Theater of Possibility
Theater of Possibility (“TOP”) aims to uplift and celebrate the neurodiverse and disability community, and its allies, through the power of theater.
Founded in 2010, TOP celebrates human potential and offers a vision of a more just and inclusive world! We celebrate strengths and create a safe space for community building and self-expression.
TOP offers three main areas of programing:
• Inclusive Drama Education
TOP runs drama classes for kids, teens and young adults with autism and other (dis)abilities, as well as neurotypical peers. Semester-long sessions for ages 10-15 and 15-adult meet weekly during the school year, plus there is a 2-week, half-day intensive summer camp for ages 10-18. Students are introduced to acting, improvisation, collaboration and play-creation through fun theater games, and progress to creating original short plays on topics of their choosing. With its focus on collaboration, TOP’s curriculum is designed to highlight relationship skills, but it is not didactic. We meet students where they’re at and gently challenge them to stretch their capabilities. Every person is valued for their gifts!
•• Leadership Training, Autism Self-Advocacy & Community Engagement
TOP also offers leadership training. Qualified young adult TOP participants serve as teaching aides in the summer program and have even gone on to lead their own classes. Our advanced students are trained in applied theater techniques from Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed. We apply these techniques in the community to foster autism acceptance and inclusion, and to entertain. TOP’s advanced troupe has presented short works developed by or with autistic writers for the Intersections Festival, Sound Theater’s Gaslight Project, North American Drama Therapy Association, Seattle Public Schools, Coyote Central, and an American Alliance for Theater in Education Conference at SPU, among other venues.
••• Professional Production
Our professional productions of original plays and musicals tell untold stories, often featuring neurodiversity themes. Our 2023 production of Love Letters-A True-ly Short Epistolary Romance by then 20-year old Seattle playwright Sofia Ghassaei, an autistic nonspeaker, sold out in one weekend and was nominated for best new play or musical in Seattle’s BroadwayWorld. It has been selected for a 2026 reading by Neurodivergent Fiscal Sponsorship Agreement Plays in NYC. In 2025, TOP presented a staged reading of Fixing Einstein, by Lauren Marshall and composer Ian Williams, about an ailing scientist who creates a clone of herself to care for her artist husband and autistic twin boys.
We approach controversy through a humanistic lens that aims to unite rather than divide us. Rather than simply preach to the choir, our works invite audiences on a journey that opens hearts and minds. We are based in Seattle, where we are a member of the University Heights Center Theatre Alliance. We also serve audiences nationally and internationally with quality, edited videos of our productions (or excerpts) posted for free on TOP's YouTube channel. Thus, we aim to reach audiences that do not normally attend theater due to geography, cost, disability, lack of time or other reasons.
Theater of Possibility is a fiscally sponsored project of the Allied Arts Foundation.
If you'd prefer to donate by check, please make check payable to "Allied Arts Foundation" and indicate "Theater of Possibility" in the memo line.
Checks can be mailed to:
Allied Arts Foundation
2212 Queen Anne Ave N #759
Seattle, WA 98109
