With a musical format paired with a colorful and authentic cast, the “The Same Sky Project” came to Longwood University to spread the message of both tolerance and awareness.
Longwood students came out to Jarman aAuditorium Saturday afternoon to see the musical, which was brought to campus by sophomore Madison Lowry and sponsored by the Longwood University’s Parents Council.
“The Same Sky Project” is an original musical with the a message of understanding and avoiding the labeling of all people, especially those who have disabilities or life struggles. Throughout the performance, cast members informed the audience of their life stories and how with the help of music they refuse to let their struggles define them. The musical helped shed light about on multiple disabilities, such as obsessive compulsive disorder, Tourette syndrome, and autism. Physical ailments such as cerebral palsy, diabetes, cancer, and lyme Lyme disease, were also discussed to further spread the knowledge of how they can impact a person. The musical wasn’t just informational. The performers truly tugged on the heartstrings of the audience by telling their struggles and pleading for people to remember to see them for more than just their labels.
“I just really get a feeling of inspiration. All of these kids have faced numerous things throughout their lives and many of us can’t even comprehend or relate to at all,” said Lowry., “I get stage fright still and I feel very confident in myself and for them to go up and go against what everyone else thinks, because they really believe in the message that they’re sending and it’s inspirational and it’s absolutely contagious.”
After the performance, the cast sat down with the audience for a brief Q & A session. It was during this time that Amy Stone, one of the performers who has cerebral palsy, explained that she came up with the idea for the musical.
“I sat through a bunch of assemblies and I was like ‘Hmm, maybe this could be a thing.’ Someday we could get a group together to share a bunch of stories … Did I think it was gonna be this big? No.”
She further added that her cast mates were the real reasons as to why the play has become the success that it is.
“The Same Sky Project” has been in production for the past six years and has been touring around local Virginia school systems and other venues including the National American Music Therapy Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. The musical is put on by the non-profit organization, A Place to Be, which uses music therapy as way to help young people overcome all different types of challenges whether they be physical, emotional, developmental, social, or life challenges. The cast of the show ismembers are all students of the organization, but one of the performers has a very special connection to Lowry.
“My younger brother, Ryan, he was diagnosed with autism at a very young age and he has fortunately been blessed with savant qualities and characteristics so he really took to the arts, taught him himself how to play the piano and that’s how we wet Tom Sweitzer,” recalled Lowry.
Swietzer is one of the practitioners of A Place to Be and director of the “The Same Sky Project.” Since meeting him, Lowry’s family has been greatly involved with the organization and that helped sparked her passion for bringing the performance to the Longwood community. After receiving a $2,000 grant from the Longwood University’s Parents Council in the previouslast semester, Lowry singled-handedly made the performance at Longwood possible.
Lowry stated, “I was really passionate to bring it to Longwood’s campus and so I hope that how I feel about it can resonate through everyone else who came and saw it and the word can spread.”
“I hope that they can gain more education about disabilities and what that really means to people,” added Lowry. “All of us are different from each other. We’re all unique snowflakes, all of us are different and we all have our own sack of rocks to carry and people just need to recognize that and we don’t always. I’m a victim of that, everyone is a victim of that and sometimes it just takes things like this to truly realize (that)."
