DANVILLE \u2014 They looked and looked, but Champaign theater buffs Cameron and AJ Cornell couldn\u2019t find their own family dynamic \u2014 raising a son with autism \u2014 represented in any shows.<\/p>\n
So they decided to write one.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, the heart of the story is not the focus on the struggle; it\u2019s focusing on the joy and the love that comes about through all of that,\u201d Cameron said of \u201cLet Me Fly,\u201d which will be presented next month at Danville Area Community College\u2019s Bremer Conference Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully, people come away from it also seeing how the other characters also learn how to communicate with each other,\u201d AJ added. \u201cWhere it\u2019s not just the super obvious \u2014 learn to use a communication device \u2014 but also people who maybe we don\u2019t think of needing to learn how to communicate, also learning to communicate with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
The shows set for 7 p.m. Nov. 7-8 and 2 p.m. Nov. 9 are \u201cworkshop presentations,\u201d meaning they\u2019ll be stripped to the bare essentials: Actors wear black clothing instead of costumes, sets are minimalist, and few props are used.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea of it is to be able to see how the story works and how the actors are able to tell the story on stage before putting it up for a fully-staged production,\u201d AJ said.<\/p>\n
AJ said theater has been a huge part of their lives, both from being in shows themselves and being \u201cnerds and fans\u201d in the audience. The couple\u2019s first date was to see a play, and the day after they got engaged, they saw \u201cHamilton\u201d in Chicago.<\/p>\n
As the Cornells became parents and their son, Josiah, was diagnosed with autism, they discovered there weren\u2019t stories that reflected his life or families\u2019 experiences.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started really just kind of as this passion project that we wanted to do of what would this look like?\u201d AJ said. \u201cHe wrote a few songs. We started talking about what the plot would look like.\u201d<\/p>\n
They gradually created the musical, melding their life experiences with their passion for theater.<\/p>\n
As they wrote it, interest grew in making \u201cLet Me Fly\u201d public after several readings at the Station Theatre in Urbana.<\/p>\n
The plot changed in between the first and second readings, based on feedback, and the cast of three grew to seven. They added and took away scenes and songs, and eventually wound up renaming the musical altogether after one of the songs.<\/p>\n
After a third draft, they realized they needed to take the next steps to staging it \u2014 \u201cput it up on its feet\u201d and see how a crowd responds.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when they approached friends Jordan and Kady Richey \u2014 both members of the Danville Light Orchestra Musical Theatre board whom Cameron had worked with on a couple of other shows \u2014 about partnering up.<\/p>\n
Kady came on board as stage manager and producer for \u201cLet Me Fly,\u201d and Jordan stepped into the main role, the adult Sam, in the Cornells\u2019 musical.<\/p>\n
The musical features 17 songs \u2014 pared down from 40 \u2014 with Sam telling his story about growing up learning how to communicate and connect. As a child, Sam was non-verbal, but learned to communicate with an AAC (augmentative and alternative communication) device.<\/p>\n
The musical, about two hours in length with an intermission, includes a few meltdowns and self-injurious behavior, which puts pressure on the whole family, Cameron said. (Audiences should know that strong language is used, akin to a PG-13 rating).<\/p>\n
The show is not the Cornells\u2019 personal story, they said, but it\u2019s the world they live in.<\/p>\n
Another adoption<\/h3>\n
AJ, who grew up in Urbana, and Cameron, who\u2019s from down south, moved back to Champaign about two years ago after spending six in Chicago.<\/p>\n
They met while in the theater at a small Bible college in Minnesota, got married right after finishing up and moved back to Illinois for work.<\/p>\n
AJ is a case manager at Cunningham Children\u2019s Home. Cameron is in nursing school at Parkland College.<\/p>\n
Back in Chicago, they adopted their first child, Josiah, now 6, who\u2019d \u201chad a really tough journey,\u201d Cameron said. \u201cHe ended up having a trach and was on a ventilator at our home for a few years. And we were his caregivers and learned how to operate a feeding pump and the ventilator and how to do trach changes and all of that. We\u2019re his nurses.\u201d<\/p>\n
As if their lives weren\u2019t happily busy enough, a month ago they received a text from the Chicago adoption agency that brought Josiah into their lives. Another family was looking to adopt a special-needs child who had a rough road ahead, one that included open-heart surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cWould the Cornells be willing to mentor the couple?\u201d they were asked and responded with a quick \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Then, in the same text exchange, the social worker who helped with Josiah\u2019s adoption asked if they were thinking of adopting again.<\/p>\n
They said they were but nothing came of the exchange.<\/p>\n
Then the adoption agency reached back out with more news: the couple the Cornells had agreed to mentor decided they weren\u2019t ready for a complex adoption and backed out.<\/p>\n
Would the Cornells consider adopting this child, too?<\/p>\n
The child needs a forever home now, AJ said, so of course they\u2019d figure out how to make it work.<\/p>\n
Part of that involves the financials of adoption, which add up to about $8,000. Family and friends have put together a fundraiser to help \u2014 it\u2019s set for 5 p.m. Sunday at First Presbyterian Church of Urbana.<\/p>\n
Given their passion for musical theater, that\u2019s the theme of Sunday\u2019s event, which Cameron said will include \u201ca crazy good lineup of local performers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a lot of fun,\u201d he said, with a lineup of mostly Broadway tunes, with a few others woven in.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is our joy to adopt our new son, and we know that others want to support that, and so, we\u2019re providing an opportunity for them to do so,\u201d Cameron said.<\/p>\n
\u2018He\u2019s a cutie\u2019<\/h3>\n
The Cornells have met 3-month-old Theodore, who was born almost three months early but is projected to have good outcomes following needed open-heart surgery.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a cutie,\u201d Cameron said, pulling out his phone like a proud dad to show a photo.<\/p>\n
Thinking about the heart of why they wrote \u201cLet Me Fly,\u201d Cameron told the story of another family with two autistic children who came to a second reading of their show.<\/p>\n
The parents wept afterwards and shared that it was powerful seeing their lives represented.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were so impacted. It was such a sweet moment to see, \u201c Cameron said. \u201cThey felt seen.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n