(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Empowering children with special needs through theater.

That's one way the Penguin Project of Peoria describes its program.

What started right here in central Illinois has expanded all over the country from Seattle to Tampa to Philadelphia and everywhere in between.

And the man behind all this is Dr.

Andy Morgan, the founder, CEO, and production director of the Penguin Project.

Good to see you again, Doctor.

- You as well.

- You've got a big production coming up that we're gonna talk about in just a minute.

- We do, very big.

- But I wanna talk about the history of the Penguin Project.

- Okay.

- And your history.

You came to Peoria many years ago and you've been a doctor.

I'm sure a lot of people in the community still recognize you from all the different places you've worked.

- Yeah, I came here to the University of Illinois here in Peoria in 1980.

We were strangers here, but we got involved in theater because that's what I've always done.

And I was involved and my wife got involved and my children got involved.

So we really have become lifelong Peorians primarily because of the extensive theater in this community.

That's actually where the impetus for this program started because I watched my children grow up in theater and I saw how much it helped their social skills, communication skills, self-esteem, and recognized that that was the same thing missing in my patients, because I take care of children with special needs.

That's what I've always done.

That started me thinking and I said, "Well, we should see if we can use theater as a venue to enhance these skills."

Started it in 1980 and it was incredibly successful.

Incredibly successful.

It was just wonderful.

It was a beautiful thing to watch, to see the children involved.

We have children with special needs that are all the stars and they're matched with what we call peer mentors, kids that are typically developing that work with them through all the rehearsals and on stage, and it creates that wonderful inclusive environment that we're trying to create.

- And we're gonna talk to some of those mentors and volunteers in just a little bit.

But first, people are probably wondering out there, if they're not familiar with the Penguin Project, how did the name come about?

- Well, the Penguin Project is designed to recognize penguins.

Penguins are playful.

They are cute, they're fun.

But they are disabled.

They are birds who can't fly.

And that's why we call it the Penguin Project.

And our logo has two penguins on it, representing our young artists with special needs and their peer mentors who work with them, because this really is designed to be an inclusive program.

- [Mark] So how do you find, let's talk about the artists first, the kids.

How do you find them, or do they find you?

How does that work?

- Well, they find us.

And certainly right now, since we've been in operation for 21 years, we put things out, but the word is out there.

People know about us.

We start at age 10.

And so we have people that call us wanting to be able to join us.

We have a get acquainted meeting in August and we just tell everybody, "Come join us."

We put it out on our website and they find us.

That's what's happening.

We really don't do any recruiting anymore.

They just find us and they want to join us.

- And can you talk about some of the challenges that some of these kids have in terms of, you know, their disabilities?

- Well, it's a full range of disability.

We have children with Down syndrome.

We have children with neurological disabilities, children with cerebral palsy, children with autism spectrum disorders, children with intellectual disabilities.

It really runs the full gamut.

Most of them are ambulatory, but some of them have motor challenges.

We have children with walkers, we have children in wheelchairs.

We really don't discriminate.

The only issue would be if you are behaviorally challenged to where you might be a danger to yourself or others.

That's the only difficulty that we've run into.

But for the most part, anybody who's joined us has stayed with us because they find the program so helpful and so much fun.

- And I'm sure over the last 20-plus years, you've seen some great examples of kids who maybe kind of were in a shell because of their disability.

Maybe they were shy, maybe they were self-conscious.

What kind of good stories have you seen come out of this?

- I've got great stories and we could take all day to talk about the stories.

I'll share my favorites with you.

This one young lady was in the course and one day our lead was gone and we said, "Okay, who wants to take this part?"

She started singing and her parents were astounded.

They said, "We never knew that she could sing like this."

She went on to be one of our main characters year after year after year.

Another young man with an autism spectrum disorder, in the middle of rehearsal the first day, crawled into a ball.

He was overwhelmed, couldn't handle it.

We eventually got him out of his shell.

He started to get involved.

Two years later, he was the lead in our show and was interacting with people, touching people, engaging them.

Those are just a couple of the stories.

A young man started in the closet, literally in the supply closet.

Wouldn't come out.

And eventually we had to drag him off stage because he loved being on stage so much.

- That's great.

Do you ever run across parents who maybe are more protective of their kids than some other parents?

Like, they may think, "Oh, I don't want my child to get hurt or embarrassed or anything else."

Do you have to deal with that sometimes?

- Well, I can tell you that parents are understandably concerned about their children and they're hesitant to reach out and to get them engaged in other things.

And that's typical.

And there are parents who chose to take the leap initially and now that they've seen it, now that parents have seen it, now that parents have talked to other parents, we certainly still see parents that are protective and engaged, but once they see what's happening to their kids in the program, they love it.

They become actively involved.

Our parents are a tremendous group that are interactive and engaged with us.

- And tell us about the mentors that actually help the kids and are on stage with them for the performance and the rehearsals.

- I have to tell you, the mentors are just amazing.

They're young people who give up four months to be with us.

It's four months of their lives where they're dedicated to being involved with one special partner and then with everyone.

These are incredible young people.

And this is happening all over the country.

But our mentors are just phenomenal.

It's my now dream that these young people, as they grow up and become community leaders and business leaders, that they will recognize the importance of inclusion and include young people and young adults with special needs in their programs.

- Yeah, I'm sure those mentors learn a lot about kids and just interactions in general by helping out these young actors.

And you've probably seen some bonds that have grown and formed and even though they may not be doing theater anymore, the mentors and the artists still have a bond going.

- They absolutely do.

They develop such a special relationship that it often goes well beyond the stage and then further on.

When these young people go off to college or they go out into the community, they're still making contact with their former partners.

And, of course, whenever they get together, the reaction is just wonderful.

- So the production you have coming up January 16th through the 18th, "Aladdin Jr."

I know you guys do a lot of, you know, pretty mainstream Disney type performances like that.

And you mentioned four months of rehearsals, that's how long you go.

What's that like?

- Well, it's incredible.

I mean, it's obviously an intensive process in terms of the length, but each rehearsal's about an hour and 15 minutes.

We keep 'em short so that we maintain their attention span.

These kids have been great.

This group has been phenomenal.

They've learned their songs and dances really well.

The young actors are terrific.

We're really excited about this and we're gonna move in a great direction.

There's gonna be some real special effects.

So if you come out to see the show, which I hope everybody will, they're gonna see some really special things this year.

- Yeah, what kind of audience reactions have you gotten over the years from people, especially maybe people who didn't actually know what they were gonna be seeing?

- Well, the audience reaction is phenomenal.

Eastlight Theater where we perform has a thousand seats.

We come close to filling it up, especially with a show like this.

I think my best story is that one of the patrons interacted with my wife and said, "You know, I love your program, but you say that all of these leads have special needs and she doesn't and he doesn't."

And she said, "Look at your program.

Yes, they do.

They all have special needs," but on stage, those special needs disappear.

There's no such thing as a disability, only an ability.

And that's really probably the most striking audience reaction that I've had that I just love, that they really can't see the difference between who's on stage, artists and mentors.

- And during these shows, I mean, since you have with every actor a mentor, I imagine the stage gets pretty crowded at times.

- Yes.

We've had up to 90 people on stage at a time, which is pretty crazy.

We've got it down to a manageable level of a little bit over 70.

And there are times when all 70 are on stage together and the stage is pretty crowded.

- And you must have learned to be a pretty patient person with all those people and, you know, you gotta give everybody directions and I'm sure it's difficult.

That's why you have to do it for four months.

- I'm not by nature a patient person, but for some reason, this program brings out the best in me.

I become very patient.

I'm pretty easy in terms of, easygoing, although my wife would would say, "That's ridiculous.

You're never easygoing."

But relatively, I try to keep calm.

I try to engage with the kids as much as I can.

The truth is, it's just fun.

I love seeing the reaction with all the kids.

I love seeing the reaction of the parents.

But when all is said and done, there's so much joy and so much fun involved.

- Did you ever think it would become not only this big locally, but so widespread around the country?

- Never.

I knew it was gonna be successful.

I just had it in my, I knew in my bones it was gonna be successful.

Three years in, the parents came to us and said, "You know, it's really a shame that we just do this in Peoria.

You should take it on the road."

And that's what we did.

So we started a foundation, we developed a process, and slowly but surely we started to gain recognition and now we have 64 programs all around the country.

- That's fantastic.

Where can people go to find out more info about the Penguin Project?

- Well, you can go to our website, www.penguinproject.org.

Or if you want tickets, it's on the Eastlight box office.

There's a site on the Eastlight.

It's Eastlight Theater.

You can get tickets online.

The box office has some limited openings, but mostly it's online.

- All right, Dr.

Andy, we're gonna talk to some of your performers and mentors, but we wish you continued success.

- Thank you so much, Mark.

- Thank you.

And now we're joined by some of the players in the Penguin Project.

First, we have Makenna Hoogerwerf.

She is the head mentor.

And we have June White in the middle there.

She's an artiste.

And her mom, Rachel White, is a volunteer and assistant director.

Thank you all for coming in.

- Thank you.

- Thank you so much for having us.

- Makenna, let's start with you.

How did you get involved as a mentor for these kids?

- Well, I started coming with my aunt when I was eight years old, but I was super busy in grade school.

So when I got to high school, I knew that it was something that I wanted to do and be up on stage with them.

- [Mark] And how long have you done it?

- I've done it for five years.

- Okay, so you're all in.

You really like it?

- Yeah, I do.

I love it.

- What do you love about it and how does it make you feel?

- Well, I love every aspect of it, especially watching all the kids, like, from start to finish.

Like, growing from their selves in the beginning of the rehearsals in August to the final performance in January.

It always makes me super emotional to watch that, especially when it comes to the end.

Doing "Don't Stop," it's our final song that we always do, it's always super emotional watching everyone interact on stage together.

It's just the best feeling in the entire world.

- And how do you think you've grown doing this over the last five years?

- I've definitely learned how to communicate with individuals with disabilities better.

My artist right now is nonverbal, so it's been a little bit of a challenge trying to understand her own ways that she needs, which has been super helpful in what I wanna become when I'm older of a special education teacher.

It's honestly helped me understand the fact of inclusion on a deeper aspect.

- Sure.

Rachel, you've been doing this a long time.

How did you get involved?

- So actually when I was in college, I was studying special education and the Penguin Project was a fairly new thing and one of my professors told me about it.

I had also done and loved theater throughout my life.

And so I went and watched a show and sat in the audience and just wept because I thought it was so very beautiful.

And I would do that for several years and finally after a few years of watching from the audience, I just reached out to Dr.

Andy and said, "Hey, if you ever need anything, I don't think you do 'cause it looks perfect, but if you ever need anything, please let me know."

And I was able to jump in and start helping out behind the scenes.

That was 13 years ago and it's just grown since then.

My involvement has been able to grow.

My family has grown.

I now have one kid in the program and another one who's not old enough yet, but we're looking forward to him joining as well.

And it's just become an incredible thing in my life and in the life of our family.

- And June, did Mom have to convince you to get into the Penguin Project or were you excited to do it?

- I was excited.

- [Mark] What do you like most about it?

- Making all the friends.

Like, yeah, I have a lot of friends.

One of my best friends is Lucy.

She's one of my partners right now.

- That's great.

So you're gonna be in "Aladdin."

What are you doing in "Aladdin?"

Who's your character and what does your character do?

- Well, I'm just in the ensemble this year, so I'm just, like, singing and dancing with my partner.

- Well, that's fun.

- Yeah.

- How many productions have you done?

Do you remember?

- Four.

- Four?

Okay.

Do you have a favorite production that you did?

- My favorite one was "The Lion King" 'cause I was young Nala.

- Oh, very cool.

Very cool.

So, June, you probably get to know your mentors very well considering you have to rehearse for four whole months.

What's it like working with a mentor?

- It's really nice to have someone there to help you if you can't, like, get a dance right or something.

But my other partner, Lucy, I've been helping her more 'cause I'm trying to work towards becoming a mentor someday, hopefully.

And I've been able to help Lucy more and my mentor's been able to help me but also help me help her.

- Okay, now, are you gonna retire early from being an artist to be a mentor or are you gonna wait a little bit?

- I'm gonna probably wait a bit because I wanna be with Lucy, but I also wanna have a mentor there for a few years just to help me 'cause she's deaf and it's hard to communicate with her.

And even when you use sign language to her and that's how she usually communicates, it's just really hard to know what she wants 'cause she doesn't always sign back.

- So you're in a little bit of a training program, huh, with your mentors.

- Yeah.

- That's right.

Rachel, I know that volunteers are huge in this.

I mean, probably wouldn't exist without volunteers.

Is it hard to find people to do this or easy?

- I would say as soon as you find the right people, it's easy because as soon as someone comes to a rehearsal and gets to experience the joy of Penguin, they never wanna leave.

- [Mark] They get hooked.

- Yeah, it's pretty addictive.

- I bet.

You know, Dr.

Andy said there's a mentor on stage with every artist.

What kind of volunteers and people do you have working backstage and things like that?

- Oh my goodness, it is such an example of the adage about it taking a village because we have people doing costumes, we have people working backstage making sure, you know, backstage crew making sure everyone gets to where they need to go.

We have parents who volunteer in the green room to help everyone get changed into their costumes and into the next thing and out on stage at the right time.

And, you know, it's such a hustle and bustle and it takes so many hands.

But even apart from the production itself, we have parents who are helping bring snacks to rehearsals.

We have parents who are helping set up holiday parties.

We have, of course, people helping with choreography and music and all of the things.

But there are just so many pieces that go into our specific production that, of course, all of the parts of a traditional theater program, but then all of these other behind the scenes parts that make it such a family of community and making sure that those community times happen and that everyone is well cared for and well fed and everything else.

And so many wonderful volunteers and parents step in to take care of those.

- Makenna, have you recruited any of your friends or family to help out?

- A lot.

When I was in my high school, we had a unified program.

I eventually started bringing, like, all of my friends.

One of my best friends is in the production with me this year again.

And my roommate was in the production for two years until she decided the 45-minute drive from college was pretty hard.

But I've definitely recruited a lot of my friends.

A lot of my high school friends are in the production too.

So it's amazing to- - [Rachel] You brought your little brother along too.

- I did bring my brother up, yep.

He's also in high school too, so it's fun.

- Okay, very cool.

We should remind people too, we talked with Dr.

Andy about how there's 64 chapters around the country.

Y'all do the Peoria, but there's also the Penguin Project McLean County.

They do their performance in June at University High School.

And you guys typically do it in the winter.

So it's nice that you can go to the other performance.

- Absolutely.

- They can come to this one, things like that.

- So many in the community to support.

And I know Dr.

Andy also mentioned our older adults program, our program for adults, which is also in the summer.

So, yeah, all year long, there's wonderful Penguin opportunities to experience and support.

- Yeah, and around here, there's also groups in Champaign-Urbana and I believe the Quad Cities.

So plenty of opportunities there.

You know, June, when I was your age, I didn't do a lot of plays and stuff because I had trouble memorizing things.

So I did behind the scenes stuff to make all the actors look good.

What do you do?

Do you ever have problems, you know, memorizing songs and things like that?

And if so, can you give us some tips?

- I have a hard time more with remembering the dances probably.

Like, especially if, like, there's one this year that's really difficult.

And, well, usually I ask my mentor.

But I have been trying more this year, too, to focus more, too, on what the dance instructor is doing.

- When you're on stage doing these performances, I know the lights are bright and stuff, but do you get to, do you ever see anybody in the audience or see their reactions or anything like that?

- Sometimes you can see the people right in the front, but you can't really see the people, like, in the balcony or, like, far back.

- I bet they've got big smiles on their faces.

- Absolutely.

- Enjoying themselves.

Let's talk a little bit, Rachel, about, you know, people getting involved if they're watching this and saying, "Hey, that sounds like fun."

What's the best way for them to find out more information?

- Well, they can always visit our website and hopefully we'll have that maybe available for people.

But, yeah, they can always visit our website.

We have a Facebook page.

And please just reach out, come visit us.

Like Dr.

Andy mentioned, we have an informational meeting at kind of the end of the summer, beginning of fall each year.

So whether people are interested in joining as a participant, a mentor, an artist, or a volunteer, that's a great place to start.

No matter what your strengths are, no matter what your interests are, no matter what your abilities are, there's room for everyone at the Penguin Project.

- I know you do big productions, like you're doing "Aladdin," which has a big ensemble.

Do you ever have to turn away kids because you just don't have enough spots?

- You know, unfortunately, once in a while, we do.

It breaks our hearts.

It's our least favorite thing to do.

Really, for the most part, we have a certain limit that we can't go beyond just space-wise when it comes to how many people you can put on a stage.

- Sure.

- But aside from that, really the only reason we would ever have to unfortunately turn anyone away is if we don't have enough partners.

If we don't have enough mentors to help out with each kiddo, then once in a while, we do have to make those hard decisions.

But we do everything in our power to avoid that, including some of our mentors, like June kind of mentioned, her mentor is helping with both her and another artist and they work together as a little trio.

And so we sure try to get creative in every way that we can to avoid that at all costs.

- Yeah, it's sad, but it's good that you have a lot of interest.

June, when you finally become a mentor, you know, you're gonna be working with lots of different people with lots of different abilities.

What kind of advice would you give them when they perform that maybe you learned as a performer?

- So, like, to help your artist.

Well, Lucy, she's deaf, so obviously you really need to, you need to help them, but I also try to really let her do a lot.

But you just need to, yeah, you just need to really help them, but also let them do it by themselves.

- Sure.

- And encourage them, right?

- Yeah, encourage them.

- Yeah, if they're nervous, you give them some words of encouragement.

- And what do we say all the time, what do we do when we're on stage and when we're at rehearsal?

We're here to have?

- Fun.

- And?

- Smile.

- There you go.

Here's my advice.

If someone has trouble dancing, just tell 'em, "Dancing is just like standing still, only faster."

(guests laugh) That's my advice.

Makenna, as you've gone through this, you've done it for five years now, like, you talked about learning to be, you know, patient and learning with these kids.

What you're studying now in college, is that a direct result of being in the Penguin Project?

- Yeah, mostly.

- Did you- - I also work for individuals with disabilities.

So this population is, like, my whole life.

I love helping individuals.

It's always been a part of me.

My aunt is a special education teacher.

I would go with her every single day to class when I didn't have school just to be around that population.

The feeling of helping someone with a disability fulfills my heart.

Becoming a friend with my artist.

So, yeah, definitely being able to do special education in college and learn about it at a much deeper level is definitely an aspect of the Penguin Project.

- Well, we need more people like you out there.

- Absolutely.

- That's for sure.

- Yes.

- And just before we go, Rachel, is it three performances this weekend?

- Yeah, yeah, so Friday, Saturday, and then a matinee on Sunday.

All at Eastlight Theater.

And it's a great thing, but tickets sell fast because it's just an incredible show.

Not only is the Penguin Project a place of inclusion and acceptance and kindness and friendship, which it is, it is also a place to see just the best show in town.

The production that these kids put on, their talent, their ability, it will just blow you away.

So get your tickets fast please.

- So after you guys are done with four months of rehearsals and three shows, what do you do to decompress, to relax?

- I sleep a lot.

- Sleep a lot?

Yeah.

- (chuckles) Sleep a lot.

- Makenna, what about you?

- I work.

It's just, I never wanna leave the population.

It's makes me so sad at the end of all of our rehearsals.

It sounds like so much but honestly goes by so fast because of how much fun you have at each rehearsal.

- Great.

Well, we appreciate you guys coming on.

Rachel White.

- Thank you so much.

- Volunteer and assistant director, her daughter June, an artiste, and Makenna Hoogerwerf.

Did I screw that up?

- Nope.

- Awesome.

It's gonna be a good day.

I didn't screw it up.

We appreciate you guys coming on and I hope you have full houses this weekend.

- Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

And thank you for joining us.

If you'd like to share this interview with a friend, just go to wtvp.org.

You can share it on social media.

And, of course, we will see you on social media, on Facebook and Instagram.

Have a good night.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music continues)