![\"Jason](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789063209_24_bb4ad508-2c29-4a3c-a455-953b0e3b3865_1739565715.png\")
<\/a>ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014<\/p>\nSometimes all someone needs is one chance to shine.<\/p>\n
Edwin Vasquez was once too shy to speak up in ordinary conversations. Today, at 25, he speaks multiple languages, solves complex math problems, and writes and stars in his own plays.<\/p>\n
“I got to live to see myself playing my own character in a production that I had hosted and written come to life at the Orlando Family Stage,” Vasquez said.<\/p>\n
His confidence didn’t always come easily.<\/p>\n
Dr. Margaret Newman Thornton, co-founder and COO of OCA, still remembers meeting Edwin when he was 10 years old.<\/p>\n
“He was learning how to talk to others. He was very shy. He was not confident in just standard social interactions, and now he’s a playwright,” Thornton said.<\/p>\n
That transformation started when Edwin’s family walked through the doors of OCA.<\/p>\n
“OCA stands for Opportunity Community Ability because any individual given an opportunity right here in the community where they live can showcase their own abilities, and everyone should be given that opportunity,” Thornton said.<\/p>\n
Founded in 2008 by Dr. Margaret Newman Thornton and Silvia Haas, OCA serves Central Florida’s neurodivergent population, providing therapy, recreation, and adult programming for people from as young as 18 months old into adulthood.<\/p>\n
Through Running Man Theater Company, one of OCA’s programs, Edwin found a place to belong. He recently wrote and starred in his own math-centered production called “Amazed.”<\/p>\n
“In Running Man, everyone’s talents were demonstrated, everyone’s abilities were maximized,” Vasquez said.<\/p>\n
The community can help fund the organization’s work right now. OCA is a beneficiary of Magical Dining 2026.<\/p>\n
“Every meal purchased through Magical Dining will make an impact on the participants here at OCA by reducing the financial burden and increasing access to services,” Thornton said.<\/p>\n
Thornton said the mission comes down to a simple belief.<\/p>\n
“The sky’s the limit. A diagnosis does not define an individual,” she said.<\/p>\n
For Edwin, the goal is to keep the door open for others.<\/p>\n
“I wish the best for OCA and Running Man theater,” he said. “And for the next generation of Running Man playwrights or wannabe playwrights, that their production is a success.”<\/p>\n
Thornton said that is exactly the point.<\/p>\n
“Each person has their own abilities,” she said. “So let’s take those chances and see what an individual really can do.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CommUNITY Champion: Playwright finds confidence through Orlando program ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Sometimes all someone needs is one chance…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":396054,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[75920,45451,2390,157967,157961,89135,23326,98370,60994,196,139,141,140,157965,157966,157964,28158,157963,157962],"class_list":["post-396053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-community-champion","tag-confidence","tag-door","tag-dr-margaret-newman-thornton","tag-edwin-vasquez","tag-fields","tag-individual","tag-magical-dining","tag-oca","tag-opportunity","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-orlando-program","tag-own-ability","tag-playwright","tag-production","tag-running-man-theater-company","tag-thornton"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=396053"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/396053\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/396054"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=396053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=396053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=396053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}