While theatrical exercises and play presentations offer numerous benefits for seniors, tapping into the richness of their own history and storytelling powers, Teatro Círculo’s “Abuelito, dime tú” also addresses the cognitive disabilities and physical impairment largely due to a lack of active mental and physical stimulation that come from social isolation. Social isolation as a vital public health policy has unfortunately contributed to a sense of loneliness among seniors, a well-known risk factor for increased mortality in patients with advanced disease and advanced age. Among older New Yorkers, especially in Latinx communities, this is a serious issue affecting their health and wellbeing.
Accordingly, Teatro Círculo recognizes the need to address the social isolation and loneliness heightened by the pandemic. Seniors have become a forgotten group as New York is still recovering from the pandemic. Now more than ever, Teatro Círculo’s “Abuelito, dime tú” combats social isolation and acknowledges the life, dignity, and creativity among our seniors’ constant process of change and growth, developing a renewed sense of self-worth, self-discovery, self-actualization and empowerment through performance and storytelling.
Each senior center residency ends with two public performances created by the senior participants of an original theatrical and/or performance piece that will be mounted and performed in Spanish and/or the primary language of the participants at the “Abuelito dime tú Festival” open to the public at Teatro Círculo’s homebase theater on East 4th Street.
