By Jody Kerzman

You may know him best for his role as a dancing beer mug in Sleepy Hollow’s recent production of Beauty and the Beast. It’s a role that earned 21-year-old Jonathan Raisen an award—his peers voted him “Best Dancing Beer Mug.” It may not sound like a big deal, but it is a very big deal, for a number of reasons. First, this was Jon’s first ever formal theater production. That’s pretty remarkable, but even more remarkable is the fact that Jon has autism. He is the first person with special needs to have a part in a Sleepy Hollow production.

“It’s amazing to me, because when we first started, we didn’t know what to expect,” recalls director Job Christenson. “We had a meeting with Jon’s dad and decided our goal with this was just to help Jon become a little more independent. Our expectations were pretty low; he was really shy initially so we thought maybe he would just watch, but after the first week he was up on stage, moving and dancing. He loved dancing so we thought, ‘let’s put him in a number.’ Then we put him in another, and another, and by the time we were done, he was in four numbers!”

Maggie Haynes is an occupational therapy student at the University of Mary, and through her job at Pride, was one of several Pride mentors matched up with Jonathan for the play this summer. Maggie and Jon had never met until play practice in late June.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” says Maggie. “Jon was pretty quiet around me at first. He wouldn’t really talk that much or leave my side. I encouraged him to get involved, and to work on his social skills. Once he got more comfortable with me, I encouraged him to talk to the other actors. They were so welcoming and kind to him. They would talk with him and invite him to dance with them. That made him so much more comfortable and he opened up to them. His social skills grew; he went from being quiet and shy and barely talking to when we’d get to practice he’d walk right up to groups of people and start talking. He danced back stage, gave hugs, laughed with the others, and remembered inside jokes they had. It was such a beautiful thing to see.”

Jon’s theater experience was not just limited to performing—he also helped build and tear down the set. He admits he might actually like that better than being on stage.

“I like to help,” says Jon.

Jon helped with set work, but he helped in other ways too. Maggie says Jon helped the rest of the cast learn about acceptance, and helped change stereotypes about autism and people with special needs.

“He brings out the goodness in other people. Sometimes people get uncomfortable around people with special needs because they don’t know how to act around them,” says Maggie. “It is impossible to be uncomfortable around Jon. He is so happy all the time and he’s always smiling. You can’t help but love him. He’s helping people grow, he’s helping me grow. He just brings me such joy.”

“You never know what someone can do. It’s never our responsibility to limit the possibilities of what can happen. That’s something I learned, he learned. He exceeded my expectations wildly,” says Job. “When I look at Jonathan, I see so many changes. He’s become independent, social, and even his coordination has improved.”

Jon’s success in Beauty and the Beast has inspired Job and the rest of the staff at Sleepy Hollow Theater to do more for people like Jon. They’re planning a whole program for kids with special needs next year. They’ll perform their own show, and have parts in the other performances as well.

“Jon and his dad had tremendous courage to come to us with this idea. We had never even thought of this before and now it’s like ‘Why weren’t we doing this years ago?’ It makes perfect sense,” says Job. “We are indebted to Jon. He opened up our eyes and our hearts. He’s a great kid and he does great things.”

Jon isn’t done doing great things yet. He started college this fall, where he is taking a theater class. He plans to be back for another season at Sleepy Hollow next summer.

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