“As many of you have probably heard in the news lately, children today are being diagnosed with autism at an alarming rate, one in every 150 births. The impact on the lives of these children, their families, and our society is something that cannot be ignored. Autism knows no race, gender, or socio/economic level, and most of us know someone personally who has an autistic child or has read or seen someone in the media. Research is constantly being conducted on early detection, interventions, and therapy.”

-Dr. Shelley Yeckes, Director of ESE at City of Pembroke Pines Charter Schools

May 2009 marked the commencement of Wake Up Marconi Production Company’s Autism Outreach Program WUMBA.  Wake Up Marconi flew down to Florida to work with the Exceptional Student Education Department of the City of Pembroke Pines Charter Schools in conjunction with Florida State University.

During our week in Pembroke Pines, we provided theatre workshops for their ESE students and offered a medium for the students to explore and play through art, music, and movement. We culminated the week with the premiere of Breaking Free, a benefit performance dedicated to autism awareness and research. We successfully raised over $30,000 for the ESE Department!

Wake Up Marconi is inspired on many levels to work with children with autism and help raise money for these incredible kids across the country. Celine Rosenthal, the Managing Director of Wake Up Marconi, along with her brother Mark Rosenthal, a fellow performer in Breaking Free, have seen first-hand how a lack of autism awareness can affect families. Their first cousin Kyle is an autistic teenager who was never able to get the help he needed. According to Celine and Mark, “We’ve seen what happens to kids who don’t get help, or get help too late. We’ve seen how hard our aunt had to struggle to get any kind of assistance for our cousin. We are happy to aid in any way we can to bring autism awareness to a wider audience.”

Wake Up Marconi aspires to continue the work we did in Florida across the country. Our goal is to consistently raise funds for organizations that specialize in autism awareness and research by bringing our passion for music and theatre to a national audience while working with autistic children in a hands-on environment.

If you are interested in producing a benefit with Wake Up Marconi or having Wake Up Marconi come do a workshop with your students, please contact us.