San Rafael nonprofit’s drama program inspires, empowers autistic adults
At the Belrose Theatre in San Rafael, a group is doing a familiar warmup exercise, tossing a ball to each other and thinking up different words that start with the same letter. Then, they do movement warmups and practice dance steps.
The members of San Rafael nonprofit Autistry Studios’ drama group are working hard to prepare for a one-night performance of “Dorothy’s Adventures in Oz,” a streamlined theatrical version of the “Wizard of Oz” story at Marin Shakespeare Company’s indoor space at 7 p.m. Friday.
The theater class is led by Novato resident Tim Flavin, the director of theater arts at Autistry Studios, a “therapeutic educational maker space” for autistic teens and adults based out of two studios in San Rafael.
“I’ve had all of these students in previous semesters, so they’re all familiar with the regimen,” Flavin says. “There’s a lot of repetition involved in making progress. Some of the students already have more natural coordination skills than others, but that’s not that much different from a lot of us out there.”
Autistry Studios was founded by Janet Lawson and Daniel Swearingen in 2008, sparked in part by their dissatisfaction with the educational and vocational options that were then available for their own autistic son.
“When Ian was about 13 and thinking about going into high school, I thought I’d better start looking at what happens after that,” says Lawson, Autistry’s chief executive officer. “And so I went with my ex-husband and we started looking at programs. There was nothing challenging. Wonderful people, hearts of gold, but they thought these guys had topped out, that they were who they were, and that’s all they would be. It was all about keeping them safe and recreation and driving them around or whatever. And that’s not life. That’s not what I wanted for my son.”
Lawson is originally from Marin and grew up in Dillon Beach before going off to do theater in Europe and film in Hollywood. Now trained as a psychotherapist, she started what became Autistry with four of her therapy clients, just experimenting with working together on creative projects, and it grew into something much larger than that.
“I did not set out with this vision,” Lawson says. “I didn’t have a theory I was trying to prove or anything. I just listened hard to the needs and tried to stay in front of that.”
Students learn various arts and crafts at Autistry, some of which are sold in the studio’s Makers Market: lovely puppets, placemats, coasters, beautifully painted clocks or wooden pens in wood-block stands. The downtown space on Fourth Street also boasts a coffee shop staffed by the students in partnership with Double Rainbow.
“We are autistics with power tools,” Lawson says. “They use the saws. … They were denied this all through school. It was just ‘keep them safe.’ There was no expectation that they could excel at anything. And it just made me so sad. Because you meet them, and they’re just bright, wonderful people. They just kind of live in a different world.”
Returning to Marin
Flavin was an acclaimed musical theater actor in England for many years. He would go on to become the first American ever to win an Olivier Award. Now based in Novato, he moved back to the States in 2021 and has been working with Autistry ever since.
“He’s got energy, he’s got empathy, patience and he also has that quality that I really look for in a mentor here: He’s not nervous about challenging them,” Lawson says. “Just because they’re autistic doesn’t mean they get away with stuff. He has a very professional way of approaching the students and doesn’t cut them slack. I appreciate that, and they appreciate that. It’s respectful. He has great respect and appreciation for what they can do.”
Lawson and Flavin knew each other through theater connections as well as through Flavin’s twin brother, who is autistic and a longtime Marin resident.
“When she heard that I was relocating back to this area, it was just about the time she wanted to start some sort of drama program for her students,” Flavin says. “I had no clue what I was going to do with these guys when I first started. So I just jumped in. I had taught at a drama college in England for seven years, and so I took some of that stuff and started experimenting with how much of it would work in this setting. And most of it does, on a much simpler level and a slower application.”
Like other parts of Autistry’s work, the theater program is project-driven: to put on a play. But the skills the students learn in his theater classes also prove valuable in day-to-day life, Flavin says.
“The challenge to this job is just my ability to be patient and tolerant and use my expertise in theater and apply it in a way that can help these young adults improve their communication skills, their coordination skills, their self-confidence,” Flavin says. “The whole idea of this place is to help them assimilate into their communities and have a life. If we can improve some of those skills that will help them do that, then that’s what we’re here for.”
He’s been able to see that with his students.
“One of the students, when she arrived here in the beginning of the summer, she was completely nonverbal,” Flavin says. “There was no way of knowing what she might be capable of. And she ended up memorizing lines and speaking them clearly.”
Lawson talks about another nonverbal student who learned to project and talk in Flavin’s theater classes, which has enabled him to work in the cafe and speak clearly to customers.
“They’re very good at learning scripts, and the theater experience is how to perform,” Lawson says. “Because honestly, when you’re out working with the public, you’re performing. Whatever you are, you have a public persona, which is a character that you’re playing. And they’re learning that. That’s huge.”
Sam Hurwitt is a Bay Area arts journalist and playwright.
If you go
What: “Dorothy’s Adventures in Oz”
Where: Marin Shakespeare Company, 514 Fourth St., San Rafael
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Admission: $20
Information: autistry.com