Monkeys, monsters and marimba players have one thing in common: They were all on stage in Pruis Hall on Wednesday night.
This was the second year Ball State University and Interlock, the East Central Indiana Autism Society chapter, has presented the Prism Project.
The program is a semester-long course in which Ball State students and faculty from the theater, dance and music departments interact with children with special needs. They meet every Saturday to rehearse sketches that involve dance, music performance and acting.
Toward the end of the semester, the children perform for their friends and family.
This year's show involved children dancing like farm animals, playing percussion instruments and singing. One of the children called his mother up on stage, sang a song to her and, at the end of his song, gave her flowers.
"It was the first time my son sang to me," Muncie resident Erin Shadle said. "It's wonderful that these children are here. [The program] taught them a lot about teamwork and confidence."
The program was started by associate professor of theater education Michael Daehn and assistant professor of music education Ryan Hourigan. The idea of creating The Prism Project started because Hourigan's two sons have autism and both professors wanted to create a program aimed specifically for children with special needs.
"I didn't have any experience with this population at all, but I love kids. So I said we would give it a shot," Daehn said.
Daehn said that although the experience was different for them, they had a good time and knew they would want to do the program again.
"We went into a completely uncharted territory last year, and we were overwhelmed by the wonderful experience the kids had," he said. "And then we realized that it was also having an empathetic effect on the kids in the music and theater departments."
Several Ball State students participated in the project as staff members and volunteers. Senior special education major Sarah Strom was one of the directors in the program. This was her second time working for the program.
"Last year, I think our biggest challenge was the final product, because it's the first time we have done it. We didn't know what was going to happen at the end of it," she said. "We really didn't even know where we were going."
Strom said despite the challenges the first year, she had enjoyed working with the children and wanted to live the experience again.
"Really, the only way to describe [working with these children] is to say that it's been amazing," she said. "It's a really awesome process to see the show go from nothing to define the performance and watching the kids grow and learn so much along the way. It's a great experience."
Strom said the program has been rewarding and would participate in the project again.
"If you could just see the kids' faces on the stage, that is enough alone. You see one laugh, one smile and that's it. That's why we do it," she said. "It's seeing them have great time and feel proud of themselves."
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