Lisa Jolley and a Night about Autism

Mon Jul 26 2021 15:50:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

This Special Comedy Conversation and Evening begins with an interview with Boom Chicago alum Lisa Jolley. Get a chance to ask those burning questions! Lisa is an actress, singer, improviser and teacher/coach of all those things. We will speak about her life in Amsterdam, her career and definitely about her son George, whose heartfelt video about being autistic went viral. The conversation continues with a panel discussion about Possibilities not Limitations for people with autism with Marcia Goddard who is the head of People and Culture from Tony’s Chocolonely. The limitations are well documented, but people on the autistic spectrum have skills relating to order, detail and connecting things. If these traits could be better catalogued and understood we would go a long way to not just keeping autistic people busy, but unlocking these unique skills to benefit employers and society. The panel ends with a short video performance from the amateur students of InterActing. InterActing is Boom Chicago’s non-profit theater program that encourages teenagers and students with autism through improvisation skills to break out of their patterns of ritual and routine to embrace the unexpected. These life skills help young people with autism to become more confident and to enjoy interacting with the (non-autistic) world around them. For those in the theater, a (Dutch language) performance follows from Fabian Franciscus. He is a charming and successful standup comedian who is on the spectrum. One of his skills is to balance when those two things build on each other and when they collide. In the Netherlands, he won the Leeuwarder Cabaret Festival prize and the Comedy Slam. Abroad, he performs at prolific comedy clubs in New York, Berlin, Stockholm, and London. (separate ticket).