ANN ARBOR, MI – Fredda Clisham remembers when she first started to like comedy.

She and her family would listen to comedians on the radio during the Great Depression in her Ann Arbor home. The radio provided cheap entertainment – an alternative to buying tickets to movies or the theater.

But it wasn’t until the mid-2000s that she found herself on stage, igniting a passion for performing. Now, at 100 years old, Clisham’s charm and comedic timing grab the attention of audiences and casts alike when she performs annually with the Burns Park Players.

Clisham had a cameo in the community theatre group’s production of Mary Poppins during

its three-show run at the Power Center for the Performing Arts this weekend. She performed as Queen Victoria during “Jolly Holiday” in Act One.

Her character never speaks. Instead, the Queen knights two characters – and then Clisham does her signature move.

She pushes up her breasts.

“I told my daughters I might do it,” Clisham said Sunday. “They said, ‘Oh, mother, don’t do that!’ I said, ‘It’s not up to you. If the director says it’s OK, I’m going to do it. Everyone is looking forward (to it).’”

She first came up with the move when performing as a cleaning woman in a previous show. Her character said a line to two men, then she stopped to do it.

“It was spontaneous and unrehearsed,” she said. “I stopped and–“ she quickly performs her move. “And the cast and the audience took off. So I thought, ‘I’ve gotta keep that.’”

Today marks an incredible milestone and day to celebrate for one of our treasured Burns Park Player members - Fredda... Posted by Burns Park Players on Monday, October 7, 2019

Clisham first started acting in Burns Park Players shows about 15 years ago. A neighbor was involved and encouraged her to audition.

“I got hooked,” she said. She loved the community, she loved to ad lib and she loved to make people laugh.

Her newest passion is stand-up comedy. She loves its deep history and finds humor in everything. She admires comedian Ellen DeGeneres and even got the idea to develop her own routine after reading an article in which DeGeneres said stand-up was making a comeback.

“In my next hundred years I want to start a new program. I want to enlarge on my stand-up comedy," Clisham said. "Humor is everywhere. Hardly a day goes by that you can’t read something that’s funny, even if it’s not intentional. So, I agree, I think it’s coming back.”

Bob Galardi, a Burns Park Players veteran, drives Clisham to and from her rehearsals. On each of those rides, she tells him a new joke, he said. The jokes are often her own material, or reworked from older comedians.

But Clisham’s impact goes beyond her humor. Galardi said it’s valuable for children in the show to see a role model for all.

“Everyone respects that she comes here," he said "This group comes here to take risks, then a 100-year-old does too. They see something in her that they see in themselves or want to see in themselves.”

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