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Southwest ISD’s Penguin Project offers students with disabilities a chance to participate in the theater experience. Its third production event is "Moana Jr.," a musical adaptation of the hit Disney film.
Richard Flores, the executive director of fine arts at Southwest High School, said each role will have two performers.
"We have a mentor and a talent, a student that performs the role simultaneously," he explained. "So every role is a pair of students. Now most of the time that special needs student is doing all the heavy lifting — singing the songs, learning the dialogue, learning the dances and so forth — and their mentor is there to support them, to guide them, and in rare occasions, step in if they get a little bit of stage fright or whatever else."
The production begins at 7 on Friday night and Saturday night at Southwest High School.
The cast will participate in a special red-carpet event at 5:30 p.m. before Friday's performance.
In a statement, the district explained that the "program provides a supportive environment for children with special needs to explore their creative talents. It has also demonstrated that participation in the performing arts has therapeutic value by enhancing social interaction, communication skills, self-confidence, and self-esteem."
It added: "The impact of the program has reached beyond the stage to create a social network for children who previously had very few friends and limited social opportunities."
Flores said that the project was “started with Dr. Andy Morgan, and he was very passionate about theater, but he was also a medical doctor [who treated] students with autism. And he had this brainstorm of an idea to marry the theater experience with students with special needs, and so he started it for the first time. And now there have been chapters that have been started all across the nation."
He also noted: "We are one of only two in the state of Texas that are school districts that are doing it. Most of these chapters are being done by community theaters. We're the only school in San Antonio.”