As I walked in to the “Theatre for Complex Disabilities and the Autism Spectrum” workshop with Tim Webb at One Theatre World this past May, I had no idea what I was in for. I had switched from thinking I could apply this information in my classrooms more easily than baby theatre, to lamenting my choice and pining for the baby theatre workshop instead, to complete skepticism on how I could possibly use techniques for students with Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulties with my students…especially without the budget that the Oily Cart Company has behind them. In two years of working in various classrooms across the country, I had worked with children with mild autism or Asperger’s Syndrome but never taught anyone with profound learning disabilities. How was this workshop going to benefit me and my teaching? What had I signed up for?
Tim Webb, a quirky British man, captured my attention and my imagination. He told us that Oily Cart created theatre without a fourth wall—theatre that engaged their audience in a welcoming environment that made them feel safe to explore. As a performer in an Oily Cart production, you look at the audience much more than the audience looks at you, creating a three way dialogue with the students, their carers and the performers. This constant checking in is vital when performing for an audience that does not display the expected behavior, ensuring a feeling of comfort and safety as well as the most engaging experience possible. Perhaps most importantly, Oily Cart shows incorporates all five senses, remembering to go beyond just seeing and hearing. The power of touch becomes incredibly important in Oily Cart productions, primary examples being the use of bubbles or heat in many of their shows. Trampolines, pools and specially designed flying chairs are also wonderful tools for bringing PMLD students out of their shells, providing muscle change and heightened awareness. These physical shifts can spark a mental shift.
After taking us through several presentations, Tim turned the reins over to us, challenging the workshop participants to create a short piece of theatre that would engage the five senses and use the Oily Cart techniques we had learned about earlier. This segment of the workshop was my favorite part because it enabled me to break open a new set of tools and challenge my own creativity to think beyond regular theatrical practices: I did not have a general audience to entertain, rather I had to design a production for a very specific audience. Some groups re-imagined familiar fairy tales (like The Three Little Pigs that explored each house the pigs built and the experience of being blown down), while others created original pieces (like an outdoor adventure with Mother Nature through the changing seasons). It was certainly a new way of thinking about theatre…and one that excited me for the future. I had never considered working in applied theatre, and I am still unsure of how supported this type of theatre would be in the United States (Oily Cart is subsidized in large part by the government). If given the opportunity and resources, I would love to create theatre for this particular audience that so clearly benefits from the experience they probably do not receive elsewhere. Just watch clips of audience reactions during an Oily Cart production. They prove the power of theatre over and over again.
Perhaps I would not produce theatre for these special students on the scale that Oily Cart Company did, but I could apply the basic concepts of sensory and experiential theatre to all teaching that I did. Wasn’t engaging my students in theatre the primary goal of my classes? Once my outlook shifted, I realized that yes, this workshop primarily focused on “Theatre for Complex Disabilities and the Autism Spectrum,” but my teaching could learn something from how these special needs students engaged in theatre.
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