TRIB TOTAL MEDIA SUNDAY, MAY 19, 2019 · 15
INTHEARTS
make sure the shows were as meaningful
and accessible as possible.
For “Cityscape,” they wanted to create a
show that was going to piggyback on the
life skills that students learn in the classroom.
The story is about a girl who loses her
favorite piece of paper when it’s carried off
by a pigeon. She goes on an adventure to
get it back.
“So part of the show shows students how
to cross the street safely, how to look both
ways, how to find the crosswalk,” Santa
said.
“Also how to ask for help if you need it
and how to calm yourself down in a stressful
situation. We wanted to make sure they
could see what they were learning in the
classroom in an artistic light.”
Dankert applied for and received a minigrant
through the Woodland Hills Foundation
to bring two workshops and one
performance to her school.
During the workshops, she said, the
students were introduced, piece by piece,
to some of the concepts and situations
they would see in the show, such as having
a favorite item.
“It’s similar to what a lot of students
with autism have and experience,” Dankert
said.
“They have that preferred item and losing
that is huge, and it makes them sad
and angry and causes a lot of feelings and
emotions for them. So it’s a look into their
world through the eyes of someone else.”
Dankert said she has never seen anything
quite like Jumping Jack Theater before.
Immediately after it ended, her students
wanted to know if the performers were
coming back the next day. She’s hoping
to be able to bring them back next school
year.
The positive feedback keeps the theater
company going and motivates them to
come up with more content, Sabatine said.
“The Light Princess” debuted during the
Three Rivers Arts Festival, so they weren’t
sure what the reaction would be with an
audience that included children and adults
both neurotypical and on the spectrum.
But during the “meet and greets” held
afterward with the puppets used in the
show, there was nothing but smiles and
appreciation, she said.
“I actually had one special-needs audience
member — and I still have it with me
— write a note about the show that said,
‘She is different. Let her be different,’ and
gave that to me. Things like that prove this
works and is necessary.”
Right now the theater company consists
of Covert, Santa and Sabatine plus three
actors who appear in “Cityscape.”
In March, they had the opportunity to
travel to a national theater festival and
meet with other children’s theater groups
from around the U.S., many of whom were
very interested in what they were doing
and wanted help creating similar shows
with their companies.
Jumping Jack Theater also recently
received a grant from the Pennsylvania
Department of Higher Education and will
be partnering with theater students from
California University to revamp the production
of “The Light Princess” with new
sets, costumes and props. They’ll also collaborate
on new music and puppetry.
“Cityscape,” meanwhile, is what they call
a “box show,” so it can travel and they can
perform just about anywhere. They try to
keep the audiences small, Santa said, so
that each child feels like he or she is having
a special experience.
“In schools, you have all these different
assemblies and there’s 200 kids in one
room at one time screaming and clapping
and having a wonderful time, then maybe
there’s the student in the back covering his
or her ears or wearing headphones and
they have to leave the room because it’s
sensory overload,” Santa said.
“There was nothing coming into these
schools designed for those kids, for this
population. We wanted to give schools an
option so that those kids could have a safe,
beautiful, creative experience without all
the sensory overload that comes with other
events.”
Word of mouth helps them grow, Santa
said, and he encourages anyone who’s
interested to contact their school or other
organization about bringing the theater
company in.
To book a show or to find more information,
visit jumpingjacktheater.org or follow
them on Facebook or Instagram.
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