Longboaters find their voices in Players Follies

As a child, Barbara Bostic couldn’t stand up in front of her class and present a book report.

She would go to the nurse sick. She was a “painfully shy person,” she said.

Outside of school, though, Bostic was enthralled with musical theater. She spent her time singing along to big productions, but her mother couldn’t afford formal voice lessons.

“As I grew up and went out into the working world, I really made it a point to try to do things that would get me out of the insecure little [bubble] … I still have it a little bit,” she said. “You just have to be more outgoing, and every job I took encouraged that a little bit more.”

After a career in the airline industry, modeling, training and ultimately as a national training director for Estee Lauder and Elizabeth Arden, Bostic started to crack her shell.

At 50, Bostic, who is now 73, started dancing.

After moving to Longboat Key, Bostic began taking classes at the Players’ Theatre, now named the Players Centre for Performing Arts. From tap to jazz classes, Bostic’s shell opened even wider.

About eight years ago, she joined the Players’ Follies, an organization affiliated with the theater for those aged 50 or older.

“I’ve gotten a lot of joy out of it,” she said. “I think it was the right timing for it because I had an opportunity to grow into it. I’ve learned many things through the different jobs that I’ve had that made this now the fun time of my life.”

In 1999, Fran Hall, 75, moved to Florida and didn’t know anybody. Like Bostic, Hall has never been a particularly outgoing person. She tap danced growing up, but that’s where her theatrical talent stopped.

But the Players’ Follies has helped them both, literally and figuratively, find their voices.

“It really keeps you sharp. You have to
remember your lines, you have to
remember your dance steps, you have to remember to bring everything you need to rehearsal. So it’s great physically and mentally.”

 

— Fran Hall

Bostic said she tries to do it all — sing, dance, act. When she started with the Follies, she only danced because that’s all she had ever done. Now she’s performed in the theater’s main production of “A White Christmas” and “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.”

Hall had no experience as a solo singer, but had performed in a chorus. Director Berry Ayers insisted she give it a try.

“[It’s] a chance to do things that I wouldn’t normally do,” Hall said. “The director, Berry Ayers, just seems to pick things that will stretch what I can do, and he’ll say, ‘All right, you’re going to do this’ and I’ll say, ‘Are you sure? It’s such a long song. I don’t think I can.’ [He’ll say] ‘You’re going to do that,” and I do it, and it works out.”

For both women, the camaraderie of the Follies is unmatched.

“It’s a group that has many different talents,” Bostic said. “You’ve got people who are very, very good at doing acting, you’ve got very good dancers, and what it does is allows us to express those things that we enjoy, and it’s not over, yet.”

The group sings, dances and acts, but some people don’t want to sing and others don’t want to dance. Regardless, the groups pushes each other to try new things.

“Everybody is so encouraging, and no one is critical, so you don’t mind doing things that are out of your comfort zone, and frequently, it turns out all right,” Hall said.

The first part of the Follies’ season, which began in late September, is dedicated to play reading. In November, they’ll start rehearsing for their big production, which is “Speakeasy.” A few times a year, the group performs at different retirement communities in the area.

Both women are retired, but neither of them are content sitting around. Being in the Players Follies gives them a creative outlet.

“It’s wonderful, because what we do is not only good physically but mentally,” Hall said. “It really keeps you sharp. You have to remember your lines, you have to remember your dance steps, you have to remember to bring everything you need to rehearsal. So it’s great physically and mentally.”

Bostic is happy she found her voice. She’s lost that shy personality, and that in itself was a gift, she said.

“There are going to be times [when you’re] disappointed,” she said. “There are going to be times you feel uncomfortable. Get over it. Just go for it. I probably held back a little bit too much as a younger person, but little by little the things that I’ve done have helped me. It’s a mental attitude.”