Darryl Johnson, 62, likened his last year to the biblical Book of Job. The Ypsilanti resident is going through a divorce from his wife of over 33 years and has recently lost his job. With his children grown and away from home, he said it’s been lonely.
“I sit in this apartment alone, and I have nobody to go to dinner with,” he said.
As he navigates his next steps, he’s become increasingly aware of what it’s like to live life alone and the challenges that may lie ahead as an older adult. His sister, whom he described as a loner, was found dead alone in her home at age 79, discovered weeks, perhaps even months after the fact. His late brother-in-law had fallen off the bed after a stroke in his early 80s and wasn’t rescued for over four days.
His experience and those of his family are shared by many “solo agers,” adults over 50 who live alone and lack a close support network nearby. While many might not be familiar with the term, it represents a shared experience of a growing population of older adults, and an experience that one organization is trying to draw attention to through theater. “Solo Acts: A Theatrical Compilation on Solo Aging” is a 45-minute performance of vignettes about solo aging, including one about Johnson. It’s presented by Limelight, an Ann Arbor-based consulting company that uses theater for community building and problem solving.
Solo Acts “is using theater as a means to engage a variety of people or audiences in illuminating and challenging preconceptions and affirming what it means to age on your own in this world,” said Limelight director and founder Jessica “Decky” Alexander, who is also a theater professor at Eastern Michigan University.
The project started in 2021 with a grant from the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation, which supports quality-of-life initiatives in southeast Michigan and western New York. The creative team conducted hundreds of hours of interviews with solo agers in both states, gathering information about their circumstances and experiences. From there, the team regrouped, sharing transcripts and identifying common themes from which to build their stories. And with that, “Solo Acts” was born, and has since performed in Detroit, Ann Arbor and Buffalo, with its next show Friday, Nov. 21 at the Peace Neighborhood Center in Ann Arbor, and more on the way.
About a third of U.S. women age 65 and older lived alone in 2022, according to Census data. Among men of that age group, almost 22 percent do so. They include those who are widowed, divorced and never married. And their numbers are growing fast.
Darryl Johnson is performing in “Solo Acts,” a performance of vignettes about solo aging, including one about Johnson. The 62-year-old Ypsilanti resident is going through a divorce from his wife of over 33 years and has recently lost his job. “I sit in this apartment alone, and I have nobody to go to dinner with,” he said. (Photo by Shannon Etcheverry)
In 1950, just 9 percent of all U.S. adults lived alone. By 2038, the majority of people 80 and older — about 10 million — will be solo agers, experts estimate. Despite the growing numbers, seniors aging solo are often misunderstood and invisible. This is particularly concerning in states like Michigan, where an average of 380 more residents turn 65 every day.
While the show’s researchers interviewed older adults with diverse backgrounds and circumstances, they found common themes of loneliness, limited emergency contacts, health risks and not wanting to be burdens on those around them.
“The biggest trends were seniors feeling like they weren’t listened to,” said Hananiah Wiggins, who has been a part of the creative team since the beginning as an interviewer and an actor. “[They felt] that it didn’t matter who was asking the question, a lot of them thought people already had the answers they were looking for.”
But their findings weren’t all negative. Sharon Cramer, a former member of the creative team, said many solo agers were happy in their lives and found innovative ways to find community, something complicated during the pandemic when the interviews took place.
“I was most struck by needing to make sure that we got away from stereotyping older individuals who were living alone as desperate or lonely or unable to manage,” she said. “We were able to really find ways that they were successful in being satisfied with their lives.”
In either circumstance, validation is a primary goal of the project, helping solo agers to understand they are not alone in their experiences and to connect them with resources they may need.
“I hope that [‘Solo Acts’] is a piece of affirmation, that it’s them being able to see themselves up there on stage, to see that there are people who are in the world who care about them, who care about their stories,” Wiggins said. “I also wanted to connect community, for people to see and feel the need to stay connected.”
The show includes 11 scenes divided into themes and subthemes that include daily living, health, aspirations and community. It is made up of nine core stories and two that rotate, which are based on the specific experiences of people within “Solo Acts” partner communities, as is the case with Johnson.
“We tried to figure out how we can do this in a way that honors individual voices in a community,” Alexander said.
The current iteration of “Solo Acts” is in partnership with the Turner African American Services Council (TAASC), a University of Michigan-affiliated organization that supports health care access for older adults of color.
TAASC got connected with the program after one of their team members saw the show at Huron Valley PACE and thought it was poignant for their community as well. Partnering with Limelight and Engage @ EMU, they received a grant from the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation’s African American Endowment Fund to pursue the project.
“[We wanted to] amplify the voices of older adults and diverse older adults of color and the relationship between solo aging and the healthcare system,” said Shannon Etcheverry, director of the Turner Senior Wellness Program.
While issues like social isolation, limited transportation, etc. can be common experiences for solo agers, Etcheverry said there can be additional solo aging challenges for people of color.
“There are definitely structural and systemic barriers for people of color, especially as it relates to getting equitable healthcare,” she said.
While based on his life, Johnson’s scene is not a literal retelling of his story but rather a source of inspiration from the lessons he learned. Titled “1440 Minutes” – the number of minutes in a day – it’s about making the most of the time you have in life.
“One of the things I did for this piece was to say to seniors… if you’ve still got minutes, do something with them,” he said. “Don’t let your last chapters waste away, find that purpose, get about living it all the way to the end.”
Alexander said she wants solo agers to feel seen, which also supports t
hem in finding solutions to their own struggles. But she also wants family members, policymakers, social workers, faith leaders and overall communities to understand the experiences of solo agers and make changes.
“We want to improve the quality of life for people,” she said. “To do that you have to be able to tell stories that aren’t being told.”
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“Solo Acts: A Theatrical Conversation and Community Compilation on Solo Aging,” will take place Friday, Nov. 21, at Peace Neighborhood Center, 1111 N. Maple Rd., Ann Arbor. Doors open at 3:30 p.m., show begins at 4. Vendors will be present.
Register here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0NvjZdwmSM_8wi0byT0Dza3xa21FWndShUO3zzKXHDDvWU
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