Sarnia theater program for special needs adults readies for June shows

Creating a theater program for adults with developmental disabilities has been a labor of love for Holly Wenning.

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“I feel like it’s my purpose,” said the writer and director behind Stars 21-plus.

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She and a crew of volunteers recently started helping 16 young adults — their ages range from 21 to the mid-30s, Wenning said — get ready for their upcoming show, I Feel Like Dancing, at the Sarnia Library Theatre.

“There’s no money. We’re not doing it for that,” Wenning said. “This is our hobby because we love working with these people. You leave joyful.”

Wenning about 10 years ago was involved in starting a similar program at Pathways Health Center for Children called Expressive Arts.

That program is still going strong, said the longtime performer and director with groups like Theater Sarnia, but she backed away from it around 2019, eyeing retirement.

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She later realized there was a demand for adults who turned 21 and aged out of Pathways, she said.

So, in early 2023, she and volunteers staged the first Expressive Arts 21-plus show that Wenning said was “awesome.”

A name change later — so there’s no confusion with the Pathways program — rehearsing for the Stars’ second show is underway, she said.

Dancing, singing and joke telling are part of the program, she said, noting she and her “incredible crew of good, close friends” work with the performers based on their special needs.

Some might be in wheelchairs, or use walkers, so steps get modified to make the numbers work, she said.

Some, like Sydney Vrolyk, Wenning said, started in the Pathways program and eventually graduated to Stars 21-plus.

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The 24-year-old with Down syndrome said she likes to dance.

Her mom, Helen Van Sligtenhorst, was more effusive.

“This is an example of how (Wenning) is giving our children meaning,” she said.

“Twice a week my kid has a purpose,” she said about the rehearsals, on top of other community building things like Special Olympics programs.

Making bonds can be tough for people with special needs, she said.

“Now they have friend groups” as a byproduct of spending time together in rehearsals and elsewhere, she said.

There’s no telling how large the Stars program might grow, Wenning said, as it’s a natural landing area for people who age out of the pathways program.

There were 12 participants in 2023, she said, and there’s no cap on the Stars program, yet.

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“The goal may be to become even larger,” but that’s not yet clear, she said.

It’s the first program of its kind in Sarnia, she said.

Participants’ registration fees and a Down Syndrome Association of Lambton County sponsorship — Van Sligtenhorst is a vice president — cover costs for things like venue rentals and costumes, she said.

The name is also a nod to the Stars of Tomorrow musical theater camp Wenning said she and her daughter used to run.

Hopes are to sell all 600 tickets, she said. They’re $15 and available at Van Sligtenhorst’s Harbor Bay Clothing store in downtown Sarnia.

Shows are at the library theater, June 14 at 7 pm, and June 15 at 2 pm

“It’s all about the joy, the fulfillment, it really is,” Wenning said about working with the group.

“When you finally get it all together and you work with them all in there, they listen and they’re so engaged and they want to be there.”

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