding them of the value of their own heritage.