GeriActors & Friends presents, We Decide
Interweaving Shakespeare’s classic King Lear text with stories and commentary drawn from our own lives, We Decide explores the themes of elder care, invisibility, and the maintenance of agency in later life.
This audio play is dedicated to the memory of Liz Allchin, Pearl Edwards, and Charles Bidwell whose stories, ideas and creativity are always with us.
Cast & Creative
An Original Work by GeriActors & Friends
Audio Production Produced by Kim McCaw, Sound Editing by Josh Gwozdz
Original Music by Dave Clarke
Featuring Liz Allchin, David Barnet, Becca Barrington, Charles Bidwell, Pearl Edwards, Kerry Francis, Carlean Fisher, John Grootelaar, Helen Klemm, Diane Jonsson, Chips Reid, Liz Reid, Margaret Rutherford, Pat Parkinson, Angela Smythe, Ranee Wickramasekera, Maria Yakula, and Bill Yong
History of the Play
You think I’ll weep. No, I’ll not weep:
I have full cause of weeping; but this heart shall break into a hundred thousand flaws,
I shall go mad!
GeriActors & Friends has been developing We Decide since 2013. Over the years we’ve performed this play in Delburne, Alberta; at the Grey Matters Conference in Drumheller; the St. Albert Library in celebration of Shakespeare’s 400th birthday; and more. It was also performed at the University of Alberta and can be watched on our Youtube channel, here.
In 2022, We Decide was re-imagined as an audio play for our AudioGeris program. Through this program, GeriActors & Friends chose three of our original stage plays to adapt and record over Zoom. The first is Reading the Signs, followed by Spinning the Bottle and We Decide… based on King Lear.
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.