“This Exciting New Project Highlights Working Actors Age 62 and Older” by Mark Dundas Wood in Stage Buddy. Read the full article …
If you’re a celebrity actor, the world can easily learn about your life and career. You probably have your own website—and there may even be a fan-site or two out there devoted to you. If you’re a star of the highest magnitude, biographers may have written whole books about your life and craft.
But what of the vast majority of actors—the ones in the trenches, the ones who’ve plied their trade over many decades with little fanfare? Perhaps they’ve gained some measure of acclaim. Or maybe they’ve worked assiduously, trudging to auditions with hope in their hearts, but have just scraped by financially. No matter how diligently they’ve toiled or how much beautiful art they’ve created, they have precious little control over their legacies. Those working in the ephemeral world of theatre, especially, may wonder who, if anyone, will recall them a generation hence.
Fortunately, things will soon be changing, at least for a group of older performers in New York City, thanks to a program called the Performing Arts Legacy Project. It’s an online database that spotlights working actors age 62 and older. The project has been developed under the auspices of The Actors Fund and was spearheaded by veteran arts administrator and educator Joan Jeffri (herself a one-time actor).
