Jesters show gives insights into lives of special-needs families
SMU Meadows student Aneesha Kudtarkar with closely with a theater ensemble on a play about special-needs families.
By Nancy Churnin
Family Entertainment
It’s not easy for children to feel as if they’re letting their parents down.
It’s even harder if you compound those emotions with having special needs and living in the shadow of a sibling for whom school, friendships, sports and other activities seem effortless.
That’s just one feeling that Jesters, a theater group for special-needs teens and adults, captures poignantly in its new original play. Among the others is pure joy, as this cast of 31, ages 16 and older, shows off each individual’s special talents for composing music, for singing, for art, for enjoying life and for supporting one another.
Jesters’ second show in two years, Movin’ On: A Family Tale of Squirrels, Police, and Magic, will be performed Feb. 11-12 at Highland Park United Methodist Church, which provides paid and volunteer staff and a home for this program, which debuted to large and enthusiastic crowds last year.
The title and content came from the cast. Director Lisa Schmidt and assistant directors Mark Guerra, a middle-school theater teacher in Grand Prairie, and Aneesha Kudtarkar, a senior at Southern Methodist University, worked closely with ensemble members to find out what they wanted to express. . .
Feb. 11 at 6 p.m., Feb. 12 at 4 p.m. at Highland Park United Methodist Church, 3300 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas. $10. 214-521-3111. hpumc.org/jesters.
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