[Music]
my name is annie clark and this is Katie
man and together we co-founded fourth
wall theater company we started off as a
couple of theater nerds and now our
focus is on bringing the arts to
everyone because we believe that the
arts are inspirational educational but
most importantly their therapeutic we
are passionate about the Arts we believe
it can help anyone anywhere anytime any
age and today we’re going to talk about
the Arts and people with disabilities so
let’s say you’re someone who struggles
with communication being on stage and
playing a character can not only boost
your confidence it actually helps you
with your verbal skills you may not feel
comfortable saying something as yourself
but as Elsa from frozen you can stand up
in front of everyone and belt out let it
go let it go and if you’re someone who
may be social skills aren’t your thing
out in public you don’t know how close
or how far to stand next to someone the
theater is great because it tells you
how far you should stand away how to
look someone in the eye memorize your
lines that you’ve rehearsed and say them
over and over it really improves social
skills so when we first got our start
about four years ago fourth wall seemed
like a total pipe dream but as we got
going it quickly became a reality
because we began to realize how few
extracurricular activities actually
exist for people with special needs that
was four years ago and since then we
have serviced 5,000 students with
thank you we teach singing acting and
dancing and the stories and benefits of
personal growth it’s astounding it
really is it’s amazing we had a young
man who came into one of our classes and
he wouldn’t speak a word he didn’t even
make eye contact with us and then one
day in class we decided to have a talent
show and at this talent show each
student could stand up on stage and they
could say or do anything this young man
got on stage and not only did he speak
he recited an entire scene from a movie
word for word and after that we couldn’t
even get him to stop talking I love
stories like that but my favorite has
got to be our very first performance
when Annie and I had quit our jobs and
was like as those what we should do with
our lives it was with the down syndrome
guilt and there was one young lady who
during her performance was so excited
and so exuberant after her final vows
she ran up to me and said miss Kay de
mesquita mesquita miss Katie was Katie
everyone stared at me but it was because
I was good not because I was different
and that right there is the beautiful
thing about the theater is that it has
this positive impact on everyone it
touches and it’s not just our students
that stand up and perform on this stage
it’s the audience it’s their families
their parents their entire community
benefits from what they learn we like to
call it the happy ripple effect the
parents and community members they leave
feeling inspired seeing their children
and a light they may not have seen
before well the students they leave this
tall because they’re so proud and
they’re so important because they are
important so that brings me to our most
frequently asked question why the name
what does fourth wall mean so this is
where it comes from the actual stage has
three physical walls but then there’s
this invisible wall and it’s the wall
that separates the people onstage from
the people in the audience and in the
theater we call that the fourth wall now
there’s another theater term called
breaking the fourth wall and you’re
helping me do that right now because
you’re listening to me while I talk
instead of me ignoring your presence so
we decided when we started fourth wall
to kind of be a little unconventional
and break the fourth wall in Reverse
meaning that we invite literally
everyone up on to stage two shine
especially those who don’t normally get
that kind of opportunity and as you will
very soon see people who have just as
much talent please join me in welcoming
a performance and American Sign Language
by our troupe from the Down Syndrome
guild
you
[Music]
why are there so many songs about
rainbows and what’s on the
boys are fish but only illusion and rain
what so amazing that keeps our star
someday we’ll find it the Rainbow
Connection the lovers the dreamers and
me
[Music]
have you been half asleep and have you
heard voices I’ve heard them calling my
is this the sweets on the card the young
someday we’ll find it The Rainbow
the dream of
than me [Music]
my name is annie clark and this is Katie
man and together we co-founded fourth
wall theater company we started off as a
couple of theater nerds and now our
focus is on bringing the arts to
everyone because we believe that the
arts are inspirational educational but
most importantly their therapeutic we
are passionate about the Arts we believe
it can help anyone anywhere anytime any
age and today we’re going to talk about
the Arts and people with disabilities so
let’s say you’re someone who struggles
with communication being on stage and
playing a character can not only boost
your confidence it actually helps you
with your verbal skills you may not feel
comfortable saying something as yourself
but as Elsa from frozen you can stand up
in front of everyone and belt out let it
go let it go and if you’re someone who
may be social skills aren’t your thing
out in public you don’t know how close
or how far to stand next to someone the
theater is great because it tells you
how far you should stand away how to
look someone in the eye memorize your
lines that you’ve rehearsed and say them
over and over it really improves social
skills so when we first got our start
about four years ago fourth wall seemed
like a total pipe dream but as we got
going it quickly became a reality
because we began to realize how few
extracurricular activities actually
exist for people with special needs that
was four years ago and since then we
have serviced 5,000 students with
thank you we teach singing acting and
dancing and the stories and benefits of
personal growth it’s astounding it
really is it’s amazing we had a young
man who came into one of our classes and
he wouldn’t speak a word he didn’t even
make eye contact with us and then one
day in class we decided to have a talent
show and at this talent show each
student could stand up on stage and they
could say or do anything this young man
got on stage and not only did he speak
he recited an entire scene from a movie
word for word and after that we couldn’t
even get him to stop talking I love
stories like that but my favorite has
got to be our very first performance
when Annie and I had quit our jobs and
was like as those what we should do with
our lives it was with the down syndrome
guilt and there was one young lady who
during her performance was so excited
and so exuberant after her final vows
she ran up to me and said miss Kay de
mesquita mesquita miss Katie was Katie
everyone stared at me but it was because
I was good not because I was different
and that right there is the beautiful
thing about the theater is that it has
this positive impact on everyone it
touches and it’s not just our students
that stand up and perform on this stage
it’s the audience it’s their families
their parents their entire community
benefits from what they learn we like to
call it the happy ripple effect the
parents and community members they leave
feeling inspired seeing their children
and a light they may not have seen
before well the students they leave this
tall because they’re so proud and
they’re so important because they are
important so that brings me to our most
frequently asked question why the name
what does fourth wall mean so this is
where it comes from the actual stage has
three physical walls but then there’s
this invisible wall and it’s the wall
that separates the people onstage from
the people in the audience and in the
theater we call that the fourth wall now
there’s another theater term called
breaking the fourth wall and you’re
helping me do that right now because
you’re listening to me while I talk
instead of me ignoring your presence so
we decided when we started fourth wall
to kind of be a little unconventional
and break the fourth wall in Reverse
meaning that we invite literally
everyone up on to stage two shine
especially those who don’t normally get
that kind of opportunity and as you will
very soon see people who have just as
much talent please join me in welcoming
a performance and American Sign Language
by our troupe from the Down Syndrome
guild
you
[Music]
why are there so many songs about
rainbows and what’s on the
boys are fish but only illusion and rain
what so amazing that keeps our star
someday we’ll find it the Rainbow
Connection the lovers the dreamers and
me
[Music]
have you been half asleep and have you
heard voices I’ve heard them calling my
is this the sweets on the card the young
someday we’ll find it The Rainbow
the dream of
than me [Music]
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