Who says things slow down when someone gets old?
It doesn’t for the baker's dozen of the Wetumpka Depot Players Encore ensemble. The mostly female group shared a laugh before a recent rehearsal as longtime Depot Players actor Sally Blackwell spoke up.
“Men are scared of us I think,” Blackwell said. “We welcome anybody. But it is a dozen women to one man.”
Jean Webb has led the group recently and has a nickname for them — The Golden Girls. The dozen ladies broke out in laughter prior to a rehearsal for “Goodbye Leroy,” which they wrote.
Cliff Williams / The Herald The Encore players rehearse a scene, including Jean Webb, front let, and Marianne Weber, second from left. The actors are responsible for their own costumes and they all help with the set.
“This is our reward for getting old,” Marianne Weber said. “I write. This is my first experience with the stage. I’m new to Encore and new to acting.”
Weber saw the group and thought she would be better suited to doing something behind the scenes to start with.
“I’ve done a lot of things, but I have never been on the stage,” Weber said. “I can write for the stage. This just looked like so much fun.”
It’s the fun and camaraderie Blackwell was looking to continue. As she aged, she found her next calling — Encore.
“It’s because I got old,” Blackwell said. “I can’t memorize all my lines anymore.”
Webb was active in The Depot Players but life and children got in the way. She came to the Encore ensemble in 2018 after a seven-year hiatus from theater after she was requested to audition for “Music Man.’ But it wasn’t the version presented on Broadway.
“It was a pilot,” Webb said. “We were one of four or five to do this basically middle school production of ‘Music Man.’”
Wetumpka Depot Players artistic director Kristy Meanor said the Depot Players and the Encore ensemble were selected by a publishing house to finetune the new version of the play for a new set of actors — middle school students.
“They take the big musicals and shrink it down for school use,” Meanor said. “But they realize there is such a growing number of senior theater groups that would love to have something a little more accessible, a little easier to memorize and sing.”
But Encore’s presentation of “Music Man” was even more special.
“We had an all female cast,” Meanor said. “We were progressive and didn’t even know it.”
That was five years ago and Meanor tabbed Webb to lead the aging troupe of actors.
“I just knew I needed somebody to lead this group,” Meanor said. “I had Jean in mind and cautiously asked her. They are a feisty group of actors.”
The past few months Webb, her Golden Girls and one recruited man have been rehearsing “Goodbye Leroy,” a production written by the baker’s dozen. Many wrote their own monologues and Webb wrote the others to give the basic parts to the production.
“I kind of took the quilt pieces and connected them into a play,” Webb said. “It is purely unique to us. Kristy came in and gave us some fabulous suggestions to make it a thousand times better.”
But Meanor said it was Webb and the others of Encore who deserve the credit and is happy to work with them.
“It is just such a wonderful collaborative experience between Jean and her actors,” Meanor said. “We are excited to open our doors and give people an opportunity to create on their own terms. If this group wants to work during the day to rehearse, we can modify things to meet their needs.”
Meanor said the Encore group’s history is based on creating their own material for presentations beyond the stage. Encore has performed at area nursing homes and schools requiring the group to change and improvise published productions to fit.
“There are other seasoned performance groups,” Meanor said. “I work with groups all over the United States and I get to brag that our group writes their own material. They are like ‘Wow.’”
Webb believes Encore should be larger than what it currently is.
“There is a large group of retirees out there,” Webb said. “People are living a lot longer. People have a lot of creative juices and creative energy. They don’t want to just roll over and show their belly. This is a way for people to get out and be a part of something. They get to meet people and have a good time.”
Encore’s presentation for “Goodbye Leroy” is set for 7 p.m. June 8 and 9 and for 2 p.m. June 11. Tickets are $15 and available at The Wetumpka Depot.
