“ Performance is transformat ive, a way to find your
voice and find your creat ivity and strengt h.”
Heller An Shapiro
explains Cathleen Sherman, Lilly’s mom. “With
each thing she’s done, Imagination Stage gave
her the right amount of support,” she says. “She’s
really proud of herself at the end of each class.”
Plus, Lilly’s self-confidence keeps growing. She
auditioned for the lead in “Aladdin,” and although
she didn’t get that role, she intends to try again in
other Imagination Stage productions.

ArtStream, based in Chevy Chase, also offers
classes specifically for kids with intellectual and
developmental disabilities who might otherwise
get left out of traditional theater programs.

Penny Russell, a teaching artist at ArtStream,
says theater programs benefit children with
disabilities by helping with social and emotional
development. “Working through emotions in
character can help a child recognize their own
emotions as well as the emotions of others. This
leads to greater empathy … [which] will help the
participant throughout their life,” she says.

Turner also sees theater classes as a place
for new ideas to flourish. Creativity happens
naturally when “students use imagination for
games and exercises,” he says. For instance, they
may receive fictional scenarios and be asked to
Montessori School
of McLean
Exceptional Montessori
Education for Toddlers
through Upper Elementary:
Ages 2-12
create their own characters and scenes as part
of improvisation. This is where children with
disabilities blossom as they use their own vision
and draw from their personal preferences and
lives to create new things.

Time management, meeting deadlines, flexibility,
thinking on one’s feet and problem solving are also
skills kids learn in a theater class, says Heller An
Shapiro, ArtStream’s executive director.

“Performance is transformative, a way to find
your voice and find your creativity and strength,”
Shapiro says. More than that, it provides the
opportunity for parents and others to see a child
on stage. “They see them in a whole new light and
recognize talent and confidence they didn’t know
that student had.”
When Cathleen Sherman watched daughter
Lilly onstage in “Aladdin,” singing and dancing
as part of the ensemble in nearly every scene, she
was amazed. Lilly’s friends came to watch her and
couldn’t believe what she was capable of.

“That was one of our favorite memories,” says
Sherman. n
Additional reporting by Amanda M. Socci.

The Center for
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• Ongoing registration
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