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It was a fair point.
Seated in one of a gaggle of hot-air balloons beneath a fluffy white firmament, we could feel a breeze blowing — it came from large, hand-held fans that some of the grown-ups were fluttering — and we’d been told that we were airborne. Yet not a single craft appeared to leave the ground.
5 comments:
Coming from just reading hoe the Deaf West company is getting theatre out there that the Deaf audience can enjoy and then going to this story about a show specifically made for children with autism, makes my heart very happy. I love the idea that a realm that has brought me so much wonder and has made my imagination come to life can reach more and more audiences. The Show "Up and Away" sounds like a wonderful adventure that frankly, I'm jealous of the kids who get to go on it. It sounds like the Clark Studio Theatre has put so much thought into engineering the show in to one that is specially made for children with autism to enjoy, from the boldly colored costumes, the soft lighting, and all of the 4D surprises the show has give it that special touch that brightens the children's eyes and envelops them in their imagination. Even the added element of a room for audience members who feel overwhelmed show that the theatre has really done their research.I think author Laura Collins-Hughes had it right when she said that all theatres can learn something about how to keep their audience in mind when creating theatre, there are many ways to make it an experience to remember.
I’m impressed by this show. They really thought through the aspects that would prevent people with autism from being able to enjoy a show and then didn’t just get rid of those barriers but found a way to modify them so they would become helpful. It sounds like the two years of thought they put into this project paid off, and I’m hoping other theaters build off what they learned in order to produce more theater for autistic children. One of the big limitations of this show is how small the audience is, but I understand that it has to be that way for it to function. If people take the ideas they came up with for “Up and Away” and apply them to other shows, then theater like this can be accessible despite the small audience size. I do wonder how shows like this could be funded as they could sell so few tickets per show, but I guess I’d like to think that people would donate to the cause.
I clicked on this article because I was intrigued by the dreamy scenery shown in the thumbnail photo, but was so happy and surprised to read that it’s a photo from a production made for people on the autism spectrum. The idea of immersive theater for autistic people is genius. My older brother is autistic, so as someone who wants to work in theater and art, I’ve thought a lot about the industry in relation to him (and others with similar experiences). My brother went with my parents to see most of the shows I designed/ worked on during high school, but it was difficult for him to remain engaged/ focused when he couldn’t completely process what was happening. What this article reminded me of at first is how much my brother loves going to see IMAX 3-D movies, and how intently focused he becomes on the images that seem to be projecting outwards. He always reaches out to try and “touch” the images. You can also tell how much effort went into making this experience as comforting as possible, through what they said about the soft noises and lack of surprises. I can relate to both of these things very heavily, because throughout my childhood my brother’s sensitivity to noise and lack of ability to adjust due to surprises/ changed plans was a daily event. I think my brother would love going to something like this. In a lot of ways, it seems to mirror the interactive playtime he does as a part of his homeschooling/ therapy sessions. I can’t explain how happy it makes me to see the intersection of art and disability in this way.
I will not lie and say that this didn't bring a tear or seven to my eyes. What a wonderful experience to be had. This is a really incredible way to connect audiences who are not able to enjoy theatre in the same way that a typical audience can. I would absolutely love to work on a show like this. I think it's really neat that this show was so carefully crafted to be exactly what it was, and that these companies put so much care into the actual mission of the performance. It seems like it ended up being a very successful show, since there is such a long wait list. I hope these companies continue to do work like this. Between the article from last week that talked about the child who got 'shh'd' out of the audience - for which the lead of the show publicly stated his disappointment to the concept from an article a few weeks ago that theatre is too inclusive, I think it's really time that work like this starts to emerge more and more. The concept of theatre is to give it to people and let them experience it in whatever way they need to, so to me this is a big step in the right direction to fill some gaps.
Yes! This is awesome. I was introduced to the concept of creating theatre for very specific audiences very recently, and I am extremely excited about the new ways that theatre can be used as a tool, whether it is aimed at education or solely engagement. This sentence explains the premise of such projects quite clearly and concisely: “this carefully assembled multisensory experience is a stellar example of how to connect with an underserved audience by identifying obstacles to theatergoing and removing them one by one.” Key word: underserved. Creating theatre for children on the autism spectrum is a fantastic idea because many people on the spectrum have trouble at live performance events which can be quite surprisingly or over stimulating. Creating theatre with a specific audience in mind may close some doors, but opens up many new doors previously left unconsidered. How can the personalities of the audience members shape a work? For a performance like “Up and Away,” the interactive aspect adds many new possibilities: how can the input from audience members actually propel the experience? The author of this article really “gets it,” and I agree that very focused productions like “Up and Away” can teach a lot to other professional and immersive theatre.
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