Although the mention of aging and old age all too often conjures notions of rigidity, decline, and invisibility, the very act of acting, of taking on a new role, can challenge and expand popular conceptions of later life. The first study of its kind, The Stages of Age looks at the aging actor and at aging as acting in a wide array of American performances that interrupt, transform, and underscore stereotypes of old age.

Anne Davis Basting argues that advancing age is an essential category that should not be overlooked in discussions of identity and difference.