Amethyst on Session 2

Bridging the Gap is featuring blog posts from our group members to give an inside view of what it's like to be part of the project. This post about the second session is written by Amethyst, who has returned to Bridging the Gap every year since 2011. You can see a picture of her in conversation with Jack above. Enjoy!

This week was the first time the seniors and younger participants came together. Since I am one of the senior participants, I was very eager to meet and greet the younger members of our theatre group. Of the younger members who attended, some had been part of Bridging The Gap before, and some were brand new members. It was very good to see people I had interacted with in prior Bridging The Gap workshops; but it was also great to meet new people as well.

blogEntryTopper
This session was dedicated to getting to know one another -- the older members intermingling with the younger members. And also interacting with new people of our own age who we had not worked with before. We partook of interesting and humorous theatre games with one another, and also performed the commercials and skits we had developed last week for the opposite age groups. The entire session was great fun! I totally enjoyed myself.

What I enjoy about working with young people is their energy and fresh viewpoints about life. Sometimes, when we get older, we can become a bit rigid in our thinking. A younger perspective on things can show us that there is another way of thinking about things, and remind us of how it used to be for us when we were younger ourselves. Also, working in a non-age-related scene with a younger person makes me feel young again, especially when it's a love scene that I'm in with them!

I think that basically aging is very challenging for me because I have mobility issues. Not being able to move and get around like I was able to when I was younger, makes me feel much older than my actual years. Otherwise, I might not have such an adverse reaction to getting older.

I wish I could have been more positive and optimistic in the scene I presented to the younger LGBTQI members, but I would not have been honest in my feelings about aging if I had portrayed a person who didn't mind aging. I most enjoyed the skits that the younger people presented. They were very clever and very funny. And I'm a devotee of comedy!

I find the younger people in Bridging The Gap this time around to be very intelligent and motivated people, with very diverse and interesting backgrounds. Also, a number of the older members are guys that I have been in an ongoing Acting Class with every week for nearly the past 2 years, who I consider to be my Theatrical Family. I love them! I can't wait to begin creating a Theatre Piece with both age groups in the coming weeks!

Till next time . . . have a great week!

Amethyst
blog comments powered by Disqus