If you think all seniors dig Elvis impersonators and square dancing, you’re wrong.
Local comedian Janice Bannister was working with the Arts Council of New Westminster, Seniors Expression Through the Arts and the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 2 to present Out of the Box – A Night of Cheeky Entertainment at the local Legion – until the event was cancelled because of COVID-19 concerns. But the show, which features storytellers, stand-up comedy and a belly dancer, will go on, albeit in a different way.
“My dream to perform after the Legion meat draw has been put on hold but the Out of the Box show is going online. So come and join us. And I think I have a pork chop in my freezer that I can raffle off,” jokes Bannister, founder of Laughter Zone 101. “It is now a Zoom show.”
Out of the Box, which is now set to take place on Saturday, May 2 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. on Zoom, has been made possible through an ACNW Horizon Grant. Performers, who are 50 years and older, include Ray Morrison, Helen Schneiderman, Ragini Kapil, Christine Hackman and Syd Bosel, with Bannister MCing the event that includes a short audience chat at the end of the show.
“We have got this stereotype out there that all seniors want to go and listen to Elvis impersonators, sing karaoke and those kinds of things,” Bannister says. “There’s a whole demographic, and maybe sometimes they haven’t and an opportunity, of Boomers, Zoomers and Seniors, as I call them, who just want to see something different.”
Bannister says Outside the Box is the type of show she has wanted to do for a long time, but the grant gave her a chance to do it in conjunction with the arts council.
“Not all seniors like just to listen to mom and dad comedy. Some of them are pretty raunchy,” she says. “Elvis impersonators and ukulele groups are always wonderful. But there is another side to our story.”
To secure a “seat” for Out of the Box, attendees must email [email protected] to get sent their link to attend. More info is on the Out of the Box - A Night of Edgy Cheeky Entertainment Online page on Facebook.
