The theater has traditionally been a place of escapism for many audiences. However, it has not always been able to provide that escape for everyone.

A collaborative effort between faculty and students of MSU and the University of Michigan is aiming to make the stage more accessible to neuro-diverse audiences. Dionne O'Dell, from MSU's Department of Theatre and Arts and Cultural Management, teamed up with U-M's Sean Ahlquist, Associate Professor of Architecture, to create POND, a sensory-friendly theatrical experience.

POND allows audience members to walk under various 3-D structures, catch fish, and interact with puppets created by designers in the College of Arts and Letters during the performance. The play also integrates music and song in a multi-sensory experience for children with autism.

The grant-funded production is truly a collaborative effort. Along with the contributions of O'Dell and Ahlquist to the design of POND, other faculty from the College of Education and Kinesiology Department have done research to ensure the accessibility of the production, and MSU students and alumni lend their acting talents onstage.

Through her work on POND, O'Dell has learned the importance of one-on-one interactions between audience members and actors. O'Dell and Ahlquist have seen the impacts of POND in nonverbal children who have attended and want all children who are neuro-diverse to have a "beautiful experience and best quality of life."