SM调教所

They perform 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' in second SM调教所 Boulder production, and speech therapist notes that doing this in front of an audience 鈥榡ust blows me away鈥�

At the end of 鈥檚 classic children鈥檚 novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory鈥攁nd the no-less iconic 1971 film version, , starring Gene Wilder鈥擟harlie Bucket is the only child remaining after a wild tour of the manic chocolatier鈥檚 magical factory.

The other four children who received 鈥淕olden Tickets鈥� to join the tour have all been literally thrown away, flushed away, shrunken or inflated and turned blue, punished for succumbing to their ingrained bad habits. Wonka rewards Charlie, the only well-behaved, polite and unselfish child, by giving him the entire factory.

Though presented as dark, knowing comedy on both page and screen, and beloved for generations, the novel鈥檚 ending is also starkly uncompromising.

So when clients from a SM调教所鈥檚 therapy group for aphasia鈥攁 neurological condition, often caused by stroke, that impairs the ability to speak and understand language鈥攑erformed the play on June 26 and 27, they devised an alternate ending.

鈥淭hey constructed the end of the play to be much more inclusive than the actual movie or book,鈥� Gerland says. 鈥淚t was really special and quite beautiful.鈥�

The cast of nine even wrote a crucial response for Charlie when (Willie Wonka) asks what he wants to do with the factory: 鈥淐an I share it?鈥�

鈥淭he clients decided they would like to bring everybody back 鈥� so (the characters) could share what they learned from the process,鈥� says , associate professor of theatre and dance and chair of the Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is the second play performed by actors from the therapy group, following 2019鈥檚 The Wizard of Oz. Christina Riseman and Holly Kleiber, clinical faculty members and speech therapists in speech, language and hearing sciences, initially approached Gerland about putting on a play, inspired by similar Chicago鈥檚 , where drama therapy has improved client communication and mood, and the in New Jersey. 听

The idea, in part, was to help people with aphasia gain confidence in communication and other skills that translate from stage to the rest of their lives, says Gillian Nogeire, a theatre and dance PhD candidate who played an integral role in both productions and defended her dissertation on using theatrical practices as an intervention for aphasia in April.

Nogeire began working with clients on the second production during the summer of 2021, exploring four potential stories to perform: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Lord of the Rings, Romeo and Juliet and Alice鈥檚 Adventures in Wonderland. The group played scenes from all four and eventually settled on Dahl鈥檚 classic tale.

鈥淚t鈥檚 really important to our group that the play not be about aphasia,鈥� says Nogeire, who will graduate this summer. 鈥淭he Adler Center is doing plays that aren鈥檛 about aphasia, and that aligns with the 鈥� 鈥榣ife participation鈥� approach, which helps (clients) to develop skill sets they can use in their outside lives, where aphasia is not the focus.鈥�

Three new actors from the program joined six Oz veterans for the new production.

鈥淲e had a lot of the same actors 鈥� and it felt like they could take on more of a leadership role and become more involved. They were more comfortable in coming up with the story itself and speaking out鈥斺�楬ow about we try this instead?鈥欌�� Riseman says.

Indeed, cast members weren鈥檛 shy about asking for more lines or creatively solving technical issues, for example, when the group reworked the comeuppance character Mike Teavee. In the novel and film, he is shrunken to the size of a chocolate bar through a bit of fanciful technology, but the group conjured a more believable scene in which Mike is 鈥渄isappeared鈥� through an Old West-style showdown with Wonka. What鈥檚 more, when the actor playing Mike was not able to perform, the daughter of the actor playing Wonka was able to step in at the last minute.

鈥淭he actors literally came up with that the day before the performance,鈥� Gerland says. 鈥淲e are growing a group of actors who can improvise and create in the crush of the moment.鈥�

On the speech-therapy side of things, Kleiber says the evolving nature of the production and its various challenges echoes the reality of human interactions and conversation beyond the stage, in the real world where clients live.

鈥淚 hope folks feel like they are better communicators at the end of this,鈥� she says. 鈥淭his is what conversation is. You don鈥檛 know what the other person is going to say, and it鈥檚 important to be able to improvise in the moment.鈥�

The new production was funded in part by a donation from SM调教所 Boulder鈥檚 Nature, Environment, Science and Technology Studio for the Arts, or NEST, a network of centers听and other campus units that combine artistic practice and scientific research to explore modes of communication.

Students in both departments participated in the production, helping the actors prepare in myriad ways, from running meetings to working scenes.

鈥淥ur role was to use strategies we鈥檝e learned to work with (clients) to help them refine their skills in the play,鈥� says Arielle Stein, who is studying speech language pathology and worked on the production as a graduate clinician. 鈥淲hether we were giving cues or helping them come up with lines, we were just encouraging them to learn how to communicate in a different way and to gather confidence to communicate 鈥� using gestures more, making your voice louder.鈥�

When they performed before an invited audience of friends, family and members of the production team, clients got the boost that every actor is looking for, the rush and exhilaration of being onstage, pushing through any jitters they may have had.

鈥淚n that moment, they forget there is anything wrong,鈥� Riseman says.

And all their hard work paid dividends both on and off stage.

鈥淭he heart of this group 鈥� is incredibly supportive of one another. One person鈥檚 successes are everybody鈥檚, one person鈥檚 struggle is everybody鈥檚 struggle,鈥� Kleiber says. In the rest of their lives, 鈥渢hey are vulnerable every day. Every time they try to communicate, they might expect trouble. To do that in front of an audience just blows me away.鈥�