May 4, 2025 • 14 mins
Original Air Date: May 4, 2025
The Action Play musical “Dimensions & Dragons” is coming to the 14th Street YMCA May 17 & 18, a show created by and starring actors on the autism spectrum.
The Action Play musical “Dimensions & Dragons” is coming to the 14th Street YMCA May 17 & 18, a show created by and starring actors on the autism spectrum.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I want to introduce you to Kate Trammel, who is
a teacher and artist in Jackson Tucker Meyer, who's the
director of programs at Action Play. And so I'll let
one of you explain exactly what Action Play is because
there's a very special musical that will be opening at
(00:32):
the fourteenth Street y. It'll be on May seventeenth and
May eighteenth, So take it away one of you.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Absolutely, Thank you so much, Shelly. This is Jackson speaking.
I am director of Programs for Action Play and we
are an inclusive theater organization that works with autistic, neurodivergent,
and disabled young actors to include them and make them
(01:01):
part of the theater making process. And we every year
create an original musical based off of the ideas and
interests of our ensemble. I myself am am autistic playwright.
So this is a mission that is very near and
dear to my heart. And this year in May, we've
got a new musical coming up called Dimensions and Dragons.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
It's a fantasy musical.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
That was created by our young ensemble, and I'll take
it away to Kate to tell us more about the show.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
Yeah, thanks Jackson, this is Kate speaking. So I've been
volunteering with Action Play for How to Do the Math
for a second, I think over eight years now. So
I've been the director of the musical every year for
the past three years now, and we develop this musical
(02:01):
in our AIMS program, which stands for Action Improv Musical Sundays.
So every Sunday we'll work with our folks to create
this new musical. And this year was particularly interesting because
we had so many new participants. I think it's the
(02:22):
largest group we've had in years since coming back from
the pandemic. And so my job as the director is
to try to hone in all these ideas to one idea.
We have like twenty ideas in the beginning of the year.
I'm still pining for one day when we can do
(02:43):
the alien opera musical. Yeah yeah, So, but eventually we
did get down to this mashup of.
Speaker 6 (02:57):
Hectic film crew and this.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
Medieval magical realm that come together their worlds collide through
getting the film crew to transport back to this land
called Titania, where they are penniless end facing a dragon
overlord who will burninate the kingdom unless a hero will rise.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
And so basically the Magical Kingdom brings these supposed heroes
from our dimension to their dimension. But they're actually just actors,
and so the actors need to really step up and
become the heroes that they often pretend to be in
the course of their acting life.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Now, is this play geared toward those who are on
those with autism on the spectrum? Or is this like
an everybody can and everybody's going to enjoy its sort
of thing.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
It's open to all audiences.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I often say that we don't really create theater for
young audiences. We just create theater that happens to be
made by young performers. And we're making a show with
participants who happen to have various diverse accessibility needs and
a wide variety of experience levels and making sure that
they all have an awesome experience and that the audience
(04:28):
has some experience as well. Our shows are often pretty
irreverend pretty wacky, and it's a delightful time for everyone.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
And we'll say, well, if you like fun and songs,
and laughing, then you'll like our shows. So even though
we create with them, it's not limited to who will
enjoy them.
Speaker 7 (04:58):
How do people get tickets again? And this is May
seventeenth and eighteenth at the fourteenth Street Why Yes.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
You can get tickets currently on our website at www
dot actionplay dot org and you can also follow us
on Facebook as well as Instagram at actionplay Arts to
get more updates about the show.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
How would other people get involved with Action Play? Who
might have and is this only for children or young
adults on the spectrum or like, is there an age
group that you're aiming for in terms of involvement with
Action Play or is it open to all ages?
Speaker 4 (05:40):
That is an excellent question.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
So with the Aims program the musical program, the age
range to join is ages thirteen through twenty two, so
it's a pretty wide age range. We also have our
Action Play Choir which is open more to young adult
and adult participants, but the musical program it's thirteen through
(06:01):
twenty two. You can always reach me my inboxes always
open at Jackson at actionplay dot org, or you can
also check out our website www dot actionplay dot org
to find out how you can get involved and how
your kid can get involved if you feel that that
is something that they would be interested in participating in.
(06:22):
We start up ames rehearsals in October every year, so
applications are really going to get rolling in August and
September later this year. But yes, short answer, reach out
to Jackson at actionplay dot org and I would be
more than happy to meet with you and talk more
about the program. As you can tell, I get a
(06:43):
big kick out of talking about it.
Speaker 7 (06:46):
I am speaking with Kate Trammel, who is a teacher
artist in Jackson Tucker Meyer, who's the director of programs
at Action Play, and a musical is coming to the
fourteenth Street why May seventeenth and May eighteenth, And this
was a musical that was creatively put together and is
(07:07):
starring those on the autism spectrum. Let me ask you,
how do you get your funding?
Speaker 4 (07:17):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I thankfully we have received many generous grants through the
course of our existence. We often get a very lovely
grant from Next for Autism, who we actually just performed
at a fundraiser last week called Night of Too Many Stars.
It was hosted by John Stewart, we got to perform
(07:39):
with Keegan Michael Key, Wow, we took a big group
selfia and got photo bomb by Adam Sandler.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Just a great, great event.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
So that's a lovely organization that is very helpful to us,
and we also always appreciate donations from as they say
on PBS viewers like you. You can check out our
web page act play dot org slash donate to find
out how you can give to Action Play, and of
course tickets are available for the show on the website,
(08:09):
and we also help to keep the program running through
that as well. Thankfully, we also have a scholarship program
as well that was founded by a lovely member of
Action Play. So we do our darness to really make
it economically accessible for everybody who wants to join the program.
(08:33):
So a combination of some very handy dandy grants and
also a lot of love from our audiences.
Speaker 6 (08:40):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
And I really do have to call out that all
of the donors' money really does go directly to support
all of our participants. So all of the money that
really goes to making sure we have very large rehearsal
spaces we can perform in these professional level spaces as well.
(09:06):
And we can get them everything from dragon horns to
faxed hoards to perform. So every uneasement, whether you can
put in five dollars, twenty five dollars, one thousand dollars,
it's a guarantee that it will go to support the
vision and to support the overall education for each participant.
Speaker 7 (09:31):
Jackson, you had mentioned that you were on the spectrum.
How did you find Action Play?
Speaker 4 (09:37):
I found it through good old Google.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I was actually in theater school at the time, getting
my master's in theater from Sarah Lawrence, and I really
wanted to find organizations in the city that would help
me to really sort of pay forward my experiences with
my autistic community in some way, and I reached out
to Action Play specific to our amazing founder and executive director,
(10:03):
Aaron Feinstein, and he was super cool about meeting me
and I started volunteering in September of twenty nineteen, which
was it turned out to be a great time to
be putting on a theater show the following year, but
I ended up making myself useful through putting together our
(10:23):
Zoom show, which premiered in twenty twenty one. It was
like a who Done It called a questionable case. And
I was also mentored by my predecessor in this position,
a very lovely woman named Sarah Morgulis, who has since
gone on to be executive director of Theater for Young
Audiences USA, So that was very cool as well. But yeah,
(10:46):
they really just brought me on as a volunteer and
I got my sea legs through that, and it just
really speaks to the culture that Aaron and Kate and
so many people who have been that Action Played for
a lot longer than I have, have really helped a
cult of radical inclusivity, both with regards to our young
actors but also our staff and really taking everybody's viewpoints
(11:07):
into account to make the coolest show and the coolest
experience that we can possibly have.
Speaker 7 (11:14):
Kate, how did you get involved with Action Play?
Speaker 6 (11:17):
So?
Speaker 5 (11:18):
I am also an autistic theater professional and arts education professional.
I grew up in Texas where it was more of
a time where I didn't really openly talk about being autistic,
let alone. There weren't groups like Action Play, and when
(11:39):
I moved here and I've met Aaron at a comference
in NYU, and this would have been an amazing program
to be a part of.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
When I was these kids age.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
So I started volunteering as a way to build up skills,
but also to give back and connect with other neurodiverse individuals.
And I was discussing this the other day with Aaron, like,
basically getting part of it changed the trajectory of both
(12:13):
my professional and personal life because it opened the door
to any opportunities and that I could see myself step
into lead as a director for musicals, and that I
could own my autistic identity as like a strength. And
all of this community support came out of it. So
(12:38):
it's affected my life as a professional and just as
a person on the spectrum, and it's amazing and I
keep coming back to see how the growth of everyone
who participates.
Speaker 6 (12:55):
Happens from year to year. We've had participants go on to.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
We had one of our participants have their Broadway debut
in How To Dance in Ohio.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
We have many other actors.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
That have come out of the program, and we've mentored
other students that have gone on to other careers and
library services and animation.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yeah, you'll also just add, since we've been talking about
how we both got our start volunteering, that is also
something that anybody can sign up for You can reach
out to me jacksonnadactionplay dot Org. That's open to any age,
any ability, as long as you are interested in learning
more about this process, learning more about working with this
(13:44):
particular population.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
You can reach out.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
To us and we can get zoom coffee and see
if it's a good fit. If you want to sit
in on rehearsals and find out how the magic happens,
then I would definitely I recommend volunteering. Actually, funny enough,
we had both an action play actor Connor Tag and
also an action play volunteer Amani Russell, both in that
(14:08):
show Out of Dance in Ohio, So we're very very proud, and.
Speaker 7 (14:13):
That was on Broadway.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And again you can get tickets for Dimensions and Dragons
and Action Play Musical.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
It is coming to the fourteenth Street.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Why May seventeenth and May eighteenth go to actionplay dot org.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
You been listening to Sunsetene Sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one oh four point
three
Welcome to Sunstein Sessions on iHeartRadio, conversations about issues that matter.
Here's your host, three time Grasie Award winner, Shelley Sunstein.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I want to introduce you to Kate Trammel, who is
a teacher and artist in Jackson Tucker Meyer, who's the
director of programs at Action Play. And so I'll let
one of you explain exactly what Action Play is because
there's a very special musical that will be opening at
(00:32):
the fourteenth Street y. It'll be on May seventeenth and
May eighteenth, So take it away one of you.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Absolutely, Thank you so much, Shelly. This is Jackson speaking.
I am director of Programs for Action Play and we
are an inclusive theater organization that works with autistic, neurodivergent,
and disabled young actors to include them and make them
(01:01):
part of the theater making process. And we every year
create an original musical based off of the ideas and
interests of our ensemble. I myself am am autistic playwright.
So this is a mission that is very near and
dear to my heart. And this year in May, we've
got a new musical coming up called Dimensions and Dragons.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
It's a fantasy musical.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
That was created by our young ensemble, and I'll take
it away to Kate to tell us more about the show.
Speaker 5 (01:37):
Yeah, thanks Jackson, this is Kate speaking. So I've been
volunteering with Action Play for How to Do the Math
for a second, I think over eight years now. So
I've been the director of the musical every year for
the past three years now, and we develop this musical
(02:01):
in our AIMS program, which stands for Action Improv Musical Sundays.
So every Sunday we'll work with our folks to create
this new musical. And this year was particularly interesting because
we had so many new participants. I think it's the
(02:22):
largest group we've had in years since coming back from
the pandemic. And so my job as the director is
to try to hone in all these ideas to one idea.
We have like twenty ideas in the beginning of the year.
I'm still pining for one day when we can do
(02:43):
the alien opera musical. Yeah yeah, So, but eventually we
did get down to this mashup of.
Speaker 6 (02:57):
Hectic film crew and this.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
Medieval magical realm that come together their worlds collide through
getting the film crew to transport back to this land
called Titania, where they are penniless end facing a dragon
overlord who will burninate the kingdom unless a hero will rise.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
And so basically the Magical Kingdom brings these supposed heroes
from our dimension to their dimension. But they're actually just actors,
and so the actors need to really step up and
become the heroes that they often pretend to be in
the course of their acting life.
Speaker 2 (03:49):
Now, is this play geared toward those who are on
those with autism on the spectrum? Or is this like
an everybody can and everybody's going to enjoy its sort
of thing.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
It's open to all audiences.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
I often say that we don't really create theater for
young audiences. We just create theater that happens to be
made by young performers. And we're making a show with
participants who happen to have various diverse accessibility needs and
a wide variety of experience levels and making sure that
they all have an awesome experience and that the audience
(04:28):
has some experience as well. Our shows are often pretty
irreverend pretty wacky, and it's a delightful time for everyone.
Speaker 5 (04:41):
And we'll say, well, if you like fun and songs,
and laughing, then you'll like our shows. So even though
we create with them, it's not limited to who will
enjoy them.
Speaker 7 (04:58):
How do people get tickets again? And this is May
seventeenth and eighteenth at the fourteenth Street Why Yes.
Speaker 4 (05:05):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
You can get tickets currently on our website at www
dot actionplay dot org and you can also follow us
on Facebook as well as Instagram at actionplay Arts to
get more updates about the show.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
How would other people get involved with Action Play? Who
might have and is this only for children or young
adults on the spectrum or like, is there an age
group that you're aiming for in terms of involvement with
Action Play or is it open to all ages?
Speaker 4 (05:40):
That is an excellent question.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
So with the Aims program the musical program, the age
range to join is ages thirteen through twenty two, so
it's a pretty wide age range. We also have our
Action Play Choir which is open more to young adult
and adult participants, but the musical program it's thirteen through
(06:01):
twenty two. You can always reach me my inboxes always
open at Jackson at actionplay dot org, or you can
also check out our website www dot actionplay dot org
to find out how you can get involved and how
your kid can get involved if you feel that that
is something that they would be interested in participating in.
(06:22):
We start up ames rehearsals in October every year, so
applications are really going to get rolling in August and
September later this year. But yes, short answer, reach out
to Jackson at actionplay dot org and I would be
more than happy to meet with you and talk more
about the program. As you can tell, I get a
(06:43):
big kick out of talking about it.
Speaker 7 (06:46):
I am speaking with Kate Trammel, who is a teacher
artist in Jackson Tucker Meyer, who's the director of programs
at Action Play, and a musical is coming to the
fourteenth Street why May seventeenth and May eighteenth, And this
was a musical that was creatively put together and is
(07:07):
starring those on the autism spectrum. Let me ask you,
how do you get your funding?
Speaker 4 (07:17):
That's a great question.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
I thankfully we have received many generous grants through the
course of our existence. We often get a very lovely
grant from Next for Autism, who we actually just performed
at a fundraiser last week called Night of Too Many Stars.
It was hosted by John Stewart, we got to perform
(07:39):
with Keegan Michael Key, Wow, we took a big group
selfia and got photo bomb by Adam Sandler.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Just a great, great event.
Speaker 3 (07:47):
So that's a lovely organization that is very helpful to us,
and we also always appreciate donations from as they say
on PBS viewers like you. You can check out our
web page act play dot org slash donate to find
out how you can give to Action Play, and of
course tickets are available for the show on the website,
(08:09):
and we also help to keep the program running through
that as well. Thankfully, we also have a scholarship program
as well that was founded by a lovely member of
Action Play. So we do our darness to really make
it economically accessible for everybody who wants to join the program.
(08:33):
So a combination of some very handy dandy grants and
also a lot of love from our audiences.
Speaker 6 (08:40):
Yep.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
And I really do have to call out that all
of the donors' money really does go directly to support
all of our participants. So all of the money that
really goes to making sure we have very large rehearsal
spaces we can perform in these professional level spaces as well.
(09:06):
And we can get them everything from dragon horns to
faxed hoards to perform. So every uneasement, whether you can
put in five dollars, twenty five dollars, one thousand dollars,
it's a guarantee that it will go to support the
vision and to support the overall education for each participant.
Speaker 7 (09:31):
Jackson, you had mentioned that you were on the spectrum.
How did you find Action Play?
Speaker 4 (09:37):
I found it through good old Google.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
I was actually in theater school at the time, getting
my master's in theater from Sarah Lawrence, and I really
wanted to find organizations in the city that would help
me to really sort of pay forward my experiences with
my autistic community in some way, and I reached out
to Action Play specific to our amazing founder and executive director,
(10:03):
Aaron Feinstein, and he was super cool about meeting me
and I started volunteering in September of twenty nineteen, which
was it turned out to be a great time to
be putting on a theater show the following year, but
I ended up making myself useful through putting together our
(10:23):
Zoom show, which premiered in twenty twenty one. It was
like a who Done It called a questionable case. And
I was also mentored by my predecessor in this position,
a very lovely woman named Sarah Morgulis, who has since
gone on to be executive director of Theater for Young
Audiences USA, So that was very cool as well. But yeah,
(10:46):
they really just brought me on as a volunteer and
I got my sea legs through that, and it just
really speaks to the culture that Aaron and Kate and
so many people who have been that Action Played for
a lot longer than I have, have really helped a
cult of radical inclusivity, both with regards to our young
actors but also our staff and really taking everybody's viewpoints
(11:07):
into account to make the coolest show and the coolest
experience that we can possibly have.
Speaker 7 (11:14):
Kate, how did you get involved with Action Play?
Speaker 6 (11:17):
So?
Speaker 5 (11:18):
I am also an autistic theater professional and arts education professional.
I grew up in Texas where it was more of
a time where I didn't really openly talk about being autistic,
let alone. There weren't groups like Action Play, and when
(11:39):
I moved here and I've met Aaron at a comference
in NYU, and this would have been an amazing program
to be a part of.
Speaker 6 (11:49):
When I was these kids age.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
So I started volunteering as a way to build up skills,
but also to give back and connect with other neurodiverse individuals.
And I was discussing this the other day with Aaron, like,
basically getting part of it changed the trajectory of both
(12:13):
my professional and personal life because it opened the door
to any opportunities and that I could see myself step
into lead as a director for musicals, and that I
could own my autistic identity as like a strength. And
all of this community support came out of it. So
(12:38):
it's affected my life as a professional and just as
a person on the spectrum, and it's amazing and I
keep coming back to see how the growth of everyone
who participates.
Speaker 6 (12:55):
Happens from year to year. We've had participants go on to.
Speaker 5 (13:01):
We had one of our participants have their Broadway debut
in How To Dance in Ohio.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
We have many other actors.
Speaker 5 (13:11):
That have come out of the program, and we've mentored
other students that have gone on to other careers and
library services and animation.
Speaker 4 (13:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Yeah, you'll also just add, since we've been talking about
how we both got our start volunteering, that is also
something that anybody can sign up for You can reach
out to me jacksonnadactionplay dot Org. That's open to any age,
any ability, as long as you are interested in learning
more about this process, learning more about working with this
(13:44):
particular population.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
You can reach out.
Speaker 3 (13:47):
To us and we can get zoom coffee and see
if it's a good fit. If you want to sit
in on rehearsals and find out how the magic happens,
then I would definitely I recommend volunteering. Actually, funny enough,
we had both an action play actor Connor Tag and
also an action play volunteer Amani Russell, both in that
(14:08):
show Out of Dance in Ohio, So we're very very proud, and.
Speaker 7 (14:13):
That was on Broadway.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
And again you can get tickets for Dimensions and Dragons
and Action Play Musical.
Speaker 7 (14:20):
It is coming to the fourteenth Street.
Speaker 2 (14:23):
Why May seventeenth and May eighteenth go to actionplay dot org.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
You been listening to Sunsetene Sessions on iHeartRadio, a production
of New York's classic rock Q one oh four point
three
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