Partners in Arts Participation

By providing five sessions of Stage Play to the community, 48 children with autism were given the opportunity to participate in accommodated theater activities. These children would not have been successful in regular acting classes provided by the Duluth Playhouse without specific accommodations. It was the first year that Stage Play did not have to advertise for participants. Families have heard about the many successes of this program and have called to get their child on the waiting list for the next session. Currently we have twelve children on the waiting list for the next session of Stage Play. Barriers were identified by parents of children with autism, by speech/language pathologists, and teaching professionals at the Duluth Playhouse. In the past children with autism were turned away from programming because theater staff did not have the training to engage and manage behaviors of children with autism successfully. The barriers are gradually changing for this population as more acting buddies and staff members are trained. It is felt that doors to theater will be open to this population as a result of this program. 2: There is a strong commitment between the teaching staff at the Duluth Playhouse and the Scottish Rite Clinic for Childhood Language Disorders staff because of the successes of the Stage Play program. Parents have given great feedback through end of the session evaluations. Through this experience parents indicate that they are more likely to enroll their child in other theater events in the future. Funding is the barrier standing in the way of the continued success of this program. Because the Stage Play professional staff has remained constant for the past three years, there has been a great deal of learning/training from both agencies. Many high ticket items such as projectors, equipment, and costumes have been purchased. Future funding would focus on paying for the professionals to organize and execute the program not for equipment needs. Both the Scottish Rite Clinic and the Duluth Playhouse rely heavily on donations and grants. Without your continued support, unfortunately there are limited funds for projects like Stage Play.