This week, a very special show premiered on Broadway. Based on the Peabody Award-winning HBO documentary, How to Dance in Ohio is a heart-filled new musical exploring the need to connect and the courage it takes to step out into the world. At a group counseling center in Columbus, Ohio, seven autistic young adults prepare for a spring formal dance—a rite of passage that breaks open their routines and sets off hilarious and heartbreaking encounters.
In a Broadway first, openly autistic actors are playing the seven autistic characters. What makes this even more special is that all seven of those actors are making their Broadway debut! The production also employs Ava Xiao-Lin Rigelhaupt, who is on the autism spectrum, as its autistic creative consultant and has taken additional steps to make the production accessible including keeping the lights on during performances and offering "cool-down spaces".
PowerToFly was thrilled to speak with some of the team behind this new musical back in August for our Visible & Invisible Disabilities and Neurodivergence summit, part of our Diversity Reboot series.
We sat down with book writer & lyricist Rebekah Greer Melocik who alongside composer Jacob Yandura is the co-creator of the upcoming Broadway musical How to Dance in Ohio. We talk to Rebekah about her writing process, what it was like to connect with the real life documentary subjects and how that shaped her process. We’ll also discuss the process of creating the show with accessibility in mind rather than it as an afterthought. Watch that conversation here.
A Conversation with Rebekah Greer Melocik, Book Writer & Lyricist Behind "Dance in Ohio"www.youtube.com
We are thrilled to be joined in conversation by actor & singer Imani Russell, one of the stars of the upcoming Broadway musical How to Dance in Ohio. We talk to Imani about making their Broadway debut, the journey of their character Mel, their process as an actor in the show and their own experience as an autistic person in the workplace. Watch that conversation here.
A Conversation with Imani Russell, a star of the new Broadway Musical How to Dance in Ohiowww.youtube.com
