With any luck, we all will get older. Writer Jim R. Rogers, known to most folks on the Grand Strand as a parenting educator, decided to put his thoughts on growing older – the joys, the pains, the epiphanies, the laughs – into poems, published in his book “Starts and Stops Along the Way.”
Now, a selection of his insights, captured as the “Geriatric Monologues,” have already received acclaim as the featured play in the Atlantic Stage New Play competition, and will be performed in June at the Murrells Inlet Community Theater.
Jim’s reflections are poignant and funny: “As we grow older, we start disappearing. Lots of people don’t see us anymore, rarely listen to our stories of who we were, when we were, and being an elder carries very little respect in our youth- oriented high tech world. I wanted more people to understand the process, what we go through, how we feel and that we are still alive and still have much to offer. Once I wore two different shoes. Nobody noticed.”
The Geriatric Monologues world premiere is June 17 at 7:30 p.m. Other performances are: 7:30 p.m. June 18, 24 and 25; and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. on June 19 and 26.
Who: Jim R. Rogers, poet, writer, parenting expert and playwright
What: Geriatric Monologues performances
When: June 17, 18, 24, 25 at 7:30 p.m.; June 19 and 26 at 2 p.m.
Where: Murrells Inlet Community Theater, 4462 Murrells Inlet Road
Tickets: $15; call box office at 843-651-4152 for reservations.