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A screenshot shows the participants in the final class of the spring session of Theatre Horizon’s Autism Drama Program. (Courtesy of Theatre Horizon)
In early March 2020, Theater Horizon was just one week into its six-week drama class for young people on the autism spectrum, when the pandemic shut down all theaters in Pennsylvania.
“Immediately, we got calls from parents: `Are you going to still do that? Are you gonna still be there? We’ll come,’” said education director Mydera Taliah Robinson. “We very quickly understood the need.”
Robinson stopped all in-person classes of the Autism Drama Program and moved them online, having no idea how that would work. The weekly sessions include classes for kids mostly make-believe games and performance exercises and playwriting workshops for adults, both designed to improve social skills.