BIO

Emma MacLean is a teaching artist and maker. In Chicago, she has been seen teaching with Mudlark, The Viola Project, and Chicago Children's Theatre. She is currently a facilitator with A.B.L.E. Ensemble and is adapting their spring show As You Like It. Emma is interested in art and accessibility in all its forms. Whose stories do we tell, whose do we not? Who is invited to see/hear/smell/touch those stories, be in those spaces? How do we tell bodies that they are welcome or not? You might see her captioning a play or writing a social story for a sensory friendly show or making a weighted blanket or fidget toy. Go talk to her about the intersection of disability and art.
Recently, Emma has been working on an embroidery and textile project about the stories of people's experiences with chronic pain. It is a small effort to expand the way we visualize pain beyond the terrible 10 face scale often presented in doctor's offices. She doesn't know what the project will end up being, but feels lucky to be witness to these stories and to help retell them.

INSPIRED BY

Heavyweight (the podcast by Jonathan Goldstein) / textiles / Paula Vogel / Punchdrunk / those things that are incredibly ordinary

A loom. A letter. A ship. A journey. Odysseus is far from home at this point it is hard to believe he will ever get back. This sensory immersive play brings the audience aboard to travel with Odysseus through the challenges that stand between him and home. What is home? Will there still be people to welcome us when we return? What if we are different than when we left? This play was conceived for teen and young adult audiences with autism and/or sensory processing challenges.