Hey guys - I wanted to share the email I sent to both the Independent and the NW Herald about the Life Skills performance. Dont know if theyll do anything with it, but I wanted you to read it nonetheless. On November 20th at 10am, something magical happened. After much work, the districts administrators had been convinced to allow a school day performance of Woodstock Norths Charlottes Web as a special invitation event for District 200s Life Skills students. As I stood near the front of the stage and watched students from Prairiewood & Westwood Elementary as well as Woodstock North arrive in wheelchairs, with teachers and aides - all about to experience something they had never experienced before, I cried. These students are a part of our community and, for the most part, going to see a live theatrical performance is something they would not be able to do because they arent a typical audience. This was a monumental and extraordinary event for both the attendees and those presenting the play. You see, my son Henry is a student in Prairiewoods Life Skills program. And while I knew he would love nothing more than to go see a play about farm animals with a huge barn and music and dancing, I also knew his father and I could not take him because his Down Syndrome and autism prevents him for being a proper audience member and could interfere with others enjoyment of the event. I sat taking pictures at the front of the stage watching these children become transported into the story presented by the high schoolers. Children who can hardly ever stop moving, stopped. Children who are constantly squealing, shouting or just vocalizing were quiet. Children who dont make eye contact were FOCUSED on the stage, watching the action. I was blown away and I know these kids. I have to share this with our community so everyone knows that this happened and how important it was. This was a big effort to make it happen with quite a few hoops to jump through, so let me share this with you: What an amazing morning. An auditorium full of our districts Life Skills students seeing their first live theatrical performance. And as these kids often do, they completely surpassed our expectations for attention and behavior! Thank you to our superintendent, Mike Moan, who heard our request, saw the value in it, and made it happen. Thank you to Sue Lewis, PAC manager at Woodstock North, who was willing to not only do it, but to adapt their performance to this non traditional audience. You are a godsend to us. Thank you to the WNHS Theatre parents who took their time to be there and help out in any & every way. Thank you to the teachers & aides/associates of these kids who took on the extra work of getting the kids there and meeting their needs in a different environment. Thank you to the transportation department for working out the buses needed for this trip. And thank you to all the kids at North who were excited about doing this for this population of students and who gave 100% to these kids. Learning new light cues & sound cues, quickly memorizing cuts to the script and being flexible enough to handle it. Just..thank you all. You all provided an experience for these kids that theyd probably never had and might never have again. Seeing the faces of these kids who couldnt believe this was happening live in front of them filled my heart to overflowing. This was a big, big deal and Im sure it will be remembered for a long time. Finally, let me share a picture I took that morning. This is just part of the audience. They were enraptured with mouths open, eyes focused and encased in magic. Thank you for reading this and I hope you will somehow share this with our community. I have more pictures if youre interested.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Nov 2014 03:08:33 +0000
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