Thursday, March 31, 2016
How Actors With Disabilities Are Educating Casting Directors
Playbill: Imagine this: You’re an actor with a disability who is going in for an audition with casting directors who have never met you. You’re afraid to let anyone know that you need special accommodations for fear of hurting relationships. At the same time, without those accommodations you might not be able to audition at all. What do you do?
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I am very interested in disabilities in theatre and I am actually doing an entrepreneurship project on it right now. Most of the time people think about including people of different races in theatre to be more inclusive. I think it is even more important to include people with disabilities. There are so many talented people with disabilities that are just not given a chance to perform or are scared to put themselves out there. People try and empathize with people with disabilities and try to think about how hard their lives are and what they are going through. That is nearly impossible for a fully able person to do. Yes there is a lot of research that can be done to play a person in a wheelchair on TV and you can act like you are in a wheelchair, but at the end of the day you are going to stand up and get out of that chair and live your normal life. I think people in wheelchairs should play characters that are in wheelchairs. There are not a lot of acting opportunities for them in the first place and the few parts that are literally written for them, are played by people pretending to have a disability. I wish there were more opportunities for people with disabilities to act and pursue their passions. This is a problem that needs to be addressed on a wider scale to actually make an impact. The first step was made by having Ali Stroker be the first person in a wheelchair on Broadway.
I think that this article is a great example of the wonderful strides that the theatre world is making to not only make performance accessible to those with disabilities, but also, to make the performances themselves more diverse. What I mean by this is that the theatre is moving to a time in which now, when there is a person in a wheel chair on stage, them being in that wheel chair doesn't have to be central to their character or the story line. I think that it is great that more and more people are pushing for actors with certain disabilities to be looked at first when those roles are being casted. The beginning of this article gave a great start to the feeling of change in the theatre because hearing about organizations like The Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, for the first time set the stage for the change in theatre and presented the importance and inevitability of a workshop like the one talked about in the article. Everyone in the theatre community should take the opportunity to learn new skills in interacting with those with disabilities because not only does that help them feel more comfortable, but it also opens up the theatre community to many more possibilities for theatre.
This just brings in the common thread that is seen in theater and entertainment in general - people of marginalized groups dislike when they are not represented by people of their own community. It happens all the time with gay and trans people, as well as with people with disabilities. There's almost an argument of: you wouldn't hire a white person to represent a black person (well, you really shouldn't, but some stupid people still manage), so why would you do the same with an abled and disabled person?
I am unsure of the issue of someone representing a character but not having their arc be about their marginalization - like in Spring Awakening, having Anna be played by someone in a wheelchair. On the one hand, this is a good scenario because it does not reduce one character or actress down to her disability. But on the other hand, having people with disabilities in shows does not negate the fact that there are very few plays about people with physical disabilities and what they are going through. I hope we can have an equal distribution - of marginalized groups being able to fill any role, as a white, able bodied person could, but also to create new theater to explore the injustices faced by others.
I am really proud of this cast and the entire creative team that put this project into action so unapologetically. The reality of all inclusiveness ideas is that is has to be done first, someone has to show that it can sell, before the mass community will take a hold of it. I hope that this acts as that push for actors with disabilities. We pride ourselves in showing so many different types of stories on stage, on giving audience members different perspectives to see. Which is all great in theory but there are so many stories we’re missing. And in a time like now where Theatre’s really are closing down a ton, really what do you have to lose? Tell those stories, open those doors, be as authentic and as diverse as you can be. It has had so much success recently, and I hope Broadway continues down this path, and that little theatres everywhere follow suit.
Personally I am very interested in involvement of people with disabilities in theatre as designers, performers, and audiences. Theatre makers are finally starting to work through the many questions on how to better incorporate and serve both community and industry members. There is no doubt these questions are difficult ones, so I am always intrigued to hear about how people are working to answer them.
It is both surprising and impressive to hear about actors with disabilities, who are working through additional hurdles. People who have studied their craft and dedicated themselves in this way not only have a valid voice but an extremely important one in the theatre industry. We must continue to work to include these voices in our work.
Something that this article illuminates is the fact that some actors may need accommodations in the audition room, but excel on their own in a role. If someone needs a larger-text script, that challenge becomes less significant once the actor has the script memorized. In general, sometimes simple accommodations in auditions can make the world of a difference and allow an actor to shine.
Lastly, the issue of authentic representation is very important. As actor Brennan Srisirikul is quoted describing in the article, having authentic representation of persons with disabilities is something worth whatever accommodations the production must go through in the process. So much of theatre production already involves insane amounts of work that goes into productions that the audience will never be aware of. Any argument against having to accommodate a handicapped actor for a role of a handicapped character is completely irrelevant. Whatever steps are necessary to let that actor excel are totally worth the effort.
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