AURORA —It is Stacey D’Angelo’s self-proclaimed mission to use theater to give a voice to misunderstood people and communities.
So when the Community College of Aurora theater director found an unpublished stage play about a young girl on the autistic spectrum, she had to produce it for the college’s 2015 spring show.
“I always look for things that haven’t been done or new works … and so I found this piece, and I found the playwright and then I e-mailed her,” D’Angelo said. “She shared the script with me and I said, ‘I love it, I’d love to do it.'”
The piece is called “Mok’ing-bûrd.” It follows an 11-year-old girl after the death of her older brother. Caitlin is considered high-functioning on the autism spectrum. The work was adapted from a novel by playwright Julie Jensen.
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., commissioned Jensen to write the play. The Community College of Aurora theatre department will be the first theater in the country to produce it after its debut at the Kennedy Center, which ended Feb. 1.
All of the plays performed at the Community College of Aurora are close to D’Angelo’s heart, but “Mok’ing-bûrd” is particularly dear.
“My daughter has sensory processing disorder — she’s not on the autistic spectrum, but she feels the world very differently from other people,” D’Angelo said. “I learned that most people on the autistic spectrum also have sensory processing disorder … It’s been really neat to be connected in that way and learn about different levels of what people deal with, but it’s hard to wrap your brain around.”
To help the audience wrap their brains around Caitlin, D’Angelo is having some of her actors observe families who live with a child who is on the autistic spectrum.
“I want my actors to be able to witness what a therapy session is like or what someone on the spectrum grapples with — and also to have some input from the community … to make sure that we’re doing this the right way,” D’Angelo said.
Kay Toomey is a pediatric psychologist at the . She has worked for 30 years with children and families impacted by sensory processing and feeding disorders and people on the autism spectrum.
Toomey met D’Angelo while the theater director was seeking treatment for her young daughter.
“I was impressed when (D’Angelo) told me they were taking on this project and also that she would think to call me to work with her actors and actresses,” Toomey said. “This is a way for our families at the STAR Center to help educate the community. When you have a child on the autism spectrum, people don’t understand what your life is like.”
Community College of Aurora freshman Rachel Gawlikowski, 18, plays Caitlin. In “Mok’ing-bûrd,” Caitlin is dealing with the death of her older brother through the guidance of the people around her — her grieving father, her mentors and classmates.
“She lost her brother in a school shooting, she lost her mother two years prior due to cancer, she has a dad who is mentally exhausted … and she herself doesn’t process these big emotions the same way” Gawlikowski said. “It’s an emotional rollercoaster playing this role.”
Throughout the performance, four large projection screens show images, drawings and animations that are an ongoing representation of Caitlin’s thoughts and feelings. The entire Black Box Theater will be covered in chalk drawings that Caitlin creates during the show.
D’Angelo wanted the set to adapt to that world, so the March 21 performance will be sensory-friendly, meaning it’s arranged to accommodate people with sensory processing disorders.
That includes a shorter show, lower volume and consistent sound levels, letting patrons talk and leave their seats during the performance and having staff members who accommodate families’ needs.
D’Angelo said that that level of inclusion, and also of creating a space where people can understand a little bit of what it’s like to think or feel things outside of normal processing, is what will take the emotional performance to a proactive, thought-provoking level.
“When people think about children on the spectrum they are assuming the absolute worst — that children can’t communicate or (process information) normally — but that isn’t how most of those children function,” Toomey said. “They can interact with their own environment and they can connect with people in other environments if those people learn to … act in a way that joins into their world.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Mmitchelldp
“mok’ing-bûrd”
When: 7:30 p.m. March 12-14, and 19-21, and 1 p.m. March 14
and 21
Where: Larry D. Carter Theater (inside CCA Fine Arts Building)
16000 E. CentreTech Parkway, Aurora
Tickets: Call 303-340-7529 or go to ccaurora.edu/mockingbird
