Northwest Indiana Times January 26, 2009
'Red Kite Round Up' steers children with autism into live theater
BY MOLLY WOULFE
For most families, a trip to a play, park or movie is a treat.
Not with a 7-year-old with autism.
Just going to a restaurant "is impossible," Hobart mom Lisa Fox said.
When her son was younger, he was unable to wait in line, a trait common to youngsters with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). "He'd scream and cry and throw himself on the ground, get 100 times angrier than you'd consider normal," said Fox, head of the Northwest Indiana chapter of the National Autism Association.
"People didn't understand. I wish I had a dime for every rude stare I got. I'd be a millionaire."
Diagnosed at 22 months, her son responded to therapy and is a second-grader in a mainstream school. But his parents remain watchful. Families dealing with autism families rarely enjoy carefree outings "because their kids are different," Fox said.
The Chicago Children's Theatre seeks to level the playing field, giving kids with ASD a chance to be themselves.
The brainchild of artistic director Jacqui Russell, the troupe's "Red Kite Round Up" whisks children ages 5 to 13 on a digitally simulated camping trip where they can hike, chase fireflies and star-gaze. Cowgirl Ruby (Jessie Fisher) and Ranger Rick (John Francisco) lead their charges on a slow-motion nature hike and a mock raft ride. They also introduce them to puppet insects and birds.
Each interactive 45-minute performance is limited to 10 youngsters and their chaperones. Since many children with autism are sensitive to light and sound, the play is staged in the ASD-friendly rehearsal room in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park. Activities include square dancing, a lot of music and campfire songs. Projected scenes establish different stops on the trip.
The first time a child attends, he may be withdrawn, hyperactive or cling to a parent. But many break into smiles and ask to come back. One little girl, seemingly indifferent to her first exposure to live theater, returned with a request. She wanted to dance with Francisco. (He obliged.)
"Anything goes," Russell said. "We had one situation where one child just wanted to experience the whole thing from the doorway. That's OK. The characters brought the puppets out to the child in the hallway and sang."
Autism, a complex neurological disorder, affects an estimated 1.5 million Americans and hampers their social and communication skills. Children on the spectrum may avoid eye contact, lack empathy, and focus intently on one object. Shifts in routines can trigger screams, hand-flapping, and rocking. One recent study estimates that ASD affects 110 per 10,000 people.
Russell, who has worked with children with autism since 1997, developed the Red Kite pilot program in 2006. The CCT's first ASD-sensitive show drew 350 families to the Chicago Children's Museum in 2008.
The veteran educator hopes to double that number this year, and expand a summer arts camp for children with special needs. The new, Western-themed "Round Up" is performed three to five times a day Sundays through Saturdays.
The kids don't know it, but each has their own personal actor on call. Red Kite concierge Julia Beck pre-interviews parents, then each actor is assigned a little patron and briefed on the child's name, age, and temperament. Parents also receive a social story (a show description, written from a child's perspective) so they can prepare their son or daughter for the outing.
"Everyone has their different quirks," stage manager Dawn Akelis noted. One child may be shy, another, "a darter." The better advised the actors, the easier to engage the child.
Occupational hazards bound. "We've all had bites," Russell said cheerfully. "John was bitten twice last year. He was kind of proud of it, actually. He showed us all pictures of his bites."
All the actors have teaching backgrounds, so they know how to improvise and go with the flow. When Jacob Wittman, 13, joked, "Alligators are going to eat me!" during the raft sequence, "the staff made up a song about him," said mom Shelly Henley, of Carmel, Ind. "He had a blast. He really did."
That said, the show sometimes evokes as many tears as smiles. It's not uncommon for parents to sob, watching their child use binoculars for the first time. Most of these kids "will never be in the Cub Scouts," said Akelis, who doubles as Cookie the Cook. "This is their only chance to go camping with their parents."
For the cast, each performance is both moving and rewarding. As Akelis put it, "I can't do 'Chorus Line' after this."
Once a group of blind children came to the show. To make the storyline accessible, the actors emphasized touch, bringing puppets directly to the kids. The tots' tenderness toward the baby birds undid everyone.
"The cast sat and cried for 15 minutes," Russell said. "Who wouldn't?"
"Red Kite Round Up," presented by Chicago Children's Theatre through Feb. 19
WHERE: Jay Pritzker Pavilion Choral Rehearsal Room in Millennium Park, 201 E. Randolph St., Chicago (Follow posted signs behind the Pavilion to the ground-floor entrance).
TICKETS: $10 ($20 for a child and chaperone); $10 observer tickets subject to availability
FYI: (773) 227-0180, ext. 15 or chicagochildrenstheatre.org
PARKING: Millennium Park Garage. The automobile entrance is on South Columbus Drive between Monroe Street (from the south, heading north) and Randolph Street (from the north, heading south).
"Red Kite" project owes its name to a verse from the song "Sister," by Michigan-born folk-rocker Sufjan Stevens. "And I have a red kite," Stevens sings. "I'll put you right in it. I'll show you the sky."
The kite represents the freedom that live theater offers to children with autism.