Their Second Acts
Harvey Widell (CFA’57), a former English teacher who now works as an actor and director in Florida. Photo by Sonya Revell
Their Second Acts
In their encore careers and ongoing hobbies, these six BU alums are following their passions
This article was originally published in The Brink on February 21, 2024, as part of their Aging Reimagined series. By Sophie Yarin
Encore, encore! For some older adults, a second act is a postretirement career that draws on different skills and expertise from the first. For others, it’s an engaging hobby that allows them to be surrounded by a community of fellow passion seekers. Experts on aging agree that staying active as we get older is one of the keys to a fulfilling life. We spoke to six Boston University alums whose second acts have taken them to center stage, down the catwalk, across the finish line, and other remarkable places.
THE ACTOR/DIRECTOR
Name: Harvey Widell (CFA’57)
Location: Boynton Beach, Fla.
First Act: English teacher
Bio: After a 32-year career as an English teacher in Brooklyn, N.Y., Harvey Widell retired in 1989 and relocated to a senior community in Florida. Within two weeks, he was asked if he would like to be the director of the Way-Off Broadway Players, a troupe of 16 people who toured south Florida, doing scenes from plays, comedy, and sketches. Since his move, Widell has helmed three local theater groups, led acting workshops, and appeared in more than a dozen productions. “The correlation between teaching and directing is a very great one,” he says. (Before retirement, he was a community theater director on Long Island for 30 years.) A star player in his current theater troupe, Widell has had lead roles in My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, The Sound of Music, and South Pacific, to name a few. “I don’t see any reason not to keep at it,” he says. “I’m going to keep doing it for as long as I can.”