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\u201cI was stripped of my harp, not singing in a band,\u201d she said on a recent video call. But it didn\u2019t take long for her to embrace this new stage in her stage life: \u201cI just found that this was exactly what I should be doing at this age.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Get Starting Point<\/span><\/p>\n A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n On Sunday, Caine will be one of several featured performers in Young@Heart\u2019s latest production, \u201c10-Alarm Fire: We Won\u2019t Shut Up!!\u201d Bob Cilman, the group\u2019s longtime director, said that while the group has always been inclined toward social justice, most of that has come through actions \u2014 partnerships with groups such as the Pioneer Valley Gay Men\u2019s Chorus, for instance, or performances inside prisons \u2014 not words.<\/span><\/p>\n But the new show will feature a setlist exclusively dedicated to protest songs. Some will come from familiar names \u2014 Woody Guthrie, Marvin Gaye, Creedence Clearwater Revival<\/a>. Others will follow a Young@Heart trademark \u2014 surprise choices (for folks of a certain age, at least) of latter-day songs by artists such as Fiona Apple<\/a> and Rage Against the Machine. <\/span><\/p>\n Caine is set to sing \u201cIf You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next,\u201d a 1998 alternative rock song by the Welsh band Manic Street Preachers. It\u2019s about the fight against fascism during the Spanish Civil War. The chorus first performed that song during a visit to Wales more than 20 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe crowd went nuts,\u201d Cilman recalled. <\/span><\/p>\n Many of the singers who have participated in the chorus over the years (there are currently 27) have had little or no prior music training or stage experience. Timothy Ranney-Blake is one of them. <\/span><\/p>\n When Cilman proposed that someone take the lead on Edwin Starr\u2019s classic Vietnam-era song \u201cWar,\u201d \u201ca lot of people turned to me,\u201d said Ranney-Blake, who joined the group a year ago. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t see it,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s my song now.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n For Ranney-Blake, performing with the chorus has given him a measure of fulfillment.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI have a great number of identities,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m Black. I\u2019m gay. I\u2019m a military veteran, and a grateful person practicing recovery.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cComing to the truth about who I am is the fire that brings the energy for this thing,\u201d he added. <\/span><\/p>\n Cilman was just 29 when he became involved with the preparation for the very first Young@Heart concert, more than 40 years ago. (He jokes that he keeps pushing the threshold age for the group higher so that he can never become a member himself.)<\/span><\/p>\n The first music director quit before the first show, he said. It didn\u2019t go so well. <\/span><\/p>\n But then, slowly but surely, some folks with bona fide star power began showing up, including a couple of old-school drag performers and a 90-something Londoner who\u2019d trained at the Old Vic, <\/b>the repertory company based at the historic theater of the same name. Eileen Hall stole the show in the documentary, singing a sublime version of the Clash\u2019s \u201cShould I Stay or Should I Go.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The current cohort includes seniors from various career backgrounds, among them a school bus driver, a college professor, a housing advocate, and two bankers. The number of people who have served as members of the chorus is fast approaching 200. <\/span><\/p>\n Over the years, the singers have come to see the health benefits of staying active and challenging themselves with new tasks, such as learning songs they\u2019ve never heard before, or songs in a foreign language. (Three of the songs on Sunday will be in Spanish.)<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt really keeps people pretty sharp,\u201d said Cilman. \u201cNot forever, obviously. We\u2019ve had a lot of people with memory issues. But it\u2019s a really good way to stave off those issues.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Caine said she\u2019s pleased to find herself on the younger end of a group of folks who might be called \u201csuper-agers.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cEvery one of them has lived long enough to have fascinating life stories,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m a writer, and I\u2019m interested in each and every one of them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMaybe a little too interested,\u201d she added with a laugh. <\/span><\/p>\n The performers agree that their current repertoire feels necessary in the moment. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis is the first time we\u2019ve done a show where we said, \u2018We can\u2019t not<\/i> address the issues in front of us,\u2019\u201d Cilman said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to a place that\u2019s kind of scary for all of us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Caine agreed. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI think collectively we have a sense that we\u2019re actually standing up and doing something to address these times,\u201d she said. \u201cWhile we might not be standing on corners holding placards, what we are doing is its own kind of activism.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n YOUNG@HEART: 10-ALARM FIRE: WE WON\u2019T SHUT UP!!<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n At the Academy of Music Theatre, 274 Main St., Northampton, Sunday, Nov. 23, 3 p.m. Tickets: $25 and up. aomtheatre.com<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n James Sullivan can be reached at <\/i>jamesgsullivan@gmail.com<\/i><\/a>.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n