Adults with disabilities are encouraged to sign up for free theatre acting classes beginning in March. Classes for adults will be held on Mondays starting on March 19th from 7:00-8:00PM.Each class is 1 hour long. The classes will take place in Moscow, Idaho but a place has not been determined yet. Registration is limited to the first 15 people that sign up through Eventbrite, so please respond quickly.
The classes are being sponsored by Families Together and Artists Striving to End Poverty (ASTEP). Parents, professionals, and researchers are always searching for new ways to help individuals with disabilities, and there is a growing interest in using theatre to do so. Theatre activities can be used to teach emotion recognition, non-verbal behaviors and gestures, listening skills, eye contact, conversation skills, strategies to handle social situations, and other social skills.
Particular features of theatre-based strategies make them especially useful when working with individuals with disabilities:
-The theatre is a safe place for individuals to try new things/make mistakes
-Theatre is inherently fun and motivating
-Theatre is highly STRUCTURED (an actor has prescribed lines and actions)
-Theatre strategies are usually inexpensive (just need an idea, space, and time)
Theatre activities allow for repeated practice of specific skills i.e. appropriate responses in conversation, recognizing nonverbal facial expressions of others, both positive and negative, suitable greetings and farewells, initiating friendships and conversations with others, introducing others, conversational tones and appropriate voice volume, manners and conversational etiquette, accepting help and giving and receiving compliments.
Because generalization of skills can be difficult for individuals with disabilities, social skills training needs to take place within play and community activities, not through class instruction. Appropriate social skills training for children with disabilities can have a significant effect on the quality of the individual’s life and, will be a benefit for the community at large.