Welcoming Place for All!
Seventeen-year-old Donovan Dix has
autism. When he told his mother Tia he
wanted to see Motown the Musical at the
Straz Center, she wasn’t sure what to expect.
After all, “the theater” historically belonged
to people who could sit still and be silent
for a few hours. How was this going to
work?
Fortunately, The Straz has always been
a welcoming place for all. At the point in
Motown where Diana Ross asks someone
to come onstage with her, no one volunteered.
So, Tia shot up her hand, pointing
at Donovan. At his very first Broadway
performance, Donovan Dix found himself
onstage singing “Reach Out and Touch
(Somebody’s Hand)” with the star of the
show.
Tia remembers the moment vividly.
“I thought, ‘what did I get him in, he’s
gone up onstage!’ I stood up with him and
guided him from the side. When it was
over, he got a standing ovation. After the
show we met some of the cast, and the
actress found us. She said, ‘I want you to
know we’ve been on tour so many months,
and that’s the first time we ever got a
standing ovation.’”
Donovan was hooked on Broadway.
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From Motown on, Tia bought single
tickets until she realized she could save
money buying the whole season. Last year,
Donovan was a Straz Center Broadway
season ticket holder. With the aid of Straz
ushers, Tia helped the couples sitting
around Donovan who also had season tickets
understand that he had autism, which
meant that he may react differently to the
action onstage. The couples fell in love with
Donovan’s excitement about live theater. At
the end of the season, one couple gave him
a gift of a chocolate gold medal, a tribute to
his status as a New Jersey gold medalist in
gymnastics for the Special Olympics.
“The Straz staff has been phenomenal,”
Tia says. “When I explain that I don’t have
a ticket but need to get Donovan acclimated
before the show, the staff has a phenomenal
reaction. They know I’ll be right
outside in the lobby if they need me. We all
have a wonderful communication level.”
Part of the Straz Center’s mission is to
make sure that guests of all abilities get the
services they need. We provide compassionate
assistance for mothers like Tia, plus we
offer so much more including wheelchair
accessible seating, assisted listening systems,
American Sign Language interpreted
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