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Clarksville, TN<\/strong> – When W. Riley Braem (\u201910) first arrived at Arizona State University to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater, the school\u2019s faculty challenged him to look deeper within himself to discover what he really wanted to do with his degree.<\/p>\nBraem immediately thought about Camp MARC, a summer camp for the mentally and physically handicapped where he has volunteered every year since he was 13.He served as a counselor at the camp even during his time at Austin Peay State University, where he earned a bachelor\u2019s degree in communication arts with an emphasis in theater. Now, with his M.F.A., he had the opportunity to combine his love of theater with his passion for helping this special needs community.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, what my thesis is going to focus on is developing a curriculum for theater education programs that take into account all of the issues that come along with working with these populations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Specifically, Braem is wanting to create a program that allows individuals who fall under the autism spectrum of disorders to participate comfortably in drama classes.<\/p>\n
\u201cDrama helps kids develop social skills, which is something kids on the autism spectrum lack,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are the skills that you get naturally by participating in theater and drama.\u201d<\/p>\n
But elements of these classes can often act as \u201ctriggers\u201d for students with autism, making it difficult for them to participate.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of them have sensitivity to sight, sound, smell,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople are not aware of it, so it becomes really hard and intimidating to teach these classes. That\u2019s where I come in, and I basically talk to the education staff and let them know some training that might be valid for them.\u201d<\/p>\n
But developing social skills is merely an added bonus, Braem said, for the type of program he\u2019s developing. As an artist himself, he\u2019s more concerned with these students appreciating the beauty of the craft.<\/p>\n
\u201cI approach it a little differently than most special education experts and most psychologists,\u201d he said. \u201cMy main goal in doing this is that they deserve to experience the art as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Braem hopes to finish his thesis this year and graduate in the spring. But he is already putting his research to work.Earlier this year, he joined the First Stage Theater Academy in Milwaukee, WI as a lead teaching artist for the school\u2019s Next Steps program. The academy specifically serves children with high functional autism and Asperser\u2019s Syndrome, and the Next Step classes push those individuals to take \u201ctheir next steps\u201d as artists.<\/p>\n
For more information on Braem, contact the APSU Area of Theatre and Dance at 931.221.6767.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Austin Peay State University Clarksville, TN – When W. Riley Braem (\u201910) first arrived at Arizona State University to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater, the school\u2019s faculty challenged him to look deeper within himself to discover what he really wanted to do with his degree. Braem immediately thought about Camp MARC, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[23,12362,2391,262,15894,825,15895,15896,1170,15893],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-3bG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12257,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12256\/revisions\/12257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}