Prudence Barry is still acting and writing

For Prudence Barry, life has always been about the arts and creativity. A lifelong actress and poet, she saw no reason why that should change when she reached a certain age.

“I was determined, as a senior citizen, to continue being creative,” she says. “We can be creative at any age.”

A longtime resident of Columbia, she founded the Actors Company in 1973 and helped to launch the Howard County Poetry & Literature Society the following year.

More than 40 years later, she’s still stretching her own creativity and encouraging others her age to do the same.

Since she moved to Vantage House, she’s organized an Actors’ Workshop and helped start a camera club and a poetry group. Her own poetry is often published in Vantage Views, the Vantage House residents’ newsletter.

The Actors Workshop isn’t so much about performing as it is about “understanding and practicing the craft of acting and looking at conditions particular to the actor,” Prudence says.

For instance, there’s “the illusion of the first time,” where the actor has to play a scene like it’s never been done before although it’s been practiced many times.

“What actors do is more than remember the words in a script,” she says.

The group has worked on two-person short scenes she’s written. “They were somewhat abstract,” she says. “I didn't give the characters names or say whether they were male or female or where they were. The actors did that.

“The group is a challenge for them, and they enjoy that.”

Of her many creative activities, it’s the Actors’ Workshop that she enjoys most.

“It’s made my life at Vantage House a joy,” she says. “I just love working on it, and I’m so proud of what we’re doing.”