Kevin Etherington and Catherine O’Brien star in Smile Theatre’s
production of “Through the Gable Window” (Fall/Winter 2005).

Creating smiles one senior at a time

Barbara Newton’s first encounter with Smile Theatre was at Toronto’s Riverdale Hospital when she saw an hour-long show called Stardust Circus about two kids who run away from home to join the circus. For Barbara, who retired early due to physical problems, theatre is an important part of her life and having Smile Theatre provide “a musical walk down memory lane is something I look forward to.”

The concept of bringing professional music theatre directly to seniors restricted by physical, financial and/or transportation restraints was born in 1972 when a group of young actors started serving lunch and performing for seniors at a downtown Toronto church. More than 30 years later, that informal gathering has grown into Smile Theatre, the only charitable group in Canada performing live shows for seniors wherever they live – hospitals, nursing homes, long-term care facilities and seniors’ residences.

In 2004, the group reached almost 43,000 seniors with 400 performances in 150 venues in Southern/Southeastern Ontario and the near North. The Smile model is currently being rolled out in British Columbia and Prince Edward Island where there are large senior populations.

A Smile show takes place anywhere there is space available – lobby, recreation room, cafeteria, auditorium. Staff of each venue book the show and publicize the event to residents and their families.

Performances take place in the afternoons or evenings, sometimes right after a meal. Administrators have noticed that some residents who never participate in any other activity come down for a Smile performance. That’s because music is integral to each show – giving all audience members, including those with cognitive impairments, an opportunity to share in the fun.

Smile creates shows seniors can relate to – bringing them back to a time when they were young. Each performance of Home for the Holidays elicited many memories of wartime love stories – the beginning of love, being torn apart by war and then meeting again later in life. One woman in her mid-70s talked about how she and her husband found each other 40 years after they first fell in love.

Smile Theatre has only two full-time employees so it relies heavily on staff at venues to make the arrangements for shows. Each venue is charged an average $300 fee per performance – about one third of Smile’s costs. Some administrators book one show per year for a special occasion; others reserve a full season (five shows). More than 90 per cent of hospitals, nursing homes and other seniors’ residences are return ‘customers’ year after year.

A long-term care facility administrator in Ottawa sums up what Smile Theatre is all about. “All our residents suffer from a variety of cognitive and physical health challenges. For most, Smile is the only opportunity to enjoy live theatre. Through Smile productions they can once again enjoy the experience that otherwise would be lost for the remainder of their lives.”

For more information on Smile Theatre, visit www.smiletheatre.com or call 1-877-262-9894.

By Carol Jamieson. Carol is Smile Theatre’s Fundraising Associate.

This article appeared in the NewsFront section of Hospital News, February 2006. Canada’s Health Care Newspaper can be viewed on-line at www.hospitalnews.com