imaGen to Bring New Musical TEMPLE to Wharton Center

imáGen brings together local high school and middle school students, MSU Department of Theatre music theatre and dance students and Broadway performers working together on the same stage. This year, they are collaborating on TEMPLE - A Staged Concert Reading, based on the life of the visionary, inventor, best-selling author, professor and autism activist Temple Grandin.

Temple is widely celebrated as one of the first individuals on the autism spectrum to publicly share insights from her personal experience of autism. She is also the inventor of the "hug box," a device to calm those on the autism spectrum. In the 2010 Time 100, an annual list of the one hundred most influential people in the world, she was named in the "Heroes" category. This production comprises a three-week rehearsal process and three performances of this work-in-progress, including a Sensory- Friendly performance on Saturday, October 22, at 2 p.m.

Gabrielle Barre (Amazing Grace) has been hired to direct the performance, which will be presented on Friday, October 21 and Saturday, October 22 in Wharton Center's Pasant Theatre. The Saturday matinee performance will be sensory-friendly, meaning it will be modified for audience members with sensory input disorders, ASD, or other differences. Tickets are available at the official source to purchase Wharton Center tickets online, whartoncenter.com, at the Auto-Owners Insurance Ticket Office, or by calling 1-800-WHARTON.

MSU Department of Theatre Chair, Kirk Domer, says, "imáGen is such a great program for everyone involved - from the MSU and high school and middle school students to the Broadway performers. There are so many opportunities for creative collaboration. It's simply amazing!" Bert Goldstein, director of the MSUFCU Institute for Arts & Creativity at Wharton Center, adds, "This program is about creating a well-rounded, extremely creative human being who can ask great questions, solve problems, and do all of the things that the arts can instill really well."