District-wide ‘Seussical’ will stage special needs performance
POTTSTOWN >> There are few who would argue that the beloved Dr. Seuss books help sensitize children to the feelings of others, and to a world beyond their own experience.
So why shouldn’t the musical, ‘Seussical,” which is based on those books, practice what it preaches?
It should, Robert Decker told the school board on Thursday.
Which is why, for the first time in the region as far as he could find out, Decker told the board that this year’s district-wide musical will have a special added performance on March 5 specially designed for a special needs audience.
“Theatre Etiquette” normally requires audiences to remain quiet, seated, and calm. However, these conventions often unfairly exclude a portion of the population.
The added performance, on Thursday, March 5, will be a “sensory friendly performance” that is designed especially for individuals with autism spectrum disorders, sensory sensitivities or other disabilities.
The seating will have a welcoming, inclusive, and relaxed space. The show, which will be shortened, will also have an interpreter for individuals with hearing impairments.
Environmental conditions will be modified by maintaining a low-level house lighting in case guests must get up and move around, by eliminating harsh changes in theatrical lighting, through the avoidance of large sound and visual effects, and by the replacement of the 22-piece orchestra with two keyboards.
House rules will be relaxed so that audience members can freely respond to shows in their own way and without judgment. They will be welcome to move around, get up, sing or dance.
Too often, said Decker, who is the show’s producer and teaches advanced math classes in the high school, he has heard parents of children on the autism scale say they cannot take their children out to eat, or to shows because “they can’t sit still,” or “they have to get up and walk around,” of “they want to talk back to the actors.”
The March 5 show will allow all that and more.
“We want them to be able to partake in things some of us take for granted,” Decker said.
The show runs from Feb. 28 through March 7.