Posted on January 7, 2002 at 12:55 p.m.
BIRMINGHAM, AL — Martha Haarbauer, director of The Seasoned Performers and part-time professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), was recently awarded the 2001 Marian Gallaway Award for Contributions to Theatre in Alabama, presented to her by the Alabama Conference of Theatre and Speech (ACTS) during their fall convention at UAB.
The award is presented to a person who has contributed to theatre in Alabama throughout their career, said Melissa Christian, executive director of ACTS. It is named for the late Marian Gallaway, a legendary professor of theatre at the University of Alabama, who died in 1980.
“She was my teacher, as a matter of fact, which really makes the award more meaningful to me because I knew her. She was a major force in my life, especially in my early theatre training,” Haarbauer said. “I’m really pleased that the award recognizes the Seasoned Performers program. It’s a nice recognition.”
Haarbauer has taught acting at UAB for 27 years. Since 1984 she has directed The Seasoned Performers, Alabama’s only senior adult touring theatre, and she is the author of “Seasoned Theatre: A Guide to Creating and Maintaining a Senior Adult Theatre Program.” Haarbauer has appeared in a dozen Birmingham Festival Theatre productions, including “The Country Girl,” “The Sea Gull,” “The Shadow Box,” “Holy Ghosts” and “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.” She has performed in productions at Town and Gown, the Jewish Community Center, Terrific New Theatre, UAB Theatre and others.
Haarbauer received an Obelisk Award for acting and was presented with a Birmingham Festival of the Arts Silver Bowl Award for her work with The Seasoned Performers. The Jefferson County Office of Senior Citizens Services honored Haarbauer with the 1997 Professional Award.
The Seasoned Performers currently have about 33 active senior adult members acting and participating in the group. Closely affiliated is the Seasoned Readers program, which offers short readings of plays, stories and poetry by a troupe of four people at a time. The group tours retirement facilities, schools and other community sites.
Both the Seasoned Performers and the Seasoned Readers groups have been very successful and are growing annually, Haarbauer said. Last year, readers and actors together played to over 7,000 people in Alabama at 128 performances. The groups tour in up to 10 counties in Alabama each year, but perform mainly in Jefferson County. The programs play to all ages. The theatre program is especially for senior adults or “grown-ups,” who have daytime hours free and are interested in participating in theatre activities. The plays performed by the Seasoned Performers are written especially for them by Alabama writers.
The Alabama Conference of Theatre and Speech, an organization that promotes theatre on all levels within Alabama, offers the Marian Gallaway Award each year.
Haarbauer’s husband, Ward Haarbauer, received the award in 1991. Ward Haarbauer is the associate dean of the UAB School of Arts and Humanities and a professor of theatre at UAB.