BRIDGING THE GENERATIONS ONE STORY AT A TIME
by Andrea Lovett and Karen Chace

“When an elder dies a library burns down.” – African Proverb

Once upon a time a little boy saw a sepia toned picture of a stunning young woman with a mischievous smile sitting on a wooden stoop, leaning back, striking a pin up girl pose. “Who’s that?” he asked. “That’s your grandmother.” Shocked and surprised he couldn’t believe that his beloved grandmother was the same young woman in the photo. That moment led to more questions. “How old is she?’ “Where is she?”  “What is she doing?” “Who’s taking the picture?” The idea that this woman led a different, full, interesting life before he was born sparked the idea for our Once Upon A Generation program in 2015 that continues to this day.

Once Upon A Generation © is a twelve-week intergenerational program connecting senior citizens with middle school students through story. We pair storytelling students from Karen’s after-school Story Explorers program with local senior citizens for a ten-week workshop and finish with two community performances. The students are selected for their storytelling abilities, their level of maturity, and ability to collaborate with the seniors.

Each year we reach out to senior citizens through the Council on Aging (COA) organizations in Freetown and Lakeville. Details about the upcoming program are published in their newsletters, along with a date and time for an informational meeting learn more about our work. Funding for the program is secured through a grant from the Massachusetts Local Cultural Council program.

separate apartments, being the only family on the block with a television set or having no television at all.

Certain memories are more familiar, going to your first school dance, playing Little League Baseball, and summer camp, or a surprising tale of two best friends in Kindergarten who proclaim, “We’ve had enough!” run away from their strict Catholic school.

No matter the topic, these stories offer a glimpse into their childhoods that will create a bonding experience between the seniors and students. The first three sessions are exclusively for the seniors, collaborating with them to find a memory from their lives, between the ages of five and twenty-five, sharing what life was like in the last century.

The seniors arrive with snippets, anecdotes from their lives. We discuss which memory would make the best story for performance and they select the story they will develop.

In 2018 Rick was new to the program. He came to our first session with two story ideas. He described his first story; it was about a cat he now owned. While endearing, it did not fit into the requested era. We said, “Tell us about the second story.” What happened next stunned everyone into silence. Rick began to share his experiences during the race riots of the 1960’s and his experience being present during Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech in Washington, D.C. As we dug deeper, we learned how his musical abilities calmed a group of families barricaded inside a church as the riots raged around them, then making his way home as military tanks drove through the streets, and finally meeting Coretta Scott King after her husband’s assassination. When he finished, we shouted in unison, “That’s the story!” Now, seven years later, the seniors who have been with us from the beginning arrive not only with a solid story idea but with pages of their story already written down.

During the initial three weeks we guide them, using worksheets and interactive activities to strengthen and edit their story. They learn a mixture of storytelling skills the students will also use in performance, gesture, expression, dialogue, and sensory details to assist their storytelling partner in transporting their story from the page to the stage.

PAIRING SENIORS, STORYTELLERS, AND STORIES

On the fourth week our seniors and storytellers meet for the first time. Prior to this class we decide which student(s) and senior will be paired together. Although several of our seniors and students return each year, we don’t necessarily pair the same two together each time. The individual strengths of each study and the tone of the story considered and discussed before we make our final decision. Sometimes two students will tell one of the senior’s stories in tandem.

The students listen to the stories then pair off with their senior, interviewing them to elicit more story details. Later, everyone comes together to play entertaining storytelling games that help us learn more about each other. Each step of this process helps them become further acquainted, a key component to begin the bonding process between both generations.

FINE TUNING THE STORIES

The following six weeks we meet with only the students. They have latitude, or ‘literary license’ in rewriting the senior’s story in their own words, fleshing it out, editing it down when necessary, and adding additional dialogue. We use various storytelling worksheets to help them break down and enhance the story further, utilizing sensory details and imagery. There are also

As our class time together winds down the seniors return for a practice performance, a sneak peek to hear what the students have accomplished with their personal stories. The storytellers perform for the seniors, receive encouraging feedback, along with the opportunity to make any changes if necessary. We also incorporate time for storytelling games between the two groups to reinforce their connection.

We meet one last time with the students to put the final changes on their performances, add a bit of levity with a few games, and review our plans for the upcoming public

performances.

PERFORMANCE TIME

The culmination of the project includes two public performances. This requires a bit of coordination between the students and seniors’ schedules. At the very beginning of the program, we reach out to local organizations who might be interested in hosting the program and nail down the dates. We’ve produced performances at the school library, the public library, and a local historical museum.

Both events are free, open to family, friends, and the community. We publicize the events via local newspapers, community bulletin boards, and social media. We also invite the local cable company to videotape the performance to air for the Freetown/Lakeville community.

The popularity of these performances has increased each year and now both venues are ‘standing room only.’ The seniors bring memorabilia to complement their stories so we a created a mini museum at the back of the room for the audience to view during intermission. We discovered it adds an extra layer of richness and historic value to the program.

The final performance includes a panel discussion, where the audience participates in a Q & A, asking the students and seniors specific questions about their experiences with the program, their stories, and the relationships they have cultivated. At the end of the evening there is an award presentation for all participants.

PIVOTING DURING A PANDEMIC

In 2020 the world stopped and of our work suffered. Yet, we decided to move forward with the program using Zoom. Would our seniors embrace this new challenge? Our concern was unfounded as each one jumped into the technology pool with both feet. Using old school technology, the telephone, we guided the seniors through the Zoom landscape, although there were a few comical pitfalls. During one session a senior struggled to get his computer camera working. He continually called out,  “I can hear you, but I can’t see you.” We frantically tried everything. Nothing worked so he continued with the session, using only his audio function. Later, Andrea reached out to him privately, attempting to solve the problem, only to discover he placed duct tape on his camera lens because he was concerned his personal privacy would be  compromised by Big Brother. Mystery solved!

Using Zoom allowed us to continue with the program, but more importantly, to remain connected with everyone during a very isolating time.

We even took the final performance ‘on the road’ via a Zoom performance on Seekonk Channel 9. You may listen to the stories here:
https://tinyurl.com/4f88zyyh