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Judging by the claps, hoots and shouts from the audience, it was apparent that Montgomery County seniors do have talent – and quite a wide variety of it.

"With some of these acts, you get the feeling you are watching a musician at the peak of their talent," said Bethesda resident Paul Wilson, who attended the performance with his wife, Barbara.

The hundreds of family, friends and supporters that gathered at the Bethesda Theatre on Wisconsin Avenue Saturday were treated to a showcase of some of the best talent country residents age 55 and older have to offer.

Montgomery's Got Talent, a collaborative effort of the Montgomery County Recreation Department, the county Department of Health and Human Services and several other county groups that support seniors, is designed to mark Older Americans Month in May.

It is in part aimed to help seniors rediscover the talents they may have let fall by the wayside, said Shawn Brennan, program manager for senior health promotion for the county's Aging and Disability Services division.

"It's a sense of doing something they've always wanted to do – maybe some have been on stage, maybe others have wanted to but never have," Brennan said. "Now, they have more opportunity in terms of time to devote to a talent. A number of people have said, ‘I've done this for a long time, but I've never performed.'"

The showcase was the result of a trio of auditions that whittled down 31 acts to 16.

Some, like country-western line dancing group The Silver Liners, are no strangers to the spotlight. The group, which consists of five county women, first met at a line-dancing class at the Holiday Park Senior Center in Wheaton. They perform at senior centers, assisted living facilities and nursing homes across the region.

For Saturday's performance, three of the five group members – Jo Ann Mueller, 67, and Barbara Hart, 65, of Silver Spring, and Chung Kay, 70, of Potomac – performed a line dance to country classic "Hard Workin' Man."

"We see them tapping their feet, clapping their hands and smiling – we get a lot of smiles," Mueller said of the group's audiences.

Kay agreed. "If they know the songs, they'll sing along," she said. "Sometimes they're even dancing in their wheelchairs."

The audience fell silent as Potomac resident John Sichani, 63, played a traditional Persian drum called a Tonbak he fashioned out of black walnut. The combination of steady beats and tapping the drum with all of his fingers left some in the audience remarking that they had never heard so many sounds come out of one instrument.

"I use my fingers like a piano on the surface of the drum," Sichani said.

Sichani, who learned to drum from his mother, has been playing since he was 8 years old. He's also developed a technique to use drumming to combat arthritis through his group, Helping Arthritic Hands.

Other features of the show included a Bollywood dance, an a cappella performance by musical group Harmony Therapy, performances on the flute and piano, a jazzy rendition of favorite "Route 66," and a soulful version of blues classic "Summertime."

For more information about Montgomery's Got Talent, check out Wednesday's edition of The Gazette.