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Re: RAT Cripples, in your face)
There are lots of good reasons for avoiding doing productions which
"specialize" in using cast members with physical differences, not the
least of which is the amount of time that has to be spent accommodating a
production to the cast member.
There are a lot of issues that have to be dealt with in production (not
the least of which is helping other cast members alter their work methods
without a lot of undue pain). You have to estimate whether you have the
additional time to work through the issues (conscious and sub-) and get
to performance. (We are putting actors under tremendous time-pressure
these days, and an added element can bring covert resentment -- with a
nice bonus of guilt all around.)
You could try to find pieces in which there are one or more characters
have a specific "physical difference", but are there actors with these
differences available, and can they actually play the difference -- or is
it a different difference? (For example, we have a physician playwright
who has written some short pieces with characters who have MS. Wonderful
little pieces. But could actors with relatively advanced MS play those
roles? Don't know.)
It's fer sure that a disability will draw focus from audiences, and that
has to be built into the production -- otherwise it becomes "look at
____, onstage, with all those "regular" people" or ... "How does she make
it up those stairs with those braces?"
It seems to me that a relatively enlightened strategy would be to create
pieces which contain a major character who has a physical difference, but
to make that difference almost incidental to the plot and relationships
-- as in the blind character on the TV show that stars Ted Danson. To be
able to cast these pieces reliably, the physical differences will need to
be "ordinary" enough so that they don't draw too much focus.
Finally, let me mention that a friend of mine has been creating pieces
with mid-to-high-functioning retarded adults in NYC. She had to create
her own methods and performance development techniques (book out soon),
develop an audience, fight with the bureauracy, the relatives, the
"pat-pat-look-at-that" theater community. But.. she was smart enough to
understand that this particular group of actors positively *glow* when
they are performing. The great, sweet energy many of them exude becomes
another form of subtext, and fills the house in a way that you only see
echoed in the most riveting theater experiences.
Cheers,
Cat Hebert
--------------
>Skip wrote: >
>Also, it's only fair to point
> out that
> most productions don't call for a guy in a wheelchair or a blind
> girl, and
> as far as I am aware, the physically disadvantaged aren't showing up
> at
> casting calls in any huge numbers, either because they just aren't
> comfortable, or because they assume they won't get the part-even
> though this
> does not excuse us, it might explain why it doesn't come up more
> often, and
> is yet another reason why a group made up of *only* the physically
> different
> might be a good thing, at least in the beginning stages of the
> revolution.
>
> This has become an interesting idea to me; I'm re -thinking alot of
> choices
> with regards to who I am as an artist (but then, cousin Brad always
> had that
> effect on me...).
>
> What if we started including 'physically disadvantaged artists
> encouraged to
> apply' in our notices ? What if we cast an already experimental
> piece with
> a couple of these folks? We talk alot about breaking new ground
> around here.
> I think I can see some real potential here...
>
> Skip
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <DESILEF@cs.com>
> To: <rat-list@whirl-i-gig.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 03, 2001 8:38 AM
> Subject: Re: RAT Cripples, in your face)
>
>
> > In a message dated 4/2/01 9:23:20 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
> > skipworthy@hotmail.com writes:
> >
> > << cast *only* the physiaclly disadvantaged. >>
> >
> > But my hope is that the physically impaired are not relegated to
> their own
> > spaces (kept in their place). There's a need for identity
> politics, but
> why
> > is that the whole story, as if it were somehow sufficient? If
> we're all
> part
> > of this society, why aren't we in it together?
> > d
> >
> >
> >
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