One of the most beloved community engagement programs at PS21, Sharing Stories with Nancy Rothman allows assisted living facility residents to listen and connect with one another through stories.

Sharing Stories is a regular twice monthly meeting where self-selected residents of Ghent Assisted Living gather for poetry, folktales and short stories read aloud by Nancy Rothman, a professional actor, improvisation artist, and teacher. Each session offers opportunities for creativity, community, enrichment, and transition, where it is possible for participants to listen and connect with each other through stories and to acknowledge and honor parts of themselves and their individual histories.  This free program is designed to help the elderly maintain their self-esteem, nourish individual and collective identity, and assuage the anxiety of physical and mental decline.

Nancy Rothman, a long-time resident of Columbia County known for the popular regional theater improvisation classes she runs with fellow Actors Ensemble member Eddie Allen, begins each class with improvisation exercises that engage participants in varying theater arts: singing, movement, storytelling, and readings from literature. Each week includes a spontaneous writing component with a basis in memoir and creative writing. Nancy works with a steady group of 12–14 permanent residents and a fluctuating group of visitors to the center, where this is one of the only arts therapy programs provided at the facility.

“PS21 and I have had a very special relationship with Ghent Assisted Living,” Rothman has explained. “Sharing Stories began as a way to bring literary performance to an often isolated group. Through these evenings, as I brought stories, essays and poetry to share, my listeners began more and more to share not only their impressions of the various authors and pieces but also their felt connections to their own lives, memories and to each other.”

We invite you to explore the recordings below.