Tony Mantor: Why Not Me the World
Dr. Blythe Corbett: Pioneering Autism Communication through Theater and Fostering Inclusive Expression
Wed, 12 Feb 2025
Send us a textWhat if theater could unlock new dimensions of communication for individuals with autism? Join us as we sit down with the remarkable Dr. Blythe Corbett, a trailblazer from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, who has seamlessly intertwined her love for performance with her cutting-edge research in autism. Through the pioneering work of Sense Theater, a nonprofit she founded in 2009, Dr. Corbett has transformed the landscape of social communication interventions, using the power of theater to foster personal growth and social skills in hundreds of participants. Her journey, marked by perseverance and innovation, has garnered significant recognition, including prestigious grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, showcasing the profound impact of blending science and the arts.This episode also takes you behind the scenes of Sense Theater's expansion plans, where inclusivity and creative expression are at the forefront. Through engaging productions, participants tackle themes of belonging, acceptance, and diversity, creating a tapestry of collaboration among individuals from diverse backgrounds. We delve into the thoughtful strategies implemented to support autistic individuals, such as managing anxiety and sensory overload, and the fun, engaging activities like improvisation and joke-telling that teach social cues and body language. Wrapping up, we reflect on the empowering conversations shared and extend an invitation to listeners who might have their own stories and insights to contribute.https://tonymantor.comhttps://Facebook.com/tonymantorhttps://instagram.com/tonymantorhttps://twitter.com/tonymantorhttps://youtube.com/tonymantormusicintro/outro music bed written by T. WildWhy Not Me the World music published by Mantor Music (BMI)
Chapter 1: How is theater used to improve communication in autism?
Absolutely. And thank you for asking. So we do work with a script and I'll tell you a little bit more about that in a minute, but I used to work with published scripts that people are quite familiar with, but I went back to my roots. We did this for a number of reasons. One, yes, I admit it's really fun, but for me, but in addition to that, we can choose the topics that
We can be flexible in terms of, you know, with our actors, with and without autism, they might come up with really great ideas. Guess what? They're now part of the play. They might have talents that they might be musicians. And all of a sudden we... Might have a gorilla who happens to play the violin. Why not?
And so being, again, being flexible in the way that we also present the stories can be meaningful. So we do have a script. We also include music. And typically we have about three songs throughout the 45 to 60 minute play. I say it's played with music because we don't provide as much music as you would normally see in a full-on musical.
Music is yet another aspect of the program that I don't need to tell you, Tony, but it really brings out a lot of really meaningful, powerful emotions in people. It's in Beijing, so it can often help people to want to participate. And obviously, it can be...
an enhanced and thrilling experience for the audience as well they also end up participating too a little bit more i think in the program because of that element of music so we have the script we have some music we have some improv but i think one of the other most critical characteristics of the program is everyone is cast in the show everyone has a character that they need to develop.
And so that also builds perspective taking, also better understanding the self, making decisions about how we're going to walk and talk and engage with others. What is my relationship with this character versus another? These are wonderful ways to practice and learn about social skills without being so obvious. It's a fun way to try to enhance our experience about other people and ourselves.
What age groups are involved in this theater that you're doing now?
It depends on the program, but we have gone down as young as seven. For most of our research, though, has been conducted with participants 10 to 16 years of age, so that's a youth program. And then we also have had programs for adults, and that ranges in age from 18 to 40 years of age.
Oh, that's great. How often do they get together for rehearsals?
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Chapter 2: Who is Dr. Blythe Corbett and what is her expertise?
For many of us, not having that positive affirmation of you're doing a good job or smiling and that sort of thing and seeing this flat aspect can be incredibly stressful. It also consists of performing a math subtraction test that if you get it wrong, you have to start over. Remarkably stressful for most of us because we don't want to be socially evaluated.
Well, across a number of different studies that we've published, we have found that many individuals in the upper west defense do not find such situations to be stressful. This idea of social evaluation and that kind of threat does not seem to be as concerning. In Sense Theater, we have found for many of our participants the same thing, Tony.
It's so interesting because many of them, they love being on the stage. They want to perform. It's interesting that in contrast to a lot of us, it's not as stressful as one might imagine.
But the other aspect that you mentioned in terms of the novelty factor, the new experience of walking into meeting people you've never met and doing things we haven't done and wearing clothes that might be uncomfortable in the form of a costume, those things we do need to shape. Meaning? Gradually introduce them for some of our participants. Take things slowly. Give them breaks.
And also let them participate in the decision. For example, what kind of costume do you want to wear? What do you have at home in your own closet that you can bring to be part of your costume? And they help also pick out other pieces that we might want to get for their character. That can help.
But getting past that first day, if we can do that, we tell parents, if we can just get through day one, we're going to be fine. So we try to plan day one pretty carefully.
Okay. Now, in any play, you've got different ages, you've got males, you've got females, all interacting with each other on the stage. Autistic people are fairly well known for a lot of things will go past them. For example, flirting, that type of thing.
So when you have a situation where they have to take and make a certain body movement or interact in a certain way, how do you get that across to them so that it gets across to the audience so they understand exactly what's going on within the play?
to share a couple of different things that we do. So we start out with joke time. Every week, we ask for W1 to bring in a joke that they will perform. And we, of course, support them in lab, even if it's not funny. They have to be clean. They're G-rated. But part of just doing that kind of gets over our fear of having people laugh, which some people think at us, but it's really with us.
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