Monday, February 29, 2016
“Theatre Is a Great Equalizer”: Alzheimer’s, Humor, and Actors Who Stutter
HowlRound: We live in fairly liberated times, but we still struggle with a number of taboos, including stuttering, dementia, and death. Todd Cardin, Philadelphia actor, standup comedian, and playwright, took on both dementia and the fear of dying in his daring Alzheimer’s: The Musical, a one-act play. It tackled these serious subjects with honesty and a sense of humor rarely featured onstage.
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2 comments:
I love this article and am so happy it was posted on the blog. I am so happy to hear about AIT, and it's mission to bring people who do not usually see the stage from an actor's perspective to the stage. My mother by degree is a geriatric care manager and therefore I am exposed to many different types of people from different backgrounds with different disabilities.
The clients that I respond to most are those who do not allow for their issues to define them. It is inspiring to meet and read about people who work past their issues to live life to the fullest.
This article specifically is really cool not only because those who have a stutter are performing on stage, and speaking about difficult issues candidly, but because people understand that it is not about the stutter. It should be commended that people are willing to put themselves out there on stage. Theatre is so cool because it allows people to find themselves and express themselves in fun and exciting ways, whether he or she is a trained actor or not.
This is such a wonderful thing to read about and I'm so glad we're getting more exposure to these kinds of topics on the blog. Last week, there was an article about a man with tourettes, who was a house manager trying to find his place in a theatre community that doesn't accept people who stray from the strict "normal person" qualities. A few weeks before that there was an article about a woman who was doing her best to defy the casting world in becoming a casting agent who does not see people for their body weight but for how much heart they put in their performances. And now we have this, and the AIT, bringing people who never thought they would be able to perform into the theatre. It is such an incredible testament to the character of the people working in theatre that we are becoming more accepting and inclusive of invisible disabilities that otherwise might not have found their place in our work. Bravo, AIT!
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