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Senior Follies gets ready for shows in Aug.
By Jordan Cohen
HERMITAGE, Pa.
It’s quite fitting that the theme of next month’s Mercer County Senior Follies is “Age is Just a Number.”
“I’m 81, and I’m still dancing and singing,” said Donna Murray of Sharpsville, one of the entertainment group’s four founders. The troupe, all over the age of 50, has grown to 100 members who sing either solo or in a chorus, and perform dance routines and comedy sketches. The group is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year with its performances Aug. 3 and 4 at Hickory High School.
Murray said she and the others decided to create a show for Mercer County after performing for six years with a senior company in Trumbull County. “We felt we have enough talent to hold our own follies and, in fact, I think we have a ton of talent here,” she said.
Murray said the group works all year to put the gala together and loves doing it. That’s especially the case for the follies’ oldest member. Dr. Leonard Pleban, 92, still maintains his podiatry practice in Sharon and will serve as the show’s master of ceremonies, a position that the World War II veteran says he grew into shortly after the war ended.
“I was a staff sergeant in occupied Germany, and I was assigned to start a playhouse for the enlisted men,” he recalled. “We turned this old abandoned brewery into the playhouse, I became the master of ceremonies and I really liked doing it,” said Pleban who turns 93 Tuesday.
“My job is to make people happy because laughter is a healing thing,” said Pleban who has been a practicing podiatrist for 62 years.
Murray says the community has overwhelmingly supported the Follies since its inception. “The high school auditorium seats 1,000, and we sell out the Saturday and Sunday shows,” she said.
After the performances, there will not be much of a break for Murray and other core committee members. “We’ll meet three weeks after the shows, choose a theme and start working on it all over again [for next year],” she said.