 The Theater Ensemble is a neurodivergent theater company that seeks to engage both artists and audience and develop social skills, empathy and self-determination. What's your job? To promote neurodiversity. What's your job? Neurodiversity means to me taking neurodivergent and neurotypical artists and working together the way my brain works is to this company more of a boon than a burden. In most of my life I have kind of felt like a visitor from out of the planet. STE's mission is to have a group of people who work both on and off spectrum and create an environment where everybody is welcome and spread that throughout the world. Hi, my name is Clay Martin and I'm the Artistic Director of Spectrum Theater Ensemble. I'm Teddy Lairo and I'm Associate Artistic Director in Charge of Community Engagement for Spectrum Theater Ensemble. My name is Daniel Perkins and I am a founding resident member of Spectrum Theater Ensemble. My name is Troy Battle. I'm the Managing Director for Spectrum Theater Ensemble. Hi, my name is Dan Boyle. I am an Artist and Administrative Associate and I sit there as the Board of Directors for Spectrum Theater Ensemble. My name is Katharine Jwadek. I have a company member with Spectrum Theater Ensemble, as well as one of their designers. My name is Adam D. Bram, Pretendious Mental Enention. My name is David Adams Murphy. I was a founding member of Spectrum Theater Ensemble. I was one of the first people Clay contacted when he still had the initial idea while working in training. I was fortunate enough to receive a grant from the Theater Communications Group and the Andrew Melvin Foundation, which partnered me with Trinity Rep at an amazing theater based in Providence, Rhode Island. For us in particular, some of the neurodivergent artists and collaborators that we work with most prevalently include on the autism spectrum, dyslexia, learning disabilities and PTSD. While I'm not on the spectrum, I am a disabled artist who has neurological disabilities. That has both created a lot of opportunities and a lot of challenges through my life. When I was diagnosed at two years old, the doctors said I wouldn't be able to read, write, have me for relationships or be able to live on my own. I was diagnosed at ninth grade in high school. I was fairly recently diagnosed with aspirin. I was diagnosed at age 11 with a pre-diagnosis at age six. So neurodiversity to me means taking neurodivergent and neurotypical artists and collaborators and bringing them together to create a neurodiverse community. The struggles that I faced as a student, fitting the academic system and structure were often seen and addressed with lowering expectations rather than accommodating and adjusting to the way I learned in order to provide the best possible outcome. So since our inception with spectrum identity, we leave with all of our projects at least in some way with what do you need and what can you provide. It actually gave me a little more insight into the people I was working with. So I would give them what I needed and I would give them what I could give them. It was kind of a trade-on-trade situation. I learned from them what they needed and want and they would learn what I needed and what I want. I collaborated with these individuals and knew that this time when starting a professional theater company that I wanted the foundation of not to be created solely by myself or by educators but by the members of the company. Instead of using the established script, we used moments to put together a cohesive sort of storyline or separate vignettes. With the identities of our members and the stories of their life. Well, we begin is when you begin a certain moment in rehearsal. It's literally the process of beginning and ending. And then when we end, we sort of end and discuss what could be clear. What was unclear. Through the process, not only develop a play about us but also the core fundamentals of our company our values and what we hope to do in the future. That stands for neurodiverse inclusive certified entertainment. I think the most important word that defines our company. Neurodiverse means that it's not only people on the autism spectrum but also people who are not on the autism spectrum or neurotypical. Processing something differently doesn't mean that you don't process it. And the way I see it, it's like a pie. Because on the top, the crust, you have the neurotypical point of view which is very good because you can learn from them. But the most important part is the filling which has to have taste and meaning and that can represent the people who have visibility that want to share their story. Without that filling, that crust is going to collapse. It is very consciously that we decided as a company that we would not be all one thing or all the other but that there is strength and potential in the collaboration of both those entities. Neurodiversity to me, it just means pretty much how it sounds. It's a diversity based on what's going on in your head. With more neurodivergent voices coming around like this is the beginning of a building stone. It's after spectrum identity, Clay gave me a note that said thanks for taking a chance on me. I'll always take a chance on you. And that meant a lot. Theater in its essence is a therapeutic. It gives you joy and it helps you identify and empathize with other people like you that have struggled. You never actually have the power to understand solitude in life. So I figured theater helped me understand body language, tone as well as many other things because what you may say with your mouth may not reflect what you're saying with your body. And more importantly to understand people that aren't like you and find the common ground between us. We definitely have the right approach. We're going in the right direction. Be patient with everybody you come across because you really don't know who has it who doesn't. You have a place here. There's room. There's plenty of room. Anyone can be a part of our company. We are inherently and by our nature inclusive. There's no one who can not be a part of Spectrum Theater Ensemble if they have the passion, if they have the commitment and if they have the interest to join us. I don't think the theater ever changed me. I think it saved my life. And I think Spectrum Theater Ensemble has made it a life worth living. Thank you for joining us today. Please tune in tomorrow for our final day of the neurodiversity new play festival at 2pm Eastern Standard Time. These are trying times in this pandemic. There are seismic shifts in our culture and in theater. We've learned at Spectrum Theater Ensemble that growth while not always comfortable can lead to transformative experience. We want to bring you joy, thought provoking theater, continue to fight for inclusion while also bringing consistency and community to our company members and our family, our extended neurodivergent family. Please follow us on Facebook and on Instagram. If you are able, please donate either to www.stensemble.org or at our Facebook page. Thank you so much. Stay healthy. Stay compassionate and stay tuned.