SHOW TIME! Craig Price, Education Director, and Acting for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) students put on a performance. T H E AT R E C L A SS E S That Meet Diverse Needs There are few experiences as empowering as creating beautiful and impactful theatre. So while it is important to increase access to watching theatrical productions and to provide opportunities to learn through theatre, it is also important to make sure that people with special needs have a place to create art themselves. The Naples Players’ first acting class for children with special needs was introduced the spring of 2017 as a 5-week session with weekly classes and 7 kids in the first group. The program was then expanded to 2-week sessions with daily classes during the summer. Over the course of the sessions, the kids learned acting skills from the talented professionals at The Naples Players. By the end of the session, they had rehearsed and prepared a mini-production, which they performed in front of a live audience. From the beginning, the program was open to children with any sensory diagnosis. While some of the kids were fully verbal, but others were nonverbal, meaning they communicate primarily through sign lan- >> Continued on page 66 www.naplesplayers.org | (239) 263-7990 65
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