In the summer of 2005 the Young At Heartland Senior Acting Group performed at my church, the Bloomington-Normal Unitarian Universalist Church. A couple of our church members, Jane Plum and Susan Palmer, were members of the troupe. I had also seen their showcase at Heartland Theatre. I decided it would be an interesting thing to try so, in April 2006 when the new season started, I joined. The format is that weekly classes are held during April and May and then we perform at Retirement Homes, Churches and in the showcase at Heartland during June and July. The cycle starts again in August with performances in October and some in November. That is the end of the season.

Here are the performances I participated in during the years with Young at Heartland.

Also two performances as Pauline in "Not the Retiring Kind" by Julie Kistler (filling in for another actor).

The group auditioned in 2009 and were selected for parts in the cuts we were performing. In the first session I was cast as Ethel in "On Golden Pond" by Ernest Thompson. I also prepared to understudy the role of Wanda in "Who's Turn Is It? by Philip Potak but was not called on to perform.

For the second session I was cast as Ceely in "Hanky Anyone" written by fellow actor, Joy Ralston.

Two other acting opportunities arose in 2009. First, I was selected for a part at Heartland Theatre in "Russian Dream"

The second opportunity was on Tuesday, May 26 when I went to the Medici Restaurant in Normal for a casting call. This was for a contest between Normal and the town of Boring, OR where five ordinary people selected will compete for the opportunity to appear in a national ad for Toshiba laptops. The reporter and photographer from our local paper took a liking to me and I felt like I would be mentioned in their article. Here is a link to it plus to a video that was taken and that I was in. Here's a link to the Pantagraph Article and Video. I was also featured on the five and six o'clock news that night and I have the clip from that. My day or rather a couple of weeks in the sun.

Terry and I were called back for the semi finals (12 people) but unfortunately, or perhaps, fortunately we were not selected. The final result was that Normal won the $15,000 worth of computers for the school but Toshiba also awarded computers to Boring as well. Very good publicity.