Above: Sid "teaches" his puppet the importance of mask-wearing.
As we enter the final month of the year 2020, all of us at the Center for Applied Drama and Autism would like to express our deepest thanks to all who have continued to support us throughout these socially distanced times. That we have managed to find a way to deepen connection through creativity and laughter in our Zoom boxes is an unexpected upside in a year of so much loss.
We have been happy to welcome many new students from places that don’t have programs like CADA. We have expanded our teacher training workshops in order to share what we have learned with educators and theatre workers around the world!
When our world finally becomes safe enough to teach and produce theatre locally, we know that we will continue to offer virtual classes and productions as well as local community based offerings. While video-conferencing has some limitations, it has also expanded our outreach and creativity in unexpected ways. For some of our students, attending a drama class from the comfort of their own homes has given them confidence and reduced anxieties they might have felt in attending class in a studio. For drama teachers, the Zoom studios have inspired us to work on voice acting as well as exploring the possibilities of the Zoom box as a movie frame. We practice close-ups vs medium shots vs long shots and learn how best to effectively act within the Zoom frame.
We are grateful for our company of actors who have banded together throughout the pandemic to train, rehearse and perform. In August, we presented an original play written by our own Samir Hammoud, performed in Zoom.We are continuing our live-streamed Open Mics, moving to the second Sunday of the month starting this December. We are currently adapting and recording Along the Graveyard Path as an audio serial drama that will be released in 2021. It will be presented as a timeline of the history of disability. And we look forward to premiering eight new plays in our One Act Play Festival, featuring autistic and disabled playwrights from around the world!
We invite you to stay with us as we continue to shine our light throughout the course of the pandemic and beyond! Please consider joining in our end of year fund-raising through Giving Tuesday, attending our Murder Mystery on Dec 5th or donating via check or online as an end of the year gift toward next year’s projects.
Below: Ruben and Dean's Improv class from Fall Session
brought a lot of laughs to all the participants!