Longtime Rogers pharmacist Constance Gabriel loves to perform
Constance Gabriel’s life was proceeding unsteadily into its seventh decade, with storm clouds gathering. The longtime Rogers pharmacist was divorced for 10 years. Her two kids were on their own. The older generation of her family was dying off, and her mother had just been diagnosed with leukemia.
That was in 2005. She was 63. Such burdens might compel a senior citizen to start shutting down. But Gabriel was determined to go the other way.
“As a way to combat the stress and grief of what was going on with my mother,” said Gabriel, “I decided to confront some of my other fears.”
She had long harbored an ambition to perform but never mustered the nerve, so she started by enrolling at Stevie Ray’s Improv Comedy School on Lake Street along with Guthrie Theater acting classes. “What happened was a godsend. At Stevie’s, for two hours every week, I laughed!” See more in Bruce Strand’s Star News entertainment story.
