A Google Search

I started my search for disabled theatres in America on Google. When I first typed in disabled theatre in to the search engine I receive information about disabled seating in different theatre venues. This was not what I was hoping to find. Does the American public only expect disabled theatre to just be theatre goers and not be on stage. It would have been more interesting to get a list of theatres that have accessible stages. To be far there were several useful links to a list of disabled theatres. The list contained a large amount of deaf theatres and just a few groups that included all disabilities, PHAMALY was on this list. This list also had several groups devoted to developmental disabilities. Only one link on the list actually lead directly to a groups web page. Graeae theatre appears to be one of the most dominate disabled performing groups, but it isn't located in the US. It can be found in London, in its own performing arts complex. Where is America's disabled theatre performing arts complex? There does seem to be a National Theatre Workshop for the Disabled. I will have to look deeper.

In the Begining

I am a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University in the school of Drama costume design department. Before coming to CMU for grad school I was the costume designer for PHAMALY (Physically Handicapped Actors and Musical Artisans League). During my time at CMU I've found that I miss working with disabled actors and wish to pursue that post graduation. This is what led me to the topic for the written part of my thesis. I've been leaning towards this research project since I auditioned for graduate school. One of the more interesting parts of my portfolio is the majority of shows and designs are with disabled actors. This is something that many designers will never experience in their careers.

After many interviews with different colleges, which was followed by interviews for new faculty at CMU I kept asking the same question. "Have you ever worked with a disabled actor?" The answer was generally "no," with a response every so often of, "why would they put themselves through that?" This should not be the answer when it comes to the majority of theatre designers, directors, and other theatre professionals.

At the same time I find the lack of communication and interaction with the different groups that use disabled actors to also be a major hindrance in growing this important part of the community. When I speak with members of PHAMALY they seem to think they are the only gig in the nation. They are one of the few groups that does classical works and musical theatre. They aren't in communication with any other groups.

I am looking to find out who is out there, what they know, how they do it, where they would like it to go, and perhaps along the way find where my next adventure is going to take me.