Abstract
The teenage years are miserable. The classic presentation: weird pus-filled bulges announcing themselves from the skin, sexual confusion and desire, and the general awkwardness of learning to fit into an adult body, and adult responsibility. This ungainly confluence is only the beginning for those of us who were outcast, ridiculed, or bullied by our peers because of a physical or developmental difference. A vast majority of the work that I have been involved with in my adult life has involved serving people with a range of psychological and developmental diagnoses, most notably teens on the autism spectrum. My theater work with teens on the autism spectrum has been rooted in the fact that I got through the loneliness of my own teenage years because I made my way to one of the safe places for those who don’t fit in within most schools: the Drama Club.
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Feinstein, A. (2016). We Don’t Want to Fit in: A Reflection on the Revolutionary Inclusive Theater Practices of The Miracle Project and Actionplay for Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum. In: Smagorinsky, P. (eds) Creativity and Community among Autism-Spectrum Youth. Palgrave Studies In Play, Performance, Learning, and Development. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54797-2_6
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