Two days of didactic and hands-on learning from sensory theater artists you won’t want to miss!

SCHEDULE:

Thursday, November 13^th:

9:00 – 10:15 AM | SENSORY-PALOOZA! with Emily Bruner & Leigh Poulos

10:15 – 10:30 AM | Break

10:30 AM – 12:00 PM | Sensory Theater Overview with Alison Mahoney

12:00 – 1:00 PM | Lunch – not provided

1:00 – 2:15 PM | Scribble Workshop with Emily Bruner & Leigh Poulos

2:15 – 2:45 PM | Networking Break

2:45 – 4:00 PM | Movement & Vocalization with Carrie Nath

Friday, November 14^th:

9:00 – 10:00 AM | Risky Disco* with Carrie Nath & Katy Kepler

10:00 – 10:45 AM | Accessible Assets* with Alison Mahoney, Emily Bruner, & Leigh Poulos

10:45 – 11:00 AM | Break

11:00 AM – 12:15 PM | Applying Sensory Theater Techniques Workshop with Emily Bruner & Leigh Poulos

12:15 – 1:15 PM | Lunch – not provided

1:15 – 2:30 PM | VROOM! Workshop with Katy Kepler

2:30 – 2:45 PM | Break

2:45 – 4:00 PM | Poetry Workshop with Alison Mahoney

*Morning sessions will be available in-person and on Zoom.

SPEAKER BIOS:

Alison Mahoney is a director, creative access consultant, and scholar of disability performance. Selected directing credits include CORSICANA (regional premiere, University of Pittsburgh) and several credits with Bluelaces Theater Company, where they were the founding artistic director. Alison’s access consulting work includes projects with the Lincoln Center, CO/LAB Theater Group, Film Pittsburgh, and the Museum, Arts, and Culture Access Consortium. Alison is a PhD candidate at the University of Pittsburgh, where they research nonspeaking and collective communication in performance. www.alison-mahoney.com

Emily Bruner (she/her) is a Theater Maker and Educator who creates at the intersection of art and accessibility. She earned her MA in Educational Theatre from NYU and works as a Teaching Artist for Park Avenue Armory, Lincoln Center Moments, New Victory Theater, CO/LAB Theater Group, and New York Historical. She is the co-founder of Cloud St., a transdisciplinary collective of artists and educators, seeking to create and facilitate encounters with art for everyone. She is the co-creator of Scribble, an inclusive intergenerational dance party & celebration of connection, self-expression, and the universal language of art. She was a company member of Trusty Sidekick Theater Company and Bluelaces Theater Company.

Leigh Poulos is the co-founder of Cloud St., a transdisciplinary collective creating engagements with art, for everybody. Cloud St. proudly presented Scribble this past May as part of the Common Senses Festival. With a multifaceted practice running the gamut of puppetry to cake decorating, Poulos brings an innovative approach and an aptitude for visual communication to her creation of new work. As a former member of Bluelaces and Trusty Sidekick, she has proudly participated in globally recognized pioneering works created with and for young people with developmental disabilities and the neurodiverse of all ages. Poulos has performed regionally and Off Broadway at venues including Lincoln Center, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Little Island, and Classic Stage Company, frequently in pieces that push the boundaries of conventional form. She can be heard on Historical Records, a Signal Award nominated kids/family podcast which champions unsung figures via hip hop, produced by Questlove and The Story Pirates. www.itsleighpoulos.com

Carrie A. Nath is a multi-hyphenate theater artist and educator and an Omaha native. She is so grateful to be a part of the Common Senses Festival and jam with the Risky Disco Team. Carrie is currently the Director of Equitable Access at BLUEBARN and has served as Managing Director of The Art of Imagination at Ollie Webb Center, Inc.; Director of Education, Kentucky Arts Council; Associate Director of Education, Seattle Opera; and Education Consultant, Ford’s Theater, D.C. Artistic credits include Actor’s Theater of Louisville; Manhattan School of Music; multiple Shakespeare companies; and Washington National Opera. Carrie is an access consultant for Omaha Performing Arts and Nebraska Arts Council (NAC) where she serves as a roster artist; a member of the Opera Omaha Holland Community Opera Fellowes Panel and the Opera Omaha Board of Directors; and is on The Omaha Fringe Board. Ms. Nath is a panelist for NAC and the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

Katy Kepler (she/her) is a multidisciplinary theatre artist currently serving as the Director of Mobile Theatre at the Omaha Community Playhouse. Most recently, she spearheaded the creation of Beatwood Hollow for the VROOM! Mobile Sensory Theatre, a traveling, immersive, and sensory-enriched theatrical experience for neurodivergent individuals and others with sensory sensitivities or disabilities. Through her work with VROOM!, Katy has led a range of sensory informed workshops at OCP and with community partners, including an ongoing residency with the Ronald McDonald House. As an artist with ADHD, she leverages her theatrical training to champion accessibility and has worked on a wide range of immersive and interactive performances, workshops, and events for individuals of all ages and abilities. Past sensory-informed work includes performing in Starshine! (OCP), co-devising and performing in A Palette of Possibility (The Rose), and as a co-creator and facilitator for Risky Disco (OCP/Common Senses Festival). She has been a teaching artist with Omaha Performing Arts (O-PA) since 2018 through the Disney Musicals in Schools program, helping to create sustainable musical theatre programs in elementary schools by training schoolteachers in directing, stage management, choreography, and music direction. She has also served as a curriculum writer for O-PA’s Musical Explorers Program in partnership with Carnegie Hall. Additionally, Katy has taught for multiple organizations throughout Omaha, including Circle Theatre, Omaha Girls Rock, Nebraska Shakespeare, and the Rose Theater. In Naples, NY, she served as the Apprentice Program Director at Bristol Valley Theatre (BVT) for three summers, focusing on devising site-specific work and Saturday Afternoon LIVE!, a teen-led sketch comedy show. Katy has a B.S. in Theatre from SUNY Brockport.

For any other questions regarding the workshops, please contact Lauren (lauren@commonsensesfestival.com)