The Double Nickels Theatre Company: a Celebration of Seniors

October 2, 2012 by


In 2006 Antoinette Ford founded the Double Nickels Theatre Company in Washington, DC. A Community Theatre company in the truest sense of the word, the Double Nickels’ mission is to turn the stories and happening of seniors and veterans into theatrical presentations. Using reminiscence theatre, which combines oral history and photography, each production hopes “to reinvigorate the art of conversation and to communicate across generations and cultures.”

…Double Nickels is a valuable resource.

“Do You Remember”

The company has partnered with a numerous venues and non-profit organizations in the DC area, presenting a wide array of performances. Most recently, Double Nickels partnered with the Armed Forces Retirement Home in DC to present Do You Remember, a oral history presentation memorializing the stories of veterans who fought in World War II through the Vietnam Conflict. Double Tree organized a production with a similar focus, Scattered Pictures at the Atlas Performing Arts Center last November 2011. Using a combination of stories and photographic essays, the presentation transported the audience to the 1940s and 50s to experience World War II and the Korean War through the words and images of veterans.

Last April 2012, the theatre joined in the Cherry Blossoms Celebration with a performance of Hanami Festival … Through the Eyes of Seniors at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre. “Hanami” is a Japanese word for enjoying the beauty of flowers or literally “flower viewing.” In this performance, participants between the ages of 85 and 105 recounted the events and memories from the years when the Cherry Blossom trees first arrived in Washington.

To be sure, a theatre like the Double Nickels is a valuable resource. Not only does it provide an opportunity for seniors to remember their lives and retell their stories but it also gives each of us a chance to hear the memories of grandparents and great grandparents. Those memories then help all of us better understand the present and where our future might be headed.

For more information about the Double Nickels Theatre Company and their upcoming events click here.

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About Robert Michael Oliver

An educator, playwright, theatre artist, and poet, Robert Michael Oliver has lived an eclectic life since moving to Washington 30 years ago after earning his MFA in Directing from Virginia Tech. Co-founder of DC’s Sanctuary Theatre, Michael served as its artistic director through the early 1990s. He then worked at The New School of Northern Virginia as High School Director and Director of its theatre program. Now, with both his children independent, young adults, and after earning his doctorate in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Maryland in 2005, he has recommitted himself to the arts. In 2010 he began the Sanctuary’s Performing Knowledge Project. Its one-man show, “Embodying Poe: Poetry in Performance,” which Michael wrote and performed, premiered at the 2011 Capital Fringe Festival. A long time participant in Washington’s theatre scene, he is delighted to be Editor, DC Metro area for the Maryland Theatre Guide.