During the summer vacation this year, Kaohsiung Public Library (KPL) planned a summer drama camp “People with Stories: Performance Workshop for Seniors” for citizens aged 55 and above. The workshop was held in July and August, with 8 classes to lead the participants to absorb various performance skills. On August 31 (Sun), the achievement presentation took place in the Sanmin Branch. The participants were very excited to try out drama in front of their loved ones.

Through the collaboration between KPL and various theater practitioners, the “People with Stories: Performance Workshop for Seniors” realized the mission and pursuit of ideals of performers. It guided senior citizens to understand theater performance from the perspective of body, voice, expressions, and movements on the textual basis of life stories. During the training process, some participants enjoyed expressing themselves on stage, while others might be too shy to deliver their performances. Therefore, the course arranged the roles according to what was suitable for the performers, and then enhanced the drama through age-appropriate and stylized music. The performance would be perfectly presented after 8 class sessions.

“KPL hopes that the library can break away from the fixed lecture format and tailor-make this course for our senior citizens, so that they can share their life experiences with different generations of audiences in an interesting way and fulfill their dreams of performing,” said Acting Director Yi-Cheng Lin of KPL.

Many family members of the participants also came to watch the presentation and said, “It is very meaningful for the library to organize such an activity, because usually the seniors do not talk about their youthful past. However, by watching their performance, we can get to know them again in such a romantic way.”

The play performed at the event was inspired by the life stories of the participants. In the class, the participants shared their unforgettable memories of their youth and their most beloved objects, and then the playwright extracted those elements and wrote four sketches. The results of the workshop were of great value.

Because of the sincere sharing of the participants, the script and performance moved the audience even more and it reflected the collective memory of 20 to 30 years ago, which demonstrated the precious value of result of the workshop.

“People with Stories: Performance Workshop for Seniors”