WATERVLIET — John Pattison’s reason for auditioning for “The Importance of Being Earnest” was simple.
“I figured it was time I did some theater,” he said. “I’m 94. I have to try it before it’s too late.”
This Friday, Pattison and seven fellow residents will perform for friends, family and staff in the first-ever theatrical production presented by Shaker Pointe.
The new residential program is the brainchild of Dick Holmes. Soon after moving to Shaker Pointe last fall, Holmes approached Lorrie Shilling, director of sales, asking if the facility ever did theater. The answer was, “No, never.”
“Then she asked me the $64 question: ‘Why, do you have an interest in it, Mr Holmes? ’ ” Holmes recounted.
And he did. Holmes, a retired teacher, had directed Saratoga Central Catholic School’s first drama production early in his career, and he spent over a decade directing three theatrical productions a year at Watervliet High School, barely two miles east of Shaker Pointe.
Shilling connected Holmes with her colleague Sarah Sheppeck, director of marketing, who previously worked as a high school theater and English teacher in Las Vegas. The pair began brainstorming titles, looking for ones “the residents would already be familiar with to some degree” and would suit the facility’s small stage, Sheppeck said. They landed on a one-act adaptation of “The Importance of Being Earnest.”
Twice a week for the last two and a half months, the cast of eight has rehearsed Oscar Wilde’s farce about two young bachelors played by Pattison and Dick Shirey. The men’s fictitious alter egos, designed to get them out of social obligations in London and the countryside, create hilarious complications for their love lives.
None of the cast had previous acting experience. Anna Calsolaro, who plays the austere Lady Bracknell, last stepped on a stage in “either the seventh or eighth grade,” and retired deacon Ray Sullivan, playing Reverend Chasuble, taught dramatic literature while teaching at a Jesuit school, but that was it. Yet the opportunity to try something new drew them all to audition (save Bob Boehlert, who jokes he was “voluntold” to take on the role of Lane the butler, who doubles as the play’s narrator).
“It’s been fun,” Calsolaro said. “You get to lay down your inhibitions and just take on the character.”
The show will be presented as a staged reading, meaning the actors will have their scripts in hand. Some are the licensed scriptbooks, slightly larger than a greeting card. Others are larger-sized reprints bound in plastic report protectors. Mary Ann Lettau, who plays one of the love interests, Gwendolen, has her scenes stapled together in small packets easily tucked into her character’s purse. A common note Holmes doles out between scenes is a reminder that they can read from their scripts during scenes.
“This is a staged reading, so people can expect you to read, so don’t try to stretch it too much if you don’t have to,” Holmes tells the cast after the run.
For their third-to-last rehearsal, the cast wore a mix of costume pieces and everyday clothing. Top hats were doffed with cargo shorts, socks with sandals and bright white New Balance sneakers. A wicker bonnet adorned with fake pale pink and white blooms perched carefully atop Carol Gensicki’s gray curls, the soft hues of the hat contrasted against her neon green athletic pullover and leggings.
“It’s worth every bit of energy that I’m putting into it. I love it,” said the 81-year-old Gensicki, who plays the 18-year-old ingenue Cecily. “Ever since we got the script, I’ve read it every single night. I keep reading it and reading it and going through it. You can’t just memorize your lines. You have to know the whole play.”
While the auditorium at Shaker Pointe isn’t designed for theater, Holmes and Sheppeck worked hard to transform the small wooden stage and conference room. A lounge chair and tea table sit under the Shaker Pointe icon permanently affixed to the stage’s back wall, and later, a printed backdrop of the English countryside masks the logo entirely. Clip-on microphones give the actors a much-needed vocal boost (and occasionally pick up whispered backstage banter).
The few flubs are typical of any rehearsal — stumbled lines, a missed cue, Gensicki’s bonnet refusing to stay on her head — but the joy onstage is infectious. Other residents frequently walk by to peek through the windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of their friends in action, and Holmes can’t walk down a hallway without someone excitedly asking him about the show. Come Friday, the eight residents will take their first bows as actors.
“It takes a little courage,” Holmes said. “Even though they’re all friends here, and the audience will be 99% people they know, it still takes some courage to get up there on that stage.”
NOTE: This article by Katherine Kiessling originally appeared in The Times Union on May 7, 2025.