Penn State uses BlackTrax in The Curious Incident
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The Tony Award-winning play is about 15-year-old Christopher, who has an extraordinary brain. Two sensory-friendly performances provided a welcoming space for all patrons with or without neurodivergent needs.
The characters in this production portray that neurodivergence is when a person’s brain does not function in a way that is considered “typical”. In telling this story about a neurodivergent character, Penn State has been helped along the way by various consultants and experts who helped deepen their understanding of various aspects of the experience of autistic people and their families.
Special considerations for the Curious Incident included sensory supports, lower sound level, strobe light reduction, designated quiet areas, and a welcoming, judgement-free, family environment. BlackTrax was given the task of highlighting main characters of the production.
Kyle Shearer, lighting designer, first met with our BlackTrax Trainer Nic at the USITT virtual conference in early 2021 and inquired about getting a system for the Penn State production. From there the two worked out details through zoom meetings and emails. Penn State received an educational loaner.
“I think going outside the box and pushing the limits of what we do in theatre is healthy in an educational environment,” says Shearer. “Pushing myself to learn an entirely new control system on my first collegiate design proved to be difficult yet rewarding. The networking and programming knowledge I picked up from this experience will be useful in future endeavours. I also have a feeling BlackTrax will show up in more and more productions over time and working with it will give us all a leg up in the future.”
William Kenyon, head of lighting design programme first saw BlackTrax in action at a Weeknd concert. Curious about what was happening with a calibration wand before the show, William hunted down an electrician to ask what kind of motion-capture system was being used. Soon after, a BlackTrax system was in his possession for he and his students to use in the production of The Curious Incident.
“I was initially surprised at how complex the system is, but it seems that the students were able to train up on the system quickly with four excellent Zoom sessions from the BlackTrax trainer.” says Kenyon.
“Seeing the students take the lead on specifying, installing, calibrating, troubleshooting, and running the system. Despite its complexity, it seems that they were trained very well, as they ended up being primarily responsible for the whole thing, due to staffing challenges in the school. It’s one more arrow in their quiver of experiences and will hopefully be something that will really stand out on resumes when they go looking for work.”
