(no audio) (gentle bright music) (gentle bright music continues) (gentle bright music continues) (gentle bright music continues) (radio static) - [Friend] (indistinct) Michael's in 26 below zero right now.

- [Friend] But I can't wait- - Wait, we're going the wrong way.

- [Friend] I know we are, I know we are.

The real feel is minus 59 with the wind, so I guess we call that a wind chill.

- [Friend] You shouldn't be outside with exposed skin for longer than 10 minutes.

- [Friend] Four minutes.

- [Friend] Four minutes?

- [Friend] Yes.

Let's break a record.

- [Friend] Well, I know you like the cold.

- You're one of those, - Hey.

- [Friend] You're one of those weirdos, so- - No, here's the thing.

I don't particularly enjoy this, but if we're this close- - [Friend] And what's the record?

- [Friend] I don't know, but we gotta shatter it, right?

Let's go for 30.

(friend laughs) - Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome to the Center for Living Arts in the Penguin Project.

Are you excited to be here?

(kids cheering) (attendees chattering) - Hi Ms.

Squirrel.

Not yet, not yet.

- [Instructor] Okay.

- Ready?

- [Dino] Are you ready?

- I think.

- [Instructor] You are.

- [Dino] Oh, the things you can think.

(attendees laughing) All right, cue music, please.

♪ You know it's possible, anything's possible ♪ (bright music) (singer sings indistinctly) - I can't do it.

(singer sings indistinctly) (bright music) - [Instructor] It's okay, it's okay.

- Hey, you did great.

(attendees cheering) (attendees clapping) (Hannah crying) - Okay.

- Que the music, please.

(attendees laughing) ♪ 'Cause I have wings ♪ ♪ Yes, I can fly ♪ ♪ Around the moon and far beyond the sky ♪ ♪ And one day soon ♪ ♪ There I'll know you'll be ♪ ♪ One small voice in the universe ♪ ♪ One true friend in the universe ♪ ♪ Who believes in me ♪ - [Dino] Nice!

- [Instructor] Yes.

(attendees clapping) (attendees cheering) - I know a lot of people were nervous about the auditions, 'cause that's the nervous part, 'because you don't know what parts you're going to get.

So Hannah, I never knew her before and I knew she was having some trouble, so I just went up and gave her a hug.

So, and now we're like really close together.

- I'm like, well, I have another shot at being the sour kangaroo, so I'm like, well, I wanted to do this, so it's, might as well give it a try.

♪ Maybe I'm nasty, maybe I'm cool ♪ ♪ But you're the bigger plain fool in the jungle of new ♪ - [Dino] Yeah!

(attendees clapping) (attendees cheering) - You did it.

- Liana, Liana!

(attendees clapping) (attendees cheering) - Good job.

- I mean, this is my first musical.

My whole life, people say I can't do a musical, but I did it anyways.

♪ Now, I ♪ ♪ Amayzing Mayzie ♪ ♪ As feather, as feathered can be now ♪ ♪ Amayzing, Mayzie it was all for sale ♪ - Mayzie is being sassy and like fashion.

♪ Amayzing Mayzie (sings indistinctly) ♪ ♪ Amayzing Mayzie (sings indistinctly) ♪ (team laughing) (team clapping) (team cheering) - [Dino] Nice, nice.

(upbeat music) Most of you're on stage for this part.

- A lot of times, I'm just surprised that they remember all their lines and that they're really performing like this.

It was like when we first went there, Dino told to everybody, parents stay in the stands, let the kids be, let them grow, let them be themselves.

So you got that slight nervous, like, can they do this?

Can they do this?

♪ If you opening your mind ♪ ♪ All the things you will find ♪ ♪ Lining up to get loose ♪ ♪ All the things you can think ♪ ♪ When you can think about Seuss ♪ - [Dino] Yeah!

(attendees clapping)ú (attendees cheering) Yeah!

(attendees clapping) (attendees cheering) - [Kathy] Most of your seizures, unfortunately, he drops, you hate it, don't you?

- [Grant] Yes.

I hate.

- [Kathy] Having seizures suck, yeah.

- [Geoff] So does mom and dad.

- [Kathy] Yeah.

- [Geoff] When we thought we were out of the woods, so it's a big deal for us, really?

- Yeah, so, but the seizures for you just started like two years ago, so this kind of a new thing, isn't it?

- It's a new.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

- [Geoff] At age three, he was put on a helicopter and flown to Iowa City.

- It was kinda touch and go.

- It was, yeah- - For the first week.

- We could'a lost him.

He had something that's called acute disseminated encephalomyelitis which is basically MS that happens instantaneous instead of over a 20, 30 year period.

- [Dino] I may wanna be Horton so much, but I may end up being jungle creature number six and I'll just say, "well, I wanted to be Horton and you know what?"

I'm gonna be the best jungle creature number six that the world has ever seen and I will show the people of the Quad Cities what jungle Creature six should be and that's the way we will do it.

- Amen, preach it.

- And we'll work together, we'll work together to make this the best show that we can.

- [Caralee] Okay, so I'm looking at the cast list.

Hannah Rath is, (table beating) the Sour Kangaroo.

(Hannah cheering) - [Hannah] I knew, I would get it.

- [Caralee] You knew you would get it?

Why did you know you would get it?

- 'Cause I'm good at it.

- [Caralee] 'Cause you're good at it?

- So read it out loud.

- Say yes, let's find your name.

- Okay.

- Where's your name?

(Maddie chuckles) - Oh my God!

Yes!

- Well done.

- What'd you get?

- It's Mayzie La Bird.

- [Jeff] Mayzie?

- Yes.

- [Jeff] Awesome.

Pretty cool.

(laughs) - Yes.

- Okay, I got a message here from Dino and Tina.

Do you wanna hear it?

- Yeah.

- Okay, let me see, let me see.

Sarah Coughlin, they want you to be A Who.

(Sarah cheering) Whoville citizen, pretty exciting.

Yay.

You wanted to be A Who didn't you?

Yeah.

Tell mom.

- Hey, good news.

- [Claire] Come on!

- I did it, this is A Who.

- [Claire] You're Who?

- Yeah!

(cries) - Oh my gosh, Sarah, that's so exciting.

(Sarah screams) - People are sometimes afraid to let her try things.

I mean, we were told she couldn't be in choir because they didn't know how she would react on stage.

- I'm going to protect them - Protect them with you.

- With you.

(bright music) ♪ And the young kangaroo and her person ♪ ♪ Me too.

♪ (attendees clapping) (attendees cheering) (Hannah screams) - Good job Maddie.

Good job.

- [Caralee] Hannah was always, always a little bit different.

Hannah gravitated towards adults.

- [Dino] All right, I'm gonna take the bird girl jungle creatures and important, Sour.

- Sour?

Do the other name too.

Sorry, my name's not Sour, it's sour kangaroo.

- Kanga.

- [Caralee] She didn't learn to interact real well with the other children.

Where we first saw the signs of the mental illness was when Hannah went to middle school and all of a sudden Hannah's no longer in her little small class of 24 students, with two adults in the room at all times, to now she's in a school of 600 students and she doesn't have her one-on-one aid anymore.

One of the things that has happened is as Hannah approached puberty, she started having some extreme mood issues.

- And people ask me what my disability is all the time and I say, "well, I'm bipolar" and they said, "what's that?"

I said, "well, basically I have things in my brain that are unbalanced, when a normal person would have a balance in it, but basically when I have an emotion, it feels stronger than other people and I can have many multiple emotions at once."

So I could be happy, mad, sad, depressed at the same time.

(Hannah crying) - [Dino] Sometimes we have rough days, you know?

- [Kids] Yeah.

- [Dino] Sometimes we just have a rough day, but we've got friends and we got people that help us.

(Hannah crying) - 'Cause other kids would be like, other kids would be like sad for a few seconds and I could be like bawling my eyes out for a few hours.

(laughs) - [Caralee] And then happy shortly after that.

- Yeah, it's like, and once my body says it's okay, it's like, hi, how are you guys doing?

I didn't cry earlier.

I'm fine.

People always ask me, "how come you were crying earlier?"

I said, um, I have to come up with an excuse sometimes, because most of the time it's for no reason.

- [Alyssa] Oh my God, your my biggest fan.

- She said I'm her biggest fan.

- [Caralee] Aw.

- You're totally right, yeah.

(team chattering) - I love you.

- I love you too.

♪ Crazy before.

♪ ♪ Biggest blame fool in the Jungle of Nool ♪ ♪ He's always been friendly, and loyal, and kind ♪ ♪ I just don't believe Horton's out of his mind ♪ ♪ Did you hear, did you hear ♪ ♪ Did you, did you hear ♪ - For Alyssa, when they talk about walking, she's not gonna be able to walk that, so it kind of tugged that you a little bit.

- I think she had surgery like within a week of her birth.

She had cleft palate when she was born too.

They took care of that when she was born.

She had spinal problems, she had surgery for that when she was born also.

We got to come home first, the kid, the twins had to stay down there.

Gavin got to come home first, I think he was on for- - [Jody] It was April 15th, she was June 17th.

- So she had to stay a couple months in the hospital, so we had to leave her there and come home.

That was a hard thing to do.

- Yes.

- So we either had to go down there to try to see her every day or call down there.

Sometimes, only contact we had was through the nurses by phone.

- [Interviewer] How do your parents help you, Alyssa?

(Alyssa sniffles) You're doing great there.

What is it about the Penguin project?

What drew you to the Penguin project?

You wanna talk about that a little bit, Alyssa?

- [Alyssa] It makes me happy and I get excited and, (team speaks indistinctly) when we first got there, I was really happy and it makes me feel joyful.

- [Interviewer] How does it make you feel joyful?

- They're my family and friends and they always protect me, kind of nervous and happy.

- I've seen her, she explodes when she runs in that door.

- Oh yeah.

She's always dancing.

They have music on when they come in and she's right to Tina.

She just dancing, going crazy.

- But the audience will see and that will make them love you so much right away.

- So Alyssa pretends - So how are you?

- That she's shy, Jay.

- [Jay] Oh really?

- Sometimes I do that too.

- She's not shy.

- Yes, I am.

- And she likes to dance - And camera.

- You're gonna do great.

(team chattering) Yeah, you're gonna do great.

♪ A person's a person, no matter how small ♪ - Well, I really like it, technically because, well I get to sing and dance, which is two of my most favorite things to do and the most best part about it, is being alone with your friends and family.

(Deane sings indistinctly) ♪ It's possible, anything's possible ♪ - With Deane being homeschooled, it's always great to have opportunities to have social interactions.

It's through the guidance of these mentors who have training to help guide the artists.

So maybe navigating a social situation, helping them to kind of follow the necessary rules of just keeping things moving and then of course to help them shine at the end, which is amazing because it's just not an opportunity that happens for a lot of people who are facing challenges.

Usually they're in the background if they get to participate at all.

- It's the Jungle of Nool - It's the Jungle of Nool - Near the river, Waloo - Near the river, Waloo - A lot of times, maybe waiting, waiting for his cue and just kind of being patient, I guess and focused, those would be two of his bigger challenges.

♪ I'm alone in a universe ♪ ♪ So alone in the universe ♪ - He did a great job overcoming them.

It was amazing to watch him flourish.

It's a great environment for him.

- [Toy] Are you (indistinct) - What would you like to do?

Like to read a book or something?

- [Deane] No.

- Deane?

- [Deane] Nothing.

- We've got one more work session after this.

- [TV] Let's try again later.

(Deane cries) (Annie speaks indistinctly) - [Annie] He used to have a lot of communication challenges and for a lot of people on the autism spectrum, that means behavioral challenges too, because it's an effort to communicate and so working through that and giving him the words and motivating him to communicate, rather than react in the ways that he originally had was a process and he has always loved dinosaurs and so over the last eight years that evolved and for about three of those years, probably ages four to seven, even maybe beyond that, anytime we went somewhere social, we expected him to behave like a dinosaur because that is how he handled the world and as he got older, we were nervous that that would keep him from having positive social interactions.

(Deane growls) - And tell me, Deane, what dinosaur you were gonna be?

- [Annie] Deane, what dinosaur are you gonna be?

- A Triceratops.

- [Annie] Oh, cool.

Let's see it.

(Deane growls) - Because it's just unexpected and that's a word we use a lot in our house.

That's unexpected behavior because it's, there's all these unwritten rules in our society that a lot of us just figure out and we actually have to teach those rules and they're not easy.

So, and it helps us to learn some things that maybe we're not communicating well too, because he is not seeing it the same way.

- This is Velociraptor's nemesis, the Protoceratops.

Normally lived in the deserts of the Badlands of Mongolia and China.

This dinosaur has a very fragile frill.

At first is confused for mystical half lion, half eagle, mystical animal named the Griffin.

So this is a Cryolophosaurus.

It lived in Antarctica during the Jurassic period.

True fact that during the Jurassic period, it was actually very green, so what it is now, now a snow desert.

(Sarah gasps) - Oh.

Come on in.

- Sarah.

(Sarah screams) (Sarah speaks indistinctly) Hi Sarah.

How are you?

Excited, okay.

- [Claire] Sarah and Gracie were born normal, C-section birth, everything seemed fine.

Sarah had some feeding issues, she had a lot of reflux and so we were initially concerned about a physical milestone, she missed a lot of physical milestones.

They started her in PT at about 11 months and she was able to catch up.

So they initially told us that there were some delays, but it would be no big deal in the long run.

(singers singing indistinctly) - Sarah makes my heart happy every day.

Initially the University of Iowa asked us if we were aware of the label they were going to give her in order for her to receive funding from state of Iowa and that the label at the time was an MR waiver and that was for mental retardation and that was really disturbing to us, that that was the term that they still used.

We didn't like the term, we didn't think that the term was right, it gave people an impression that we didn't want them to have about our Sarah, so we talked about whether or not we were going to share that and decided we weren't going to use the words.

We were very happy when the state of Iowa changed the label for the waiver to intellectually disabled.

- [Instructor] And so what you're gonna do is, you're gonna kick yourself in your (indistinct).

(Sarah chuckles) All right?

You're gonna bring up your foot.

So it's a kick.

(Sarah laughs) Does that make sense?

- Yeah.

♪ Up, down, up, down, I'm his wife ♪ ♪ Up, down, up down, ♪ ♪ Just imagine the Whos' unusual life ♪ ♪ Picture the tiniest houses and grocery stores, who.

♪ - [Claire] Initially, not getting a diagnosis was very nerve wracking, because we weren't sure what we were going to be facing.

We had other friends in our community whose children had seizures, you know, the children who have Down's, have heart and lung issues.

We weren't sure if there was something hidden that we were gonna have to, you know, be careful of and be aware of and protect or just know, and once she got to a certain age, they were like, okay, at this point we're comfortable that there isn't some hidden medical issue that's gonna come up, that's gonna be a really big health risk and that's when we said, okay, we're okay with no diagnosis.

- The difficult part of that is the fact it's the unknown, you know, quite simply.

I mean, what does it look like as far as the future, as far as the type of care?

What we need to expect, how to plan, those type of things.

When you don't have those laid out or don't have that understanding, then that would be the kind of the frustrating part, a little bit scary part, but at this particular point, everything seems to be it's a normal life expectancy and Sarah will be Sarah, you know, as we move forward.

- [Kari] The core of it is, is Maddie and special needs children are born to teach us all how God wants us to be.

I learned along the way that we had to mourn, we had to mourn the loss of the typical child and you have to do that, we have to do that because then once you do that, you can embrace all the beautifulness that comes from from her.

♪ If you remember that world, let's talk about me ♪ ♪ Let's talk about, talk about, ♪ ♪ Talk about, talk about me ♪ - [Kari] She teaches us empathy, perseverance, strength, forgiveness, happiness.

I mean, I can just go on and on, she can't stay mad to save her life.

- No.

- She tries to sometimes - I try to our at my brothers.

(Kari laughing) - Can't hold grudges.

- Every day at school, I would get asked why I don't go to the same school as them two and they, I just give them the same answer.

- [Interviewer] What'd you tell 'em?

- [Brother] What'd you tell 'em?

Yeah.

- I have special needs and they don't.

- Yeah, we had her tested for genetics, you know, had her go through genetic testing and you know, there was no genetic defect.

- [Kari] So to speak.

- Yeah, yeah, so.

- Right.

- [Kari] So it was all from the twin to twin transfusion in the womb.

- Yep.

- And the not knowing at that time, it was crushing it, it was crushing.

- [Interviewer] You were telling me about sports before and running and PE and you said you like running and math at school, so is math your favorite subject, really?

- No.

- I didn't think- - It's a so, so subject.

- [Interviewer] Okay.

- You're good at math, but, it's news to me - I'm also good at- - That she likes math, so.

- Or running.

- And running.

- Or running, yeah.

- [Interviewer] And which role do you hope you get?

- [Halea] Gertrude.

- [Interviewer] Why do you want to get Gertrude?

- [Halea] A one feathered person.

- A what?

- Can you say that?

- [Halea] A one feathered tail.

- [Rachael] She has a one feathered tail.

- [Halea] bird.

- What about, one feathered bird, that'd be kind of tough to fly with.

(Halea laughs) Halea's had a long road, I think we all kinda have, as a family, we've kind of learned as we've gone, as probably most families do, some different things, we just started noticing and so the more we looked into it, it took us about- - [Halea] 12 months.

- Hmm, I would say about four years of different specialists and doctors and Halea was a trooper, she'd go with whatever mom and dad needed her to go to.

Six and a half or seven, we met with a doctor here in the Quad City area.

We weren't living here at the time, but we met with a doctor here in the Quad City area and she thought we needed to talk to the genetics team.

When we did that, immediately they did this huge, huge evaluation, i don't know if you remember that, when you were about seven, where they were measuring you and looking at you and hooking you up to all this stuff.

Yeah, so through that process, we found that Halea had a genetic condition called CLS or Coffin Lowry Syndrome and so with, - You said system.

(laughs) - With that, it kind of like, a light bulb went off like, oh my gosh, all these years that we've kind of wandered why we were having delays.

Was it because of the delivery?

You know, we just didn't know and it kind of clicked and made sense.

So from that point, we knew what we, who we were, not that that defines us, but we knew why some of these things were challenging Halea, you know, up until that point, we had a lot of different labels, I think, you know, some of 'em you hear pretty consistently ADHD, you know, autism, you know, just a big blanket of what could, you know, is she under the spectrum or that spectrum, but all along, you know, I think each parent knows in their heart that their child is special, but when someone says your child is this or that and this is what they need or that's what they need and you feel in your heart that that's not quite it, it's very frustrating.

♪ Oh, the thinks you can think ♪ ♪ Any thinker who thinks ♪ ♪ Can come up with a few ♪ ♪ Oh, the thinks you can think ♪ ♪ Think a trip on a ship ♪ ♪ To the Vipper of Vipp ♪ ♪ Or to Solla Sollew ♪ ♪ Think of beautiful schlopp ♪ ♪ With a cherry on top ♪ ♪ You don't need an excuse ♪ ♪ Oh, the thinks you can think ♪ ♪ When you think about Seuss ♪ ♪ Seuss ♪ ♪ Seuss ♪ ♪ Seuss ♪ ♪ Seuss ♪ - So there, they have a lot going on.

So they have flute lessons, piano lessons, 4H, PV sparkles, PV stars, Penguin project.

(laughs) So I always wanted to keep the girls pretty well, you know, in a positive area of where they needed to be, instead of thinking at home or playing on their tablets or their phones, I wanted them to be out in the community and being with people.

- Abigail was born nearly three weeks prematurely, was born with a heart condition, had a hemi-vertebrae and was gonna need heart surgery, she was two and a half months old.

She's had 13 surgeries and procedures in her life.

Two open heart surgeries, spinal fusion, palate surgery.

- So then when Elizabeth was born, she was three weeks old, they called, the doctor called me and said, "well we think she might have cystic fibrosis" and that was heartbreaking, 'cause we already had one child that had a lot of health issues and medical issues and so then like maybe two years after Elizabeth was diagnosed, we gave the test to Abigail and they both have the gene mutation.

- For me, it's been a huge blessing to meet a lot of the other families, to get to know some of the other parents, to interact with them when I am at practice or rehearsals or other things.

It's been a neat bond that you create with the other families and with the parents, knowing that a lot of your kids may have similar struggles, battles and trials for sure.

- It's good to meet new people.

- It was her birthday in August, but she didn't get to celebrate it then because you were in the hospital, right.

- [Caralee] So from spring of her freshman year through that summer, she actually was having so bad of issues that she was going inpatient on a regular basis.

- Almost every day.

- She actually had an inpatient where she was to the point, she was actively on a regular basis hearing voices and seeing people that weren't there and the voices were telling her to hurt other people and so the worst of the worst was, because of some mental health workers that weren't really understanding what was going on, they turned her into the juvenile detention facility and Hannah actually spent- - Talking about two weeks.

- You spent six weeks.

- Oh.

- Locked up in a six by eight cell with no interaction with other people.

She was in solitary confinement, because she was dangerous to herself and dangerous to other people - And they wouldn't let me out.

- Once she got into the system, we couldn't get her out because they needed to sent, they knew, everyone knew she needed to go to a facility and there was not a facility in the state of Illinois that she could go to.

Yeah, Hannah actually ended up in Portsmouth, Virginia in a mental health facility in Portsmouth, Virginia.

- [Hannah] Harbor Point.

- [Caralee] Mh-hmm, and Harbor Point was the perfect place for Hannah and we had therapists that one, would say to her, we talked about singing yourself happy.

- It says "A day without singing is like," just kidding.

I have no idea.

(laughs) - So Hannah's been home since August of this year.

So we were very excited when she was gonna have the opportunity to be a part of this project and be able to sing and have something to look forward to.

- Yeah.

- She's in the hospital so she's gonna celebrate her birthday today.

All right, so we're gonna sing Happy Birthday to these two.

- I like singing Happy Birthday.

- Are you ready?

So sing it loud and proud, show 'em your love.

Here we go.

♪ Happy birthday to you ♪ - Cha, cha, cha!

(attendees clapping) (attendees cheering) I love you more.

- One of the things that the Penguin Project has brought to these kids is a circle of friends.

We have neurotypical kids being friends with kids with developmental disabilities.

We have neurotypical kids that are being friends with including and it's a genuine friendship.

- Stay tuned, we'll be right back.

(wind swooshing) - [Dino] We had the polar vortex came through from way up at the North Pole and it decided to land right here in the quad cities and messed with our penguin rehearsal.

We decided to close on Monday evening.

We've been closed all day Tuesday, all day Wednesday and we're closing all day today, because the temperatures are still that that freezing.

(wind swooshing) Penguin should be used to the cold, but we're not used to this much cold.

I'm concerned about it, I'm not really scared about it because they understand the importance of it.

The mentors and the artists and the parents understand that everybody's gonna have to dig in a little bit deeper.

If need be, we will add another rehearsal and, but we will push on through, there's always a little bit of magic that happens with these shows.

- It's really cold.

So we got off, at school a lot.

I was excited.

I wanted to talk to my mentor.

- Oh yeah, they couldn't wait to get back into a routine and be back to the Penguin project and seeing how the show is gonna progress.

- We did survive the weather, you know, everybody stayed home from work for one day anyway, but after that it was, you know, it was okay, went back to work on Thursday, so.

- [Interviewer] Maddie went back to work?

Or did she work at all?

- Yeah, she worked on Tuesday, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.

- [Instructor] Or do want a bigger table?

- I want it bigger.

- [Instructor] Okay.

- We have a thing called, I call it the in order part, 'cause we have to go in order.

First drinks, soups, salads, then the entree and I am just glad to make those old people feel happy.

Sometimes they're cranky, but sometimes, (all laughing) I just really want to change their attitude.

So I just like, "oh hey, you look so pretty today.

Did you get a haircut?"

Notice those little, (all laughing) or give them a hug every single day.

- She's a good waitress.

- Yep.

- We'll keep her around.

- Driving to work, starting the day.

- [Interviewer] You go through like 500 boxes a day, - Yeah, yeah.

- Basically.

- Oh my God.

- [Interviewer] Trying to fathom that.

- Yeah.

- That's a lot.

- That and we get an extra pack here at night, where we can start getting really busier, like around four or five o'clock, 'cause that's what time FedEx usually start showing up.

We have to get all those parts out by a certain time, so I'll get help throughout the day too, so it usually works out pretty good.

Everybody usually helps, everybody helps everybody so.

Very busy, very busy, - Busy.

- Morning.

We have to, - Very hectic.

- [Jody] We can't be five minutes off, otherwise it throw, - No.

You have to stay on schedule.

- [Alyssa] I just had a birthday.

- [Interviewer] You had a birthday.

- [Alyssa] Yeah, I'm 14.

- [Interviewer] How's it feel to be old?

- [Alyssa] Scary.

- [Interviewer] Scary?

Why is it scary?

You don't wanna tell me?

- Huh?

- [Interviewer] You don't want to tell me?

- Nope.

- So you're gonna use a set first, not a bump, not a bump.

That's a bump.

Ready?

(ball thuds) Try to get it up high.

(ball thuds) Two hands for a set.

(Alyssa grunts) - That's okay.

- I then leave to go to work at a hospital.

- It is an amazing program where our kids can then go on and work and the whole goal of the entire program is to gain employment in the community at 16 hours or more a week and be able to live independently someday and work on their own and be members of the community in a very functional and contributing way.

- [Interviewer] Do you have a favorite part of the work that you do?

Or is there anything that you really like doing?

- Well, probably my most favorite part is candy, checking off candy, like what I'm doing right now.

On Tuesday nights I go to a bowling league.

♪ My mama don't like you, but she likes everyone ♪ ♪ And I never like to admit ♪ - Oh, you're doing good on this sweat, dude.

- Yeah, you are.

(players chattering) - Nice job - Being a good brother.

- You guys are good brothers.

They're good brothers, huh?

- No, no.

- Yes - No he's a good brother.

That's what we're most proud of.

- Ah, okay.

- I think Grant has the best big brothers you could ever ask for.

- Yes.

- They take care of, we protect him.

- Yep, I'm a great.

- Play with him.

- [Interviewer] Who's the best bowler?

- Oh, best bowler.

- Who's the best bowler?

- Oh, that's me.

- And me.

- Yeah, Grant and I are the best bowlers.

- You've done awesome.

You did more than the doctors ever told us you were going to.

They kind of, the doctors gave us a pretty bleak report on, because it was pretty significant brain injury after the illness.

Myelin can be regenerated, but since the nerves, Grant didn't respond right away and they kinda gave us the worst case scenario, but- - [Interviewer] Which is what?

- Never would walk again.

- Ah, that he wouldn't walk again, probably talk again.

- Couldn't talk again, yeah.

- That he would have probably quite a few, as a teenager, possibly some mental health issues.

They just kind of, ugh, it was not good.

(attendees chattering) - Welcome to the Brunner Theater.

We are here!

We did it.

(attendees cheering) Beautiful.

♪ How long do you love ♪ - You are so lucky - She has a MRI tomorrow for a tumor behind her right eye, then she has other doctor visits too, they also look at her spine and her legs too while she's there and she has spinal (indistinct) so we see, I think we see a total of three doctors tomorrow, so it'll be a busy day.

It's a little bit before eight o'clock, we just get off the road.

They got her all prepped and ready.

She's ready for MRI.

Once we get that done, we'll see a host of doctors this afternoon, but right now we're just waiting to get wheeled out to the MRI room.

- [Interviewer] What is the MR MRI for?

- MRI is to check the the tumor behind her right eye.

Make sure it hasn't progressed or gotten any worse.

Right now it's been stabilized through chemo treatments, which she's already, she's done with her chemo treatments.

So we're just making sure we don't have to go back on the chemo to keep the tumor from getting progressing.

- [Interviewer] Alyssa, how you feeling?

- Alyssa, how you feeling?

- [Interviewer] How you feeling?

- Thumbs up.

(interviewer chuckles) - [Doctor] If you're eating something and it tastes funny, so you must be a clown.

All right.

- I feel funny.

- [Doctor] It's okay, it's okay.

- Okay, yeah.

- [Doctor] Yeah, it's gonna help you relax, okay.

You all right?

It's okay to feel funny.

- Probably about 40 minutes, we'll see a couple doctors later today and hopefully all goes well.

So just having some snacks, waiting for Alyssa to come out.

She wasn't able to eat this morning, because the MRI, you're not allowed to, so we'll have some snacks ready for her once she gets done, plus we got her some here too, so, waiting to get done.

(Maddie sings indistinctly) ♪ Tell yourself, how lucky you are ♪ ♪ How lucky you are ♪ - [Instructor] Alright, Cat, you got a fan.

- [Dad] It was a different thing.

- [Maddie] It was a different, I never acted before and it's a different act.

- And a lot of memorization, - Yes.

- A lot.

- Which Maddie struggles with.

(Maddie gasps) ♪ Bills ♪ ♪ Get those bills and you can have thrills ♪ - At least two songs down already, but just the memorization is what I have troubles with.

♪ The jungle of Nool, Nool, Nool ♪ ♪ The jungle of Nool, Nool, Nool ♪ ♪ The jungle of Nool, Nool, Nool ♪ - [Instructor] Raise those hands up.

- [Dad] Go Halea.

(upbeat music) (attendees cheering) - We've really, we've really nailed it.

I'm sorry guys.

(attendees laughing) (attendees cheering) (attendees clapping) - I need longer overalls.

- I would just like a, (Ellen laughs) - [Ellen] I love it, you better go show Dino.

- I need longer overalls.

- [Ellen] No you don't.

That's supposed to be like that.

- [Annie] Wanna go show Dino?

- [Ellen] Your socks will stay up?

You think?

Okay.

- Dino, it's cold.

- Oh, it's cold?

- [Instructor] It's a little cold, yeah.

- At least we have matching ones.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- Sour kangaroo.

- Sour kangaroo.

- [Kid] You are cute.

- Oh my gosh.

That's so cute.

- [Caralee] No, you're a, well you know what?

You are a sour kangaroo.

(all laughs) - Made these little pouch, you see that?

- [Kid] Yeah.

She's a kangaroo.

- Yeah, but Maddie's not here.

- [Ellen] But if you have a little kangaroo, you can put it in there.

- You have a kangaroo?

- I do.

- Yeah.

- [Caralee] We have that little, you have a little, no Beanie baby kangaroo.

- That thing is not going to stick out.

That thing is like this big.

- Oh, so we need to go get our tights, - Did, um- - Our leggings.

- When?

Today?

- We can, or maybe we'll see on Amazon if we can find some (indistinct) - No, on today.

- [Claire] I don't know where we get 'em, so we might have to order 'em.

Ellen, any suggestion where we can get colorful tights?

I just know black - [Ellen] Party City.

- [Claire] Party City.

Let's do it.

Let's do it.

Do you have a preference on color then?

- With the color?

- [Ellen] Whatever you want.

- All right, wild thing.

- No, no, going?

- Hot pink, yeah.

- You can do pink.

Hot pink would be very pretty.

You want hot pink?

- Mh-hmm.

- You like kind of a silly one?

- Yeah, you wanna do silly?

- Aw.

- Aw, nice.

Okay.

- Jungle girls.

(all cross talking) - It's already next week.

- Very nice.

- How's that already next week?

(attendants speaking indistinctly) Yeah, that came so fast.

- This is kinda weird.

- It's not kind of weird.

- But it's cool.

- It is very fun.

It would be a very fun customer.

- Yeah, when you're all cute, - You going out there together yeah, that's gonna be neat.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, so.

- [Ellen] It'll make some sort of sense when everybody's dressed.

- When everybody's dressed.

- What's your name?

- [Ellen] Ellen.

- Hi, nice to meet you, Ellen.

I'm Hannah.

- Hannah, nice to meet you.

- All right, then we're out of here.

- [Ellen] It's time for supper, right?

- Took us long, no, we ate supper.

- All right, bye camera.

- [Nurse] Good morning.

- [Dad] You just got done with your MRI.

Waking up?

Tired?

Maybe they'll a little glass of juice box or something.

- [Nurse] And so we're gonna look at that right kidney first.

Jelly's gonna be warm.

- It's a little hot.

- [Nurse] It shouldn't be too hot.

It should be a little warm.

Is that okay?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

(machine beeping) All right, go ahead and take a big breath in for me and hold it.

(Alyssa inhales) Good, you can breathe.

Okay, another big breath in and hold it.

(machine beeps) Alright, great.

We are all finished.

Sorry, lemme get you cleaned up here.

- I always tell kiddos like Alyssa, that they are, you know, they're probably more mature than I'm even at this age.

You know, they've been through things that's, you know, I can only imagine, right?

And their day-to-day, you know, things that they do on a day, they inspire me, you know?

You know, that's why I show up to work every day.

We have multiple modalities that we use for kids recovering from surgery.

You know, it used to be just pain medicine and grin and bear it and over time it'll get better, but we use music therapy then we use play therapy, you know, in today's day and age, then where we're trying to minimize their exposure to narcotics, you know, I think those things, those alternative therapies are more important than ever.

- [Caralee] I think leading up to dress rehearsals and some of the things that was hard for us to realize was that, for Hannah, she was already thinking about it's going to be over.

She was hearing murmuring in her head.

She knew that the medicine that her brother was taking was something that would help with hearing voices.

It was coming up right to that last week of opening night.

We weren't gonna have a rehearsal.

It was a break.

And in the car on the way home, she says, "mom, I need to tell you something."

She says, "well, I took a bunch of Buddy's meds."

I'm trying not to be angry, but that was the first place that my brain went to was, how can you mess this up?

You know, she's been doing so well and so I said to her, I said, "Hannah," I said, "how many did you take?"

She says, "well, I took 14."

She's never been a pill taker, never.

Even at the worst, she never took pills, but she took his pills.

If she would have taken 14 of her pills, she wouldn't be here today.

Music for Hannah, at the absolute worst, at those absolute worst weeks of hospitalizations and during that awful time, the music was buried, but it never got lost and that was the first thing that we used and I could tell that there was hope that Hannah was going to make it through this, was that the music was back, because there was a point in time where we weren't sure if she was going to ever come back.

That the insight and everything that makes Hannah, we were afraid we were losing it.

- Already, I don't think the (indistinct) even knew tickets were on sale yet.

(attendees laughing) You're selling, you're performing to sold out houses for six performance folks.

Congratulations.

(attendees clapping) (Sarah screams) - [Interviewer] What's the most thing you're most excited about tonight?

- Everything.

- [Interviewer] Are you ready?

(Sarah chuckles) - Thank you.

- [Interviewer] What's your favorite part about this play?

- The end.

- [Interviewer] The end?

- Tonight I'm worried about my neck is gonna fall off, because this is itchy.

- That's my reflection.

- We've got each other and we've got the show that we know how to do.

So every time we go, (exhales) we let out some of that nervous energy.

So take another deep breath in.

(all inhales) Hold it.

You're gonna grab onto that energy.

Grab onto that power.

Feel it, feel it in your heart.

- What the?

- And let out the junk.

(all exhales) - Can I have a gas mask, like, for real.

- [Interviewer] What's your job back here?

- [Claire] To make sure the mentors stay with the artists and to make sure the props go out when they're supposed to and keep the curtain shut and to be invisible.

They're all black and be invisible.

- He loved being on stage, even though it takes a while to warm up to it, but once he's there, it's been so cute watching him - I think, he has to get the audience, I think he's bored with us parents, you know what I mean?

(both laughs) I think he'll shine better when it's an actual audience.

- [Kari] I'm just nervous for her.

Just nervous energy really is what it is.

She's gonna do great.

- Are you excited?

- She's gonna do great.

I'm very excited.

Very excited for all of them, since they've all come so far, so very far since three months ago.

(Sarah cries) - [Friend] You ready?

- No.

- [Friend] Are you nervous?

- Yeah.

- [Friend] No need to be nervous, okay?

(performer speaks indistinctly) - Love you.

- [Friend] I love you.

(attendees chattering) (Sarah groans) - I love you.

- Good luck, Sarah.

- [Sarah] Good luck.

- Break a leg, but don't literally.

- Break a leg.

- Ah.

- Break your leg.

- Break a leg is an old saying in the theater.

It means good luck.

- Break your leg, break your own leg.

- I'll break my own leg then, go get 'em.

- It'll knock your socks off.

(upbeat music) - [Dino] Are you ready to see their show?

(attendees clapping) (attendees cheering) Penguins, are you ready to do your show?

- [Performers] Yes.

- Actors to places.

- [Performers] Places, thank you!

(performer screams) (attendees laughing) - Our story begins with a very straight sound.

The drums of a juggle gets pounding.

(upbeat music) ♪ Tu, tuwara, tu, tu, tuwara ♪ ♪ Tu, tuwara, tu, tu, tu ♪ ♪ Now think of an elephant, lumbering through ♪ ♪ Tu, tuwara, tu, tu, tuwara ♪ - [Kid] Horton.

- Yes, Horton.

Horton here's A Who.

- Horton here's A Who.

- Help.

Help.

♪ Well, it's true.

♪ ♪ Please believe me.

I tell you sincerely ♪ ♪ My ears are quite keen and I heard him quite clearly ♪ ♪ I know there's a person down there, and what's more ♪ ♪ Quite likely there's two, even three, even four ♪ ♪ Ha!

Laughed a voice ♪ ♪ Ha!

Laughed some others ♪ ♪ Ha, Ha, Ha!

Laughed the Wickersham brothers ♪ ♪ R-E-S-P-E-C-K.

♪ ♪ Oh, please take that speck away ♪ ♪ Did you hear, did you hear ♪ ♪ Did you, did you hear, hear ♪ (performers singing indistinctly) ♪ Because that's against the law ♪ (performers singing indistinctly) ♪ Someones thinking different than us ♪ ♪ Oh, he's the biggest blame fool ♪ ♪ In the Jungle of Nool ♪ ♪ In the Jungle of Nool ♪ ♪ In the Jungle of Nool ♪ (upbeat music) ♪ La, la, la, la who, whoo ♪ ♪ La, la, la, la, who, whoo ♪ ♪ Here on Who ♪ ♪ The tiniest planet in the sky ♪ (gentle music) ♪ A person to a person, no matter how small ♪ ♪ A person to a person, no matter how small ♪ ♪ Whooo ♪ ♪ Oh, the sea is so full ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Of a number of fish ♪ ♪ Wah ooh ♪ ♪ If a fellow is patient ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Wah ooh ♪ ♪ He might get his wish ♪ ♪ And that's why I think ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ ♪ Wah ooh ♪ ♪ That I'm not such a fool ♪ ♪ When I sit here and fish ♪ ♪ In McElligot's pool ♪ ♪ It's possible ♪ ♪ It's possible, it's possible ♪ ♪ Anything's possible ♪ ♪ It's possible ♪ ♪ It's possible, it's possible ♪ ♪ Anything's possible ♪ ♪ It's possible ♪ ♪ Just have to save them ♪ ♪ Because after all, a person's a person ♪ ♪ No matter how small ♪ ♪ A person's a person, no matter how ♪ ♪ The biggest blame fool in the Jungle of Nool ♪ - [Interviewer] What's wrong?

- I just feel a little drowsy.

- He just doesn't feel good.

You feel like what you feel like when you're normally self?

- Yeah.

- [Interviewer] Are you still gonna do the show?

- I hope I can.

♪ Amayzing Mayzie ♪ ♪ As feathered as feathered can be now ♪ ♪ Amayzing Mayzie ♪ ♪ It was all for sale ♪ ♪ Amayzing Mayzie ♪ ♪ The birds are all whistling at me now ♪ ♪ Amayzing Mayzie ♪ ♪ And here is my tail ♪ (performers imitating chimps) ♪ There's a rustling in the bushes ♪ ♪ There's a tremble in the trees ♪ - [Performer] Hey, give that back.

(performers speaking indistinctly) - No!

Please wait!

- It doesn't matter that she messes up and this is what I tell her over and over again.

It doesn't, if you go out there and mess up, it matters the most that you're out there and you're doing it.

You're doing it and you're trying your hardest.

It's all that matters.

- Every single night's exciting.

- Yeah.

- So.

- I just see the kids every time, more self confidence and swag.

They're getting swag.

(laughs) - Her head is gonna get bigger.

She's gonna know how good she is.

So, but it's, you know, it's good for her to know that she's really super good at something.

- Everything about this is just like so energizing, when you just watching their faces, watching them from like the first practice till now, it's like just amazing like how these kids are transforming and how with them there, you just like tap into some energies and they bring up the best in all these kids.

(performers singing indistinctly) (attendees laughing) (performers singing indistinctly) ♪ Up out of the jungle and into the skies ♪ ♪ And over the mountains, ten thousand feet high ♪ ♪ And down from the mountains, and into the sea ♪ ♪ When Horton the elephant, egg, nest, and tree ♪ ♪ Egg, nest, and tree, egg, nest, and tree ♪ ♪ They loaded the wagons, right onto a ship ♪ ♪ All over the oceans (sings indistinctly) ♪ (performer roars) ♪ Just a sea-sick elephant, egg, nest, and tree ♪ ♪ Egg, nest, and tree, egg, nest, and tree ♪ (performers singing indistinctly) ♪ A massive tree ♪ (performers singing indistinctly) ♪ Egg, nest, and tree ♪ (performers singing indistinctly) ♪ Egg, nest, and tree ♪ (crew member chattering) (crew member continues chattering) - [Nurse] Did she fall down?

- [Crew] She (indistinct) on stage, she just collapsed.

- [Nurse] She didn't hurt her head?

You go by Abby or Abigail?

- [Abigail] Abigail.

- [Nurse] Can you look at me?

- [Cory] She got a little anemic, passed out behind the stage.

People actually caught her and - No, she did.

- Helped her to the ground.

Aldiana did a beautiful job and was there to help, but she was actually throwing up as well Friday night, so we went to the ER, we got some fluid, needed a day of rest, recuperation to eat and drink.

- [Interviewer] Everything okay?

- [Cory] Yeah, yeah, she's all right, yeah.

(indistinct) And the show must go on.

- [Nurse] Short of breath or anything.

(performer speaks indistinctly) - Is JoJo all right?

(performer speaks indistinctly) Oh JoJo hello.

♪ Ha ♪ ♪ Ha ♪ ♪ You can't run away from the Sour Kangaroo ♪ (performers singing indistinctly) - You can do what you want with me, your honor and I won't, and I won't push you on, ♪ But please save Who, the tiniest planet in the sky ♪ Don't give up.

I believe in you all.

A person's a person, no matter how small.

Can you hury small persons, so you will not have to die?

And so make yourselves heard, so please, try.

♪ Boil it, boil it ♪ ♪ Boil it, boil it ♪ - We are here, we are here, we are here, we are here, ♪ Boil it ♪ - We are here ♪ Boil it ♪ - We are here ♪ Boil it ♪ - We are here ♪ Boil it ♪ - We are here - Yop!

(somber music) - [Horton] Do you hear what I hear?

Do you see what I mean?

They made themselves heard, and while they still can't be seen - They proved they're are persons, no matter how small.

- And the whole world would say, I'm the smallest of all.

- How true, yes how true, said the Sour Kangaroo and from now on, do you know what I'm planning to do?

- What?

- I'm going to protect it with you (somber music) ♪ And the young kangaroo in her pouch said ♪ ♪ Me too ♪ (attendees clapping) (attendees cheering) - [MC] Who wants a special cookie from the Sour Kangaroo?

You need to hunt her down and get one.

- Okay, and you can go get your pizza and hang out with your friends, okay?

- Sure.

- Love you.

- Every performance was awesome and I will miss, - [MC] Isaiah, are you here?

- Everyone that - [MC] Any one from (speaks indistinctly) - Was in this.

- [Interviewer] Are we ready for Penguin Project next year?

- Heck, yeah.

- [Interviewer] Well, listen, I got this from you.

- Really?

- [Interviewer] Yeah.

- Thank you.

(MC speaks indistinctly) - [Interviewer] Now that it's over, how do you feel?

- Sad.

- [Interviewer] That's it?

- Yeah, but like at the same time I'm happy, but like, you'll get to see them again soon, so yeah.

- [Caralee] You know, now that it's over, I would lie if I didn't say I'm a little relieved.

(laughs) You know, the whole thing with this last two weeks of being so many reversals, so that part is good.

You know, we're still saying we don't know exactly what comes next.

This is Hannah's first year, so we don't know.

We don't know if she'll, if you know the connections that she's made that those connections are going to stay.

We hope so, but we don't know.

So right now we're just having a good day knowing that this was a successful play.

- I'm relieved, but yet I'm pretty sad, because I love the show and I made a lot of friends here, but I know that there's other ways that we can connect with each other, yeah.

- [Interviewer] Are you gonna be back next year for more?

- Absolutely, yes and you better come too, Maddie.

- And Maddie, how about you?

- I'm coming back.

- It's incredible.

- It's saddening, joyful and a beautiful part of the whole family of the Penguin Project.

- It's a connection that the girls and our family Wallace have with their mentors and their families.

- I feel tired, sad, kind of, but it's always next year.

- Well, after the Penguin project, then our dance marathon kicks in.

- Well we also have, the kids also have, there's other activities.

They have bowling, they have softball, so and wrestling and TaeKwonDo, so the schedule never stops, so it's.

- Yeah, we always have them in extracurricular activities and stuff like that.

We got baseball for the, softball for the girls and then bowling and Gavin's TaeKwonDo and- - Theater.

- Theater and yeah.

- So.

- It's always going, (laughs) - And for the Penguin Project, if I ever get too old to do any- any of the Penguin Project, (clears throat) I decide, that I could possibly just start working on my jobs that I've mentioned earlier.

Find a girlfriend, try to go into college for being a botanist, a zoologist, a paleontologist and possibly if I could get in, I could become a movie director.

- What do you wanna go?

- Probably a stay with that, then move out someday, someday move out and just be with friends, move out with friends, like three or four, I don't know.

- Since we've started this road, our whole goal for Madison is to have her be as independent as possible.

That has been the number one goal and now we're here, we're getting closer to that and it's so exciting and it's everything that we have been working towards on one hand and on the other hand it really makes us feel like we wanna vomit.

It's so scary, it's so scary.

- He would be playing the Penguin Project CD, you know, almost every day after it.

Now he's kind of backed off now a little bit, you know, starting with new interests and stuff with basketball and stuff, but he would play it every day, multiple times, the CD, so.

- You had it bud.

- A person's, a person no matter how small.

(attendees cheering) (attendees clapping) - Closing day of the show was a lot of mixed emotions for us.

The final performances were kind of a (exhales) type of moment.

We were just kinda like, okay, this thing's off the list, let's move on to the next thing and I don't think that as, the way that we were viewing final performance and maybe the way that Hannah was viewing the final performance were the same.

- [Hannah] Guess who was back?

- Yeah.

- [Caralee] We just picked Hannah up from being up in Chicago, she spent the last week in a treatment facility there, getting some meds tweaked.

- Being home was just kinda strange.

Like normally I'm here, then I go to Penguin project and then I go again the next day.

It used to be every Wednesday, - [Caralee] Thursday night when Hannah called 911, she was calling and advocating for herself.

She said "mentally, I'm not in a good place and I need to go to the hospital" and she says, "I just need to get outta here now before someone gets hurt."

- When I get angry, I don't want to hurt somebody because I'm not that kind of person anymore.

- [Caralee] I think maybe for Hannah it was more about the end of performances also meant the end of her circle of friends.

- I was relieved, but also very disappointed that it was over.

- I think she went back to feeling some isolation.

At any given day, any given moment, we can go from being okay to, we need ER crisis stabilization and as scary as it is, this is our life.

Okay, cool.

But I have to hold on to the hope of the good days and no matter what happens, we need to make every day the best.

♪ Have no worries about a thing ♪ ♪ 'Cause every little thing's gonna be all right ♪ - That's all I know.

(laughs) - [MC] Lets crank that music.

♪ Turn it on ♪ ♪ A singer in a smokey room ♪ ♪ The smell of wine and cheap perfume ♪ ♪ For a smile they can share the night ♪ ♪ It goes on and on and on and on ♪ ♪ Strangers waiting ♪ ♪ Up and down the boulevard ♪ ♪ Their shadows searchin' in the night ♪ ♪ Streetlight, people ♪ ♪ Livin' just to find emotion ♪ ♪ Hidin' somewhere in the night ♪ (upbeat music) (attendees cheering) (upbeat music) ♪ Don't stop believin' ♪ ♪ Hold on to that feelin' ♪ ♪ Streetlight, people, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Don't stop believin' ♪ ♪ Hold on to that feelin' ♪ ♪ Streetlight, people, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ Don't stop ♪ (attendees clapping) (attendees cheering) - [MC] One, two, three - [All] It is finished!

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