Even their parents had serious doubts: How could a group of theater students with Down syndrome perform a play by Shakespeare — with its conflicted characters, surprising plot twists and quick-paced soliloquies?
But Katie Yohe, 31, a professionally trained actress who studied at the Globe Theatre in London and now directs a troupe of high school-age actors with Down syndrome, had seen it done. And she knew that with enthusiastic teachers, a supportive theater staff and energizing music, young people with Down syndrome could bring audiences to tears by performing the playwright’s masterpieces. So she developed a script, scheduled auditions and alerted parents that her acting group would tackle Shakespeare classics.
One mother pulled her daughter out of the troupe immediately.
“There was definitely some confusion and I think some trepidation from the parents,” said Yohe, who, undeterred, introduced Shakespeare to her troupe at GiGi’s Playhouse, a nonprofit organizations that offers programs for people with Down syndrome in Chicago. Six successful productions later, Yohe went on to co-found her own nonprofit organization, ABLE — Artists Breaking Limits & Expectations — with her fiance, Lawrence Kern.
This weekend, the troupe will aim to prove naysayers wrong when its 20 actors with Down syndrome take the stage at Chicago’s Shakespeare Theater for a production of “Twelfth Night.” The show, which is open to the public and had nearly sold out of $15 tickets by Friday, is prestigious exposure for the young actors whose production is part of the theater’s internationally recognized celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
Hollywood talent agents and advocates for people with disabilities say it’s an inspiring step forward in the ongoing effort to include people with special needs in the performing arts.
Since the breakthrough casting of Chris Burke, a boy with Down syndrome, in the late 1980s TV program “Life Goes On,” still less than 1 percent of actors on prime-time television today are people with disabilities, according to Gail Williamson, a talent agent who specializes in actors with special needs for Kazarian/Measures/Ruskin & Associates in Studio City, Calif.
Saturday’s matinee performance marks such a milestone for ABLE’s co-founders, Yohe and Kern, that they scheduled their wedding for this weekend so family and friends from around the country could be on hand for both happy events.
“The kids and their families, they are our family here,” Yohe said. “You can’t look at our relationship without looking at this program. We just wanted to share it with everyone.”
As a drama major at Syracuse University from 2002 to 2006, Yohe enjoyed learning Shakespeare more than any other genre. Emotions in his works are always big. Characters are clear, whether it’s a lover, a royal or a warrior, she said.
Through work with a program then called Young Actors Workshop — founded by two Syracuse faculty members who had a child with Down syndrome — Yohe learned the importance of offering people with special needs the opportunity to explore and develop their voices. Shakespeare, in many ways, is a fitting genre for actors with Down syndrome, who tend to be similarly big in emotion and clear about who they are, she said.
“Actors with Down syndrome have no filter; every emotion is 100 percent on the surface at its fullest amount,” Yohe said. “There are beautiful parallels.”
After seeing a similar project for actors with special needs offered successfully at the Globe Theatre in London, Yohe was inspired to replicate it.
She moved to Chicago in 2007, and in between auditions and acting jobs at Chicago theaters, she began volunteering at GiGi’s Playhouse. Just a few months later, she announced that the acting class, — actors between the ages of 15 and 21 — would perform “Romeo and Juliet.” Several local actors and friends in the theater industry signed on enthusiastically to help.
“I was worried because Shakespeare is hard to understand, not only for the kids but also, you just want it to be entertaining when you’re inviting your friends to come,” said Patrice Tuohy, whose daughter, Hannah Vilic, a 16-year-old with Down syndrome, is a member of the acting troupe that will perform “Twelfth Night.”
But it didn’t take long before even the most skeptical parents began to see how the process unfolds and the children thrive.
Through weekly practices, acting students learn the storyline, characters’ personalities and play themes. In time, the students understand the characters and plot so well they are asked to mime their own actions to the lines as teaching actors read aloud. At that point, the students are asked to audition for their favorite characters in the story.
During performances, a teacher sits on stage with a guitar leading the audience through the story. Actors, meanwhile, are led onto stage one at a time by a “line dropper” who recites the scripts for actors to repeat.
The actors with Down syndrome are not expected to memorize lines or follow strict stage blocking. But some surprise their teachers when they begin performing from memory and ad-libbing their own actions, Yohe said.
“It brings something that’s deep down inside that they can’t get at otherwise,” said Jacob Collins, whose 19-year-old son, Benjamin, was once mostly nonverbal and stunned ABLE directors by suddenly speaking up during practice for Saturday’s performance.
During a dress rehearsal this week, 18-year-old Colleen Altman gushed with excitement as she and other actresses changed into cotton tops with crushed velvet skirts.
“I’m excited for Saturday. My mom’s going to be there, my Dad, my brother, sister and my boyfriend,” Altman said to fellow actresses, who were also getting into costumes for the first time.
Minutes later, Altman completed her lines under the bright lights even before her “line dropper” finished giving her the words:
“For this night, to bed, and dream on the event.”
Williamson, the Los Angeles-area casting agent who represents five of the seven kids with Down syndrome featured on the A&E documentary “Born this Way,” said the more audiences are exposed to people with special needs, the more comfortable they will be interacting with people with special needs in everyday settings.
“We used to be taught to not even look,” Williamson said. “Now, I think we’re getting people that know that people with disabilities are part of their lives.”
Doreen Sayegh, the Chicago Shakespeare Theater’s producer for Shakespeare 400, its yearlong festival, said organizers are thrilled to include ABLE’s performance as part of the celebration. The theater’s mission is to demonstrate the modern-day relevance of the playwright’s work. A troupe of actors with Down syndrome who are clearly growing through their experience with Shakespeare is perhaps one of the most moving examples, she said.
“Actors go through years and years of coaching and training to find their voices in these words,” Sayegh said. “The kids feel a tremendous amount of accomplishment because they can do this thing that everybody points to as really difficult. And when your abilities are questioned — and they get up on stage and perform it — it’s amazing.”
Twitter @vikkiortiz
