A group of Edmonton seniors have found a way to shake off the self they’ve been for decades. Marlene Valgardson, 71, Robin Hedley-Smith, 82, and Len Force, 73, are students once again after joining Fairly Odd Academy’s Wisecracks program. Designed for seniors, the 10-week curriculum introduces participants to improvisation and storytelling. Each week, Kate Sheridan, the performing school’s founder, director and program designer, leads the group through games like the mime version of Telephone, or the popular theatre exercise “Yes, and,” in which actors take turns expanding upon a statement. In other words, the goal is to “bring alive with my hands and my body whatever it is she has asked of us,” Hedley-Smith told CTV News Edmonton at the Tuesday meeting at the Gold Bar Community League. Each in the group signed up for a different reason. Valgardson, a former Grey Nuns Community Hospital nurse, wanted to get more in tune with the side of her personality that has “always loved drama.” “When I was a little girl, I would say, ‘If Cher can do it, so can I,’” she recalled. Hedley-Smith lives alone and jumped at the opportunity for in-person interaction. “Normally, I’m just talking to my dog or my cat,” she joked. Force is inspired by his son and grandchildren who perform. Besides a bit of acting in elementary school and teachers’ college, the former Northern Alberta Institute of Technology instructor said he “always thought theatrics were part of teaching (and) getting the message across, getting (students’) attention.” None of the three had done improv before, but all are finding it a fun and challenging way to practice creativity and imaginative play, exercise memory, and connect with others. “It’s actually created a lot of painful memories. It’s like therapy, basically.… Through sadness, you find joy,” Valgardson said. “I love interacting with different people and being able to not be like anybody else – because I’m not. I never have been, and I won’t ever be.” Hedley-Smith described herself as someone “who’s quite hanked up and anxious.” She doesn’t necessarily lose her anxiety during improv exercises, but feels more grounded in the moment. “I start to pay attention to what’s happening around me…. I’m engaged in what’s actually going on right this minute,” Hedley-Smith explained. Force added, “(In the games), what ends up coming out can be so different… It’s all fun to see what happens and how things get mixed up (and) how you can communicate without words.” Sheridan said participants are often hesitant at the beginning, but loosen up as they get to know each other and build trust through collaboration. “Improv games, they really help with communication, they really help with igniting imaginations and basically bringing the seniors out of themselves and into worlds that they create themselves – and reminding seniors how to play,” Sheridan said. WiseCracks meets at 10 a.m. on Tuesdays in Gold Bar and on Wednesdays at the Strathcona Community League. It is accepting new participants, including those who want to drop in, rather than committing to 10 weeks. The weekly cost is about $10. To anyone who is nervous about trying it out, Sheridan said, “In physical comedy, we have this saying that is, ‘Just do it. Don’t think too much. Just do it.’ “You don’t allow yourself to experience things if you think too much. But if you just do it, get in there, experience it, then you’ll know for sure if you like it or you don’t like it.” Fairly Odd Academy also offers a program for youth with the goal of reducing dependence on technology. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Nahreman Issa
