Our fall semester is officially underway! Last week, each of our 3 ensembles met for orientation sessions. Orientation is a valuable time for all of the people who support our actors – parents, support workers, teaching artists, and facilitators – to come together and learn more about our plans for the semester and how to help our actors get the most out of class. This semester, we have SIX new actors joining our ensembles, and FIVE new facilitators, so it’s also an important opportunity to get to know each other and strengthen our community.
Image description: actors, facilitators, and A.B.L.E. parents play the game Stage Pictures in the Tuesday ensemble orientation. This group is working as a team and using their bodies to make a picture of a car.
So, what are we working on this semester? Glad you asked…
TEEN ENSEMBLES
This semester, our Monday and Friday ensemble members will work with a team of teaching artists and volunteer facilitators to devise an original show about ASSUMPTIONS. What happens when we make assumptions? Why do we make them? People, relationships, experiences, ideas, even trying new foods – how do our prejudices or beliefs change our experiences? And what happens when we actually give something/someone a chance? Actors will imagine new stories and share reflections from their own lives in a special combined performance in December.
ADULT ENSEMBLE
Our ever-expanding adult ensemble (up to 12 actors this term!) will work with a team of teaching artists and volunteer facilitators to devise original stories using special objects as stimulus. Whether a treasured gift from a loved one, a symbol of power, or a focus of desire, objects carry meaning. Our adult ensembles will spend the season looking at some of the famous objects from Shakespeare’s stories -a handkerchief, a crown, a bracelet, a cauldron, a book, a flower, a chalice, a skull…Actors will imagine new stories and share these alongside highlights from some of Shakespeare’s most famous works. We’ll share our work in two parts, with O for a Muse Part 1 in December, and O for a Muse Part 2 in May.
Image Description: Visual Aids are set up at an A.B.L.E. orientation. A whiteboards announces the goal for the day. Another whiteboard shares our check in question. A colorful board has the words and accompanying images for A.B.L.E.’s closing ritual “I take from the heavens.”
Over our ten-week rehearsal process, actors will build confidence and strengthen lifelong skills including speech and communication, focus, creativity, and teamwork. The finished performances will feature a variety of mediums including, scenes, monologues, movement and music, giving everyone a chance to be in the spotlight.
We look forward to seeing what our actors create this term, and sharing the finished products with you in December – stay tuned for announcements about performance dates and ticketing.
This is A.B.L.E.’s third full season as an independent 501c3 and our biggest to date. In addition to running, not one, not two, but THREE ensembles for teens and adults with developmental differences, we are also:
creating new curricula to expand our Workshop Series
expanding our outreach programming with new partnerships
launching a new professional development initiative to strengthen our team of teaching artists and facilitators
developing a few exciting longterm projects we can’t talk about quite yet!
If you would like to be a part of what we’re creating, click the button below to support our 2019-2020 Season
