Why Theatre?

Typing “Theatre”, “Autism”, and “Research” into a search engine will yield an ever-increasing number of articles and studies addressing the benefits of introducing youth on the autism spectrum to the performing arts. Theatre allows children the opportunity to experience real-life situations and conflicts in a safe environment without the pressure to react “correctly”.  Working with scripts promotes analysis and consideration of characters’ motives and perspectives. Character development exercises ask the questions, “What would your face look like if you were disappointed?” or  “What did the actor do to tell the audience he was really stressed out?" The answers help actors give more believable performances, but to someone with ASD, it can be an epiphany.