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| Imagining the Unimaginable . Making Dreams Come True | ||
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Quebec Lieutenant Governor Lise Thibault was in danger of being drowned by the Queen of Hearts - drowned in a sea of kisses, that is. And the audience of 400 people at Loyola Campus's F.C. Smith Auditorium on June 17 was submerging both women in a laugh-filled standing ovation at the conclusion of And Alice Dreams . . . , a musical production presented by Concordia's Centre for the Arts in Human Development. The performance of And Alice Dreams . . . , loosely based on Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, was the culmination of months of preparation for students, faculty, volunteers and the Centre's "clients" - intellectually challenged individuals from the community. The Centre for the Arts in Human Development, which officially opened its doors at Concordia in 1996, holds a multi-purpos mandate: to provide clinical training for graduate students in Concordia's creative arts therapies program, to provide clinical therapeutic services to members of the special needs population, to advance research that demonstrates the value and effectiveness of the creative arts therapies program, and to develop public outreach programs that educate the public at large about the Centre and the creative capacities of its special population.
The Centre was the brainchild of its clinical coordinator and fundraiser, Lenore Vosberg, who first conceived the idea in 1993, inspired by her social work with developmentally disabled individuals at the West Montreal Readaptation Centre (formerly Les Promotions Sociales Taylor Thibodeau). "I thought to myself," Vosberg recollects, " 'Wouldn't it be wonderful if we had a centre where our clients could have a quality-of-life enrichment program to enable them to develop their creativity?' " Her concept led her to Concordia creative arts therapies professor Stephen Snow, then head of the Concordia theatre department's Drama in Education Program. Snow had previous experience directing theatre productions with special populations - schizophrenics and seniors - and he was motivated to create a course/workshop involving his students with Vosberg's "clients." The resulting hands-on education course was Snow's first experience working with adults with intellectual disabilities, some of whom also had emotional and physical disabilities, and proved such a triumph with both students and clients that he and Vosberg decided to put on a full-scale musical, with Snow as director and Vosberg as producer. "I said okay, not knowing what I was getting into at the time," recalls Vosberg wryly. She soon learnt that a major component of the producer's job is fundraising, of which she knew little. Furthermore, Vosberg remembers the shock she felt when she requested permission from the Walt Disney Corporation to do a theatrical production based on the movie Aladdin. Disney sternly turned her down, citing copyright laws. As a result, Snow created an original musical production, Oh! That Aladdin, with lyrics by sound designer Roger Jay and original music composed by music therapist Shelley Snow. The show's success helped lead to the Centre's opening in 1996. As clinical coordinator, Vosberg's responsibilities include the recruitment of program participants from local CLSCs, centres working with the developmentally disabled, such as the West Montreal Readaptation Centre, and special-education programs for adults at the CEGEP level; social workers also refer potential participants. The University provides housing for the Centre in a duplex on Belmore Avenue, a quiet, tree-lined street just off the Loyola Campus, as well as providing the professors' time and other services. The Centre has received a $60,000 Seagram's Grant for Academic Innovation and, most recently, the University provided funding to ensure its continuity for the next academic year. It operates two and a half days a week, up from two days last year, and hopes to eventually open on a full-time basis and to expand its reach into other special populations, such as children with disabilities and teenagers in distress. Yet the Centre for the Arts in Human Development's ongoing presence at Concordia is still not assured. Stephen Snow's wish list includes regular funding from the University - which it currently does not enjoy - and a major endowment. This infusion would help the Centre avoid the yearly scramble for operating monies, add a full-time speech therapist and continue the musical productions every two years, whose costs have risen to nearly $35,000 per show. Vosberg adds, "Part of our problem is our low visibility at the University." The Centre uses about 10 areas around the Loyola Campus for students and participants to interact during regular activities. Miranda D'Amico of the education department heads the research aspect, measuring the growth in self-esteem and behaviour of clients from the beginning to the end of the two-year program. Staff and students from the theatre department are involved in designing and building the intricate and colourful costumes and set design for each play, the program's centrepiece. A key component of the Centre is the involvement of graduate students from Concordia's creative arts therapies - art, drama, music and dance/movement therapies. Four art therapy students and four drama therapy students are placed in a practicum at the Centre during their first year. They also assist with groups in the music and dance/movement therapies, run groups in their specialties, or act as consultants and assist outside their specialties. The students are involved in clinical rounds and in the unique community that exists at the Centre. The rest of the heavy schedule consists of regular course work and writing their master's theses. By the end of the intensive two-year program, the students have obtained a good grounding and clinical experience in at least three, and usually all four, of the creative arts therapies.
Montreal native Mary Burns, an actress, singer and acting teacher by profession, juggled multiple roles during the hectic second year with studies in drama therapy, her work as assistant director on And Alice Dreams . . . , and leading the first support group for the actors, where they could discuss their fears, anxieties, challenges and excitement in a safe environment. The participants were worried initially about working without a script, about singing in public, about appearing on stage. These fears were eventually transformed into "a sense of pride and awareness of what they can do" when their natural creative abilities came to the fore during rehearsals, according to Burns. The experience transformed her as well: she plans to teach drama therapy to the intellectually challenged while continuing her singing and acting careers. "I learned a lot from them," she says, "how to live in the moment and not worry about the future." I learned a lot from them: how to live in the moment and not worry about the future Participants in the play are involved in groups at the Centre for a full year and a half before the shows - it takes that long to draw many of them out of their inhibitions. Preparation for And Alice Dreams . . . began in January 2000, with Snow listening closely to the actors' improvisations, weaving them into the fabric of the play while choosing scenes from the original text that reflect the flow and theme of the work. Bringing the participants onstage in front of a general audience, declares Vosberg, is "a tremendous opportunity to change the stereotypical attitudes of people toward the developmentally disabled." Many of the play's best lines
evolved from the clients' own inspirations and feelings. A working script was produced in
May, then pared down to suit the individuals' capabilities. Snow has a special touch
when casting. In And Alice Dreams . . . , the Painter of Roses, Rose Wong, fit her role
not only by virtue of her name, but coincidentally by her family's involvement in the
florist business. A quiet, withdrawn woman when she entered the program, Wong blossomed
during her two years at the Centre. Mad Hatter Terry Rutherford wanted the role so badly
that he brought back an appropriate hat after a recent visit to Disney World. Rutherford
rehearsed at home alone and with his mother. "I don't really know how I've changed,
but I have - for the better," he says. Donna Poirier sat quietly for several weeks watching the rehearsals but not fully participating, until she was put into her exaggeratedly cut outfit for her role as Tweedledum. Then her creative spark was unleashed, and she acted with relish. "I feel better about myself," she says. March Hare Danny Smith demonstrated a genuine flair for song and comedy in his rendition of Tea for Three, tap-dancing together with Dormouse Rozalia Derjuga to the delight of the audience. The emotional impact on the audience watching the talents of these actors unfold on stage is also palpable. Bringing the participants onstage in front of a general audience, declares Vosberg, allows for "a tremendous opportunity to change the stereotypical attitudes of people towards the developmentally disabled. It has a tremendous impact on this population, which has been traditionally stigmatized and isolated." She adds, "We're all human and have the same common needs and feelings."
"Part of the true magic of these productions is that they are very heart-centred," says composer-arranger Shelley Snow. "The participants are so giving, they bring out loving qualities in other people. They teach us to open our hearts." Rachel Alkallay, BA 82, MA 91, is a Montreal freelance writer and author of four books. For more information contact the Centre for the Arts in Human Development, (514) 848-8619, Centre_arts_hd@yahoo.com, www.total.net/~aladdin/ Concordia will host the first conference in creative arts therapies, Oct. 20-22. For more information contact Lise Lepine, (514) 274-2461; liselepine@hotmail.com; http://art-therapy.concordia.ca/cats2000/ If you have any comments about this article or the Centre for the Arts in Human Development, contact Howard Bokser, (514) 848-4856, howardb@alcor.concordia.ca |
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Graduate student and
assistant director Nicola Bangham was drawn from her St. Catharines, Ontario, home to
Concordia because of the University's reputation in fine arts. Originally interested in
art therapy, Bangham found herself increasingly involved in drama therapy after doing her
first-year practicum at the Centre. She was asked by Vosberg to head the Creative Arts
Apprenticeship Program, where four students from alternative high schools work at the
Centre (two dropped out early in last year's program). 
A small
dream can become a big reality thanks to people who share the vision, as Alice's slogan in
And Alice Dreams . . . proves: "Yes, I can," states Lisa Walsh as Alice,
bringing her positive spirit to the aid of the Mock Turtle, who "comes out of [his]
shell" at the end of the play. The lesson speaks to all those associated with the
play. Part of the Centre's objective is to bring that message of hope to other people
facing special challenges: abused children and teenagers, adolescents from alternative
high schools, and parents of the participants, several of whom volunteer at the Centre.
Two of this year's shows were put on for elementary school students and for the
disabled as part of the Centre's public outreach mandate.