OCT
19

Differently-abled:  Working with Disabled Actors

By Edith Weiss 

Edith Weiss has written and published several plays, including six with Pioneer Drama Service.  Besides writing, she also acts and directs in both children’s and adult theatre, as well as directing for PHAMALY, the Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artists League.  She is currently directing her fourth production for PHAMALY, a series of original comedy sketches and songs entitled “Vox Phamalia:  Quadrapalooza.”  For more information about this inspirational group, visit the PHAMALY website. 

The first time I worked with people with disabilities, I admit I was more nervous than I had ever been about a directing job.  I was directing for PHAMALY — the Physically Handicapped Actors & Musical Artists League of Denver.  The disabilities ranged from hearing impairment to blindness, from syndromes I had never heard of (Prader Willi syndrome) to traumatic brain injuries and actors in wheelchairs.  My unease was soon put to rest.  I was far more politically correct and hypersensitive than they were.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2008 survey, the percentage of Americans reporting an apparent disability is slightly more than 12% (or 36.2 million people).  No doubt there are disabled kids in your school.  Hopefully, some of them will want to participate in theatre.

The experience of working with a disabled actor will change all of your students.  You will end up having the most supportive, collaborative and understanding cast you’ve ever had.  As Norman Schwarzkopf said, “You can't help someone get up a hill without getting closer to the top yourself.”  The potential is there to make your actors, and your audience, better people.  If there is a cast member who has a problem with you casting a disabled actor or is a potential bully to this actor, kick him out.  I’m serious.

In casting a disabled actor, you will need to meet with him privately.  (I use the male pronoun here only for ease of reading.  Of course disabilities strike both genders.)  Ask your actor privately if he wishes to make the specifics of his disability known, then respect his wishes.  Although it’s obvious if someone is in a wheelchair, some disabilities are hidden, or at least not fully revealed.

Also, ask your actor what he’ll need to be successful.  Depending on his disability, this may involve longer bathroom breaks, help holding the script, having someone write down the blocking for him, etc.  I put a parent on my cast email list since his son’s disability led him to forget when the rehearsals were.  But this young man was also the first of the cast to be off book.

Do you have to be blind to play Helen Keller in “The Miracle Worker”?  No, it’s called acting.  So can a blind actor play a seeing detective in a murder mystery?  Yes, I think he can.  In many instances, when you cast a disabled person, it can be incidental — the character just happens to walk with a cane or be of short stature, etc.  Or, it can be a deliberate choice that makes a statement.

Imagine casting Cinderella with a girl who uses a wheelchair.  The story is about someone who is an outcast, who figuratively can’t stand up for herself.  An actress in a wheelchair says all that without one word.  Imagine the dance with the prince — this story everyone has heard many times suddenly takes on a new, and profound, meaning.  PHAMALY produced “The Man of La Mancha” a couple of years ago and cast the part of Aldonza with a woman in a wheelchair.  After Aldonza is assaulted, she returns to the inn to confront Quixote.  In this production, as the actress couldn’t walk, she dragged herself painfully across the stage.  It was the most powerful moment I’ve ever seen in the theater.  It was so quiet that we heard her labored breathing.  Looking around, I saw that every person in that audience was also deeply moved.

I’ll close with some specifics, so you can learn from my mistakes.  There’s a decent chance you’ll make mistakes, too, but that’s all right.  Your intentions are wonderful and will make a world of difference to the disabled actor who you are including, as well as to the rest of the cast.

• Learning disabilities:  Before casting, find out an actor’s abilities to learn lines.  And don’t just ask the student; ask others teachers and his parents.  It might be that he’s very capable of learning lines, but just needs more time.  In rehearsal, if there’s a scene during which he’s offstage, have someone run lines with him.  Or have his lines recorded so he can listen to them over and over.  Be creative with ways to help this person.  I once printed out an actor’s lines and taped them into a book he happened to always read onstage.  All it took was making his character into a bookworm for this person to say his lines flawlessly.
  
  
• Hearing impairment:  Often a hearing impaired person will not let on that he hasn’t heard something.  Ask another actor to quietly help out with making sure all the notes and blocking are heard.  Make sure the actor knows it’s not “annoying” to be asked to repeat something.  Emailing his notes to him is a great way to ensure he gets them.  Sometimes the impairment is worse in one ear than the other.  Find out which is his better side and block accordingly, if possible.  Hearing impaired actors benefit greatly from visual cues, such as telling the actor who gives him his cue to pick up a prop or make a specific gesture on his cue.
  
  
• Deafness:  If a deaf actor uses an interpreter, it is very important to continue looking at the actor when the interpreter speaks, not at the interpreter.  It takes some getting used to, but is critical for making sure the deaf person is the actor the audience is watching, not the interpreter.
  
  
• Blindness:  I held out a script and said, “Here you go,” to which the blind actor replied, “Are you handing me something?”  Another time, I said, “Walk to the table.”  He said, “I don’t see the table.”  After a few of these missteps, which embarrassed me but amused my blind actor, I caught on and learned to be specific.  “Take three steps to your right.”  Just to be safe, I always had another actor right there.  You don’t want your actor falling off the stage.  In a group exit, ask the actor if he wants to be guided out by another actor. 
  
  Remind the cast to NEVER move anything onstage.  Then remind them again...  you know how young actors are.  As long as everything is exactly the same every time, no one will bump into anything. 
  
  In the PHAMALY show I directed, a blind actor had a monologue, stepping onstage alone.  He asked me, “How will I know if I’m standing in the spotlight?”  “Ask the audience,” I suggested.  “Am I in the light?”  he would ask.  The audience, unsure of what to do, would be quiet.  “No, really, tell me if I’m in the light.”  It became a nice moment in the show, with the audience laughing at that line every time.
  
  
• Wheelchair bound:  Tell the rest of the class to watch their toes.  Seriously, depending on the weight of the chair, it can break someone’s foot if it rolls over it.  When you’re in front or in back of a wheelchair, give some space.  Depending on the style of wheelchair, a person (okay, me) can accidently hit the “joystick” of the chair, which whizzes both actor and wheelchair away.  Man, those things are sensitive to the touch.
  
  Your set design will have to take the wheelchair into consideration.  Obviously, the wheelchair has to remain on the lower level of your set unless you build ramps into your set design.  Also, set pieces need to be placed so the wheelchair will have room to move, and exit doorways need to be wide enough for the wheelchair to get through.
  
  There are ways to costume wheelchair actors so that they don’t have to get out of the chair to make a change.  A pair of pants that are laid over the actor’s pants and Velcroed together, for example, will suffice.  Backstage assistance may be necessary.  Obviously, avoid costumes that require an actor to stand to put them on.

More about PHAMALY:  The troupe was formed in 1989 when a group of former students of the Boettcher School in Denver, Colorado, grew frustrated with the lack of theatrical opportunities for people living with disabilities and decided to create a theatre company that would provide individuals with disabilities the opportunity to perform.  As a not-for-profit membership organization, PHAMALY is dedicated to producing traditional theatre in non-traditional ways.