Plans for a Kendal Talent Show

Plans are now under way to mark the opening of the new Amelia Gathering Room with a community talent show. As a first step, the date for the show has been set: Tuesday, September 10. So be sure to circle it on your calendars. It will be an occasion for us to celebrate the opening of our new assembly venue and to enjoy the wealth of talents, skills, and interests that we nourish in our community.

And by “community” we mean everyone who lives or works at or with Kendal at Granville – residents, staff members, board members alike. For this is truly a community event. And all sorts of talents will be on display. 

Thus this invitation goes out to singers, who are encouraged to come forward, perhaps as soloists or perhaps as duets or trios or choirs; and if you need an accompanist, just give the word and one will be found. 

The invitation is extended as well to all who play or played instruments in a band or an orchestra at some point. Here’s a chance to pull it out and surprise your friends. Again, accompanists can be found.

The Amelia Gathering Room will finally offer us the chance to have a piano on a stage, and that in turn affords the pianists in our midst an opportunity to share their gifts more broadly with the community.

We all recall a time when reading or reciting lovely poems or famous speeches was a part of our school education. So here’s a call to reciters in our company to help us recover the rich pleasure of hearing the spoken word deliver moving literature.

Surely some members of the community are comedians, right? Here’s a chance to hone your comedic timing, and to show your friends and neighbors your comic gifts.

And then there are the magicians. More than a few of us over the years have tried our hand at creating illusions. So here’s an opportunity for these prestidigitators to work up the old conjuring stunts and card tricks, and show us that the hand is still quicker than the eye.

This catalog of talent categories is not meant to be inclusive. Almost surely there are still other kinds of talents out in the community, still other kinds of gifts which can be shared. And so the three invitations go out. First, please don’t be shy about stepping forward to identify yourself as a participant; you will have fun, and your friends and neighbors will be delighted. Second, please recruit friends and pass on the names of community members whom you would like to see participating. Third, please mark your calendar and, even if you finally choose not to go up on the stage, join all of us on September 10 as we applaud the gifts of our community.