CommConnections 2024 Explores Theatre for the Very Young

This year’s installment of CommConnections, the annual SoC faculty collaborative symposium, was the debut of a new area of research for School of Communication faculty Rives Collins, Stacey Kaplan, and Stephan Moore: creating theatre experiences not just for the young, but the very young.  

The February 22 event featured presentations from each faculty member on how their collaboration across the arts and sciences has the potential to revolutionize not only the art form but also the miniature patrons who will grow up immersed within it. Roughly 50 attendees gathered in a black box space at the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts to learn more.

“Our speakers’ work illustrates an interdisciplinary approach to tackling significant real-world problems concerning child communication and development,” said Molly Losh, professor, associate dean of research, and the organizer of the CommConnections events, during her introduction. “Their diverse expertise will help individuals and communities thrive. Their ideas are reflected in the title of this year’s event, ‘Sparking Connections with Very Young: Performance, Research, and Community Engagement through Sensory Theatre Practice.’”

Collins, a renowned storyteller, and champion of children’s theatre—also known as theatre for young audiences— he kicked off the symposium addressing the why. As in “why the very young?” and “why Northwestern?”

“It is the gift that keeps on giving, because you get to introduce this art form to someone for the very first time,” Collins said.  “Young people, even ones that haven't learned how to talk, are invited to be part of theatre. They are brought into the action.”

Immersive, interactive, and experience-driven theatrical works that cater to children from zero to five years of age allows their developing brains to absorb new sensory experiences at pivotal stages.

Studies have also shown that early exposure to theatre creates more empathetic children and improved social and academic outcomes. So, starting even earlier might magnify those benefits. And Northwestern, the birthplace of children’s theatre, is just the place to lead the charge—especially now, given the boundary-breaking new interdisciplinary partnerships inspired by Dean E. Patrick Johnson’s leadership. 

“We do a disservice by not creating theatre aesthetic experiences for our children,” Collins said. “We have the potential to create a national model of excellence.”

Next up was Stephan Moore, a sound artist and professor of instruction in the Department of Radio/Television/Film. Moore is an immersive experience expert whose work is “concerned with the creation of dynamic and complex sonic environments, through collaborations on sound installations, designs, and scores for dance and theatre productions and recordings.” He has engineered productions everywhere from the Guggenheim Museum in New York City to the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago.

During his talk, he demonstrated how something as innocuous as an old-fashioned cheese grater can sound both like a rusty bicycle and a chorus of blue whales through sound recording manipulation, illustrating what immersive audio can mean for the listener.

Moore’s work takes on special import with young audiences, as sound is such a pivotal part of immersive theatre and children’s development.

When babies are born their hearing is fully functional. However, as they grow, they respond to sounds differently – with eye movement first, head movement, simple sounds, and finally full-fledged communication. What children hear and how they hear it affects their communication development.

In 2002, Moore began engineering a line of speakers, Isobel Audio, that allow for omnidirectional sound projection, or a truly surround sound experience. In 2019, he started a project called the Chicago Laboratory for Electro-Acoustic Theater (CLEAT) using the speakers, to make the craft of sound-based installation art accessible to everyone.

Moore is excited to help SoC students combine that innovative practice with theatre for the very young because he understands the transportive nature of sound.

“Too many multi-channel sound systems are gatekept in the ivory tower,” Moore said. “Now maybe [our students and their future audiences] will leave their lexical brains behind and have a more playful and sensory relationship with the world.”

Finally, Kaplan, director of the master’s and doctoral programs in speech-language pathology and clinical professor of communication sciences and disorders, explained where science fits in.

“Our department is all about the science and practice of preventing, diagnosing, and treating- hearing, speech, language, and swallowing disorders,” Kaplan said. “We are dedicated to research in this area and the training of future researchers and clinicians.” 

According to Kaplan, five to 10 percent of the United States population has a communication disorder, including about four percent of Illinois infants and toddlers.

“What does this mean when discussing theatre for the very young?” Kaplan asked. “The work that we do as speech pathologists is getting down on the floor and playing. The play is the work. So, we’re going to intervene in that work and invite them into communication.”

Her hope is that future clinicians involved in these productions will help enhance the experience with their expertise—and let the process of engagement make them more empathetic, interested, and helpful caregivers.

“I'm excited about what will happen in these spaces if students don't have to worry about the science of their practice but simply about engaging, flexing, and improvising,” said Kaplan. “Hopefully, their clinical development will increase because they will learn to be present in the moment with their patients.”

Dean Johnson wrapped up the symposium by leading a discussion with the three faculty, who are taking this topic to students in the form of a course this spring.

“I think this was an important reminder of the role that art plays in science and in the development of the very young,” he noted.  

Collins agrees.

“The SoC is the best incubator for [theatre for the very young] because we’ve got a community that is passionate about making plays for young people, creating immersive environments, and child language and speech acquisition. This is our secret sauce,” he said. “This work is very playful, but it takes children very seriously.”