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Suzanne Carter's book, Making It Up As You Go Along: Highly Creative Performance Projects for Older Adults, was published in 1995, and is available by contacting the Ripe & Ready Players.
 Table of Contents
Preface (reprinted below)
Part One
Gathering Material
Filling in the Blanks
Part Two
Training the Performers
Putting it All Together
Other Creative Performance Projects
Appendices
Vignettes & Songs
About the Author
Index
Preface
by Suzanne Carter
My journey into senior theatre began in 1987 when I met the very artsy executive director of Senior Neighbors of Chattanooga, Inc., Mrs. Cyndee Sims. We were attending a multi-discipline arts education conference. I had just written songs and music for a major improvisational theatre production at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where I am on the theatre faculty. This had been very challenging, successful and great fun.
While talking to Cyndee, it occurred to me that it might be very interesting to do a similar project with older adults. She agreed, got a grant from the Tennessee Arts Commission and I was off and running. The show was a hit, the participants loved it and we toured it to other senior centers, church groups, etc.
Senior Neighbors decided to repeat this experience at two of their other branches. The results were the same - audiences and participants loved these little shows.
Next I set about training my actors. We now travel all over the Southeast. My actors are paid and we all have a great time.
When I began working with this age group, I was unaware of the dearth of material available to them. Since then I have also become aware of the type and quality of the material that does exist and am happy that I decided to do something original that involved the participants directly.
Most of what is available is in the reminiscing category (who they used to be and what they remember about their past). And then there are the plays about being evicted or being taken advantage of, or performances where they come out in tights and shorts, trying to look like they're 18 years old again.
I am much more interested in who they are now. They've come a long way and can tell us a lot about the world. That is the basic premise of all the programs that I have developed with and for older adults.
I decided to write this book because so many seniors and program directors for senior adult facilities have complained that there is so little creative material to work with. I hope the information I share with you in this book will enable you to create more challenging and absorbing programs for those who frequently feel they are being put "out to pasture" due to the dull and demeaning activities available to them at many senior centers.
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