Think Tank


Home Projects DisAbility Project Apple Pie VSAarts Playwriting Inner Vision Think Tank Ten Percent Working Archives Schedule Personnel Press Awards About Joan Workplace Theatre Internships Cultural Links FAQs Sponsors	Home About Reviews Home Think Tank is a theater class for people with Alzheimer’s or early-onset dementia. Through our DisAbility Project, we have worked with people with a variety of cognitive abilities for over ten years. So we were delighted to partner with the Alzheimer’s Association in St. Louis and Cardinal Ritter Senior Services. Our theatre classes are not only fun, they foster community through the creation of performance pieces. (more...) What we are doing... When we tell people that, among recent projects, we have been making theatre and creating performance with people with early stage dementia and Alzheimer’s, they often express disbelief. Some ask how we can do performances if most of the actors can’t memorize lines or blocking. We usually widen the conversation by explaining that we see performance as a series of consciously selected moments for a given public. Under that definition, people with Alzheimer’s can, indeed, make theatre and have a very good time doing it. As the population of this country ages, the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease is increasing dramatically. A recent estimate suggests that one in eight people over the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s and that almost half a million people 65 and younger have early-onset dementia. When it came to developing a theater class for people with early dementia, our skills and experience laid a solid foundation. Through our DisAbility Project, we have worked with people with a variety of cognitive abilities for over ten years. So we were delighted to partner with the Alzheimer’s Association in St. Louis and Cardinal Ritter Senior Services. In addition to being fun and fostering community, our classes--among the first of their kind in the country--stimulate cognition in participants. The Alzheimer’s Association was founded in 1980 and is the world leader in Alzheimer research and support. The association offers frontline support to individuals affected by Alzheimer’s with services that include 24/7 information and referral hotlines, safety services, and education and support groups. The St. Louis chapter serves more than 65,000 families in the 38-county service area of St. Louis metro, eastern Missouri and western Illinois. Cardinal Ritter Senior Services provides services to improve the quality of life for senior adults by promoting and providing social, health, and housing programs and services in St. Louis City and County, as well as in St. Charles, Jefferson, Franklin and Warren Counties. We conducted theatre classes for six months, working with a group of around 15 people. Activities included icebreakers, theatre games, singing, dancing, movement, improvisation and conversation. Mike, a former high school drama teacher said, “Everyone should see us. People think that we are just waiting to die but we’re not. We can still have fun and do interesting things.” When asked how she felt about the class, Rosemary, a former clerical worker started to cry. “I really like to come here,” she said. “It’s different than being at home. Everyone is so nice and we laugh and have a good time.” We call our group the Think Tank Players and performed in April for the annual Alzheimer’s Association Volunteer Appreciation Dinner in St. Louis for an appreciative audience of several hundred people. Our performance consisted of dancing into the room to Sly and the Stone’s ”Everyday People,” welcoming in the audience to sing a round with us, staging a mock Cardinals baseball game in which a woman player hit a home run and a rousing and choreographed version of a favorite song. All of these pieces were work we developed and rehearsed in class. Uppity Artistic Director Joan Lipkin directed the project, assisted by interns Jo Firestone from Wesleyan University and Megan Flynn and Jessica Gibson from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. We maintain an active intern mentoring program in which graduate social work students learn about theatre, our techniques and how it can promote self esteem, stimulate creativity and both personal and collective agency with various populations. Photographer Marian Brickner has documented the experience for a traveling exhibit. Rave Reviews Everyone should see us. People think that we are just waiting to die but we’re not. We can still have fun and do interesting things. Mike, former high school drama teacher I really like to come here. It’s different than being at home. Everyone is so nice and we laugh and have a good time. Rosemary, former clerical worker It was a pleasure to meet you at the recent Alzheimer’s Association volunteer recognition dinner. We were struck by your dedication to doing whatever you can to support people with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers. Joan D’Ambrose, St. Louis Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association
That Uppity Theatre Company • 4466 West Pine Boulevard, Suite 13C • Saint Louis, MO 63108 Box Office: (314) 995-4600 • Office: (314) 534-1454 • MO Relay (TTY/TDD): 711 • Fax: (314) 534-6591 uppityco@att.net

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Think Tank is a theater class for people with Alzheimer’s or early-onset dementia. Through our DisAbility Project, we have worked with people with a variety of cognitive abilities for over ten years. So we were delighted to partner with the Alzheimer’s Association in St. Louis and Cardinal Ritter Senior Services. Our theatre classes are not only fun, they foster community through the creation of performance pieces. (more...)

What we are doing...

When we tell people that, among recent projects, we have been making theatre and creating performance with people with early stage dementia and Alzheimer’s, they often express disbelief. Some ask how we can do performances if most of the actors can’t memorize lines or blocking. We usually widen the conversation by explaining that we see performance as a series of consciously selected moments for a given public. Under that definition, people with Alzheimer’s can, indeed, make theatre and have a very good time doing it.

As the population of this country ages, the number of people with Alzheimer’s disease is increasing dramatically. A recent estimate suggests that one in eight people over the age of 65 have Alzheimer’s and that almost half a million people 65 and younger have early-onset dementia.

When it came to developing a theater class for people with early dementia, our skills and experience laid a solid foundation. Through our DisAbility Project, we have worked with people with a variety of cognitive abilities for over ten years. So we were delighted to partner with the Alzheimer’s Association in St. Louis and Cardinal Ritter Senior Services. In addition to being fun and fostering community, our classes--among the first of their kind in the country--stimulate cognition in participants.

The Alzheimer’s Association was founded in 1980 and is the world leader in Alzheimer research and support. The association offers frontline support to individuals affected by Alzheimer’s with services that include 24/7 information and referral hotlines, safety services, and education and support groups. The St. Louis chapter serves more than 65,000 families in the 38-county service area of St. Louis metro, eastern Missouri and western Illinois.

Cardinal Ritter Senior Services provides services to improve the quality of life for senior adults by promoting and providing social, health, and housing programs and services in St. Louis City and County, as well as in St. Charles, Jefferson, Franklin and Warren Counties. We conducted theatre classes for six months, working with a group of around 15 people. Activities included icebreakers, theatre games, singing, dancing, movement, improvisation and conversation.

Mike, a former high school drama teacher said, “Everyone should see us. People think that we are just waiting to die but we’re not. We can still have fun and do interesting things.” When asked how she felt about the class, Rosemary, a former clerical worker started to cry. “I really like to come here,” she said. “It’s different than being at home. Everyone is so nice and we laugh and have a good time.”

We call our group the Think Tank Players and performed in April for the annual Alzheimer’s Association Volunteer Appreciation Dinner in St. Louis for an appreciative audience of several hundred people. Our performance consisted of dancing into the room to Sly and the Stone’s
”Everyday People,” welcoming in the audience to sing a round with us, staging a mock Cardinals baseball game in which a woman player hit a home run and a rousing and choreographed version of a favorite song.

All of these pieces were work we developed and rehearsed in class. Uppity Artistic Director Joan Lipkin directed the project, assisted by interns Jo Firestone from Wesleyan University and Megan Flynn and Jessica Gibson from the Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. We maintain an active intern mentoring program in which graduate social work students learn about theatre, our techniques and how it can promote self esteem, stimulate creativity and both personal and collective agency with various populations. Photographer Marian Brickner has documented the experience for a traveling exhibit.

Rave Reviews

Everyone should see us. People think that we are just waiting to die but we’re not. We can still have fun and do interesting things.
Mike, former high school drama teacher

I really like to come here. It’s different than being at home. Everyone is so nice and we laugh and have a good time.
Rosemary, former clerical worker

It was a pleasure to meet you at the recent Alzheimer’s Association volunteer recognition dinner. We were struck by your dedication to doing whatever you can to support people with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.
Joan D’Ambrose, St. Louis Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association