Even if you're used to the amped-up interaction of kids' theater, you can tell something's different from the moment you walk into a production of Chicago Children's Theatre's Red Kite Round Up. The set of the 40-minute play about a summer camping trip seems purposefully peaceful, awash in mossy green colors with a gauzy sky backdrop and soothing music piped in. When the kids bounce in, they lie on benches and on the floor, and jump, shout and grab at props without any interference from staff or caregivers.

These kids, who all have disorders on the autism spectrum (ASD), are already comfortable with their surroundings and “counselors,” performers who go by names such as Ranger Bob and Cowgirl Ruby. They're familiar with the faces of the cast, too, thanks to a quick intro video shown in their classrooms beforehand. An always-visible schedule of what the day at “camp” entails also eases any potential discomfort for the kids, ages 5–14, who don't take to surprises well because of their disorders. The actors have also studied up on their audience. Theybestow plenty of individual attention and throw the kids' names into song lyrics, making them feel at home. “The kids are at ease because they aren't confronted by anything unknown,” says Jacqueline Russell, CCT's cofounder and artistic director. “They don't have to sit or listen or stay quiet. Some want to do and touch everything; others don't. They all are a part of the experience differently.”

Red Kite is Russell's baby. She's taught theater to kids with autism since 1997, when she worked as director of education, then executive director, at Lookingglass Theatre. Before that she trained with multi-sensory theater specialists in London, and passed on that training to the cast of actors and teaching artists.“Whether it's autism or Asperger's, every child with autism spectrum disorder is different,” she says. This production offers the audience—a small group of ten to match the number of actors—things to appeal to their senses, like fuzzy caterpillars to pet; water to “paddle” via canoe; and stars to gaze at, with interactive songs to match.

Creating the content for this very hands-on production required plenty of research. Russell consulted Chicago Public Schools special-education teachers and ASD specialists from Rush University Hospital, whose suggestions included letting each kid go at their own pace while watching the show.

Even with all the dotted i's and crossed t's, CCT manages a sense of stage magic as the actors do equal parts kid-wrangling, acting and singing.

“It's an interesting challenge to keep each show going,” says Russell. “The actors pretty much need eyes in the back of their head. But it's all done without judgment.” The cast knows every show will be different, and they're ready to run with that. (At a show we attended, a child tried to run away with a giant butterfly prop, and Cowgirl Ruby calmly blocked the exit for five full minutes.)

Grown-ups get in on the act, too, snapping pictures and corraling snagged props. It's an experience that's refreshing for the caregivers. “We didn't feel like we stood out,” one mother told us. And that, it seems, is Russell's goal: “Nothing is off limits; you can't screw up here.”

Red Kite Round Up plays the Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park through February 19.

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