Improv Comedy + Down syndrome = Jobs?

“Music!” Rob Snow shouts, echoing an audience member’s response to his request for an improv skit topic. Then he turns to three young adults with Down syndrome, points to one and says “Go!”

“Rap!” Nick Doyle responds first.

“Country!” says Dani Chase.

“I was gonna say country, too,” Chris Bean says. He gets a laugh from the crowd gathered at the National Down Syndrome Congress in Pittsburgh.

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First round’s on Rob Snow! The founder of Stand Up for Downs led two men in a skit about toasting with imaginary cocktails they selected–the so-called drinks included a Bloody Mary. Click the triangle to hear Marisa Niwa’s interview with Snow. Photo: J.S. Jordan

For Snow, who started Stand Up for Downs, the comedy exercise is not just fun and games.

“Improv can be this missing link to creating more and more jobs for those with special needs,” he told Look Who’s Here! correspondent Marisa Niwa in an interview. “It teaches things like voice projection and eye contact. It teaches problem-solving and quick thinking, teamwork and focus. Those are all amazing skills that help people get new and bigger and better jobs.”

It’s been almost 30 years since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the integration of people with disabilities into public education. Yet unemployment remains double that of the rest of the populations. The job landscape remains relatively narrow for people with disabilities. Advancement opportunities are unlikely.

Rob Snow, at left, tells Marisa Niwa about his comedy skills organization Stand Up for Downs, which serves people with Down syndrome. They spoke at the National Down Syndrome Congress in Pittsburgh. Photo: Nick Tommarello.

Snow trained in comedy at The Second City Theater in Chicago–the famed institution that launched many a Saturday Night Live Career. He got involved in what he calls the Down syndrome community after his son, Henry, was born with Down syndrome. Snow says it’s crucial to expand the job field for people with Down syndrome in part because this population is living longer.

“The dream is to create the program and for it to be adopted not just for people with Down syndrome but all special needs,” Snow says, “We can go from these ‘four Fs’ that they say–which is flowers, filth, factory and food for people with special needs, those types of jobs, to where we could grow bigger jobs. We could be leaders and creators and innovators and builders and team members.”

Snow offered case studies of how the students that he calls the Improvaneers are developing their skills and finding new jobs. Chase, for example, works at the amusement park Cedar Point, where she plays in a Peanuts character performance. She and Snow credit improv for helping her land the job.

This piece was produced by an All-Abilities Media Team with help from Nick Tommarello from Point Park University and the Center for Media Innovation at Point Park University. Another version of the audio first aired on The Confluence on 90.5 WESA, and can be found here.