Ok so I’m choosing to riff! I feel like with the little
experience I have with
Phamaly Theatre Company back in Denver, it would be a
missed opportunity not to discuss their work and their role in changing the way
Denver theatergoers see performers with disability.
“Phamaly Theatre Company’s mission is to inspire people to
re-envision disability through professional theatre.”
“Phamaly Theatre Company’s vision is that every individual
with a disability has the opportunity to participate in all aspects of high
quality performing arts.”
I love how brief and direct these
statements are and yet they are full of lofty goals and potential. Perhaps
exactly what a mission statement should be. They don’t tell you how they want
you to “re-envision disability.” They are not laying out their opinions in
easily digestible, catch phrases. But rather they place the onus squarely on
their audiences. It is up to you, the viewer, to investigate how you feel
watching these actors with disabilities act out a play that is normally
performed by able-bodied actors.
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| The Elephant Man, 2012 |
Before I delve into their
production of
Cabaret and viewing
individuals with disability as sexual beings, I wanted to say that Phamaly did
a production of
The Elephant Man.
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| The Elephant Man, 2012 |
My
friend Daniel played John Merrick, which is interesting because while Daniel
suffers from partial deafness in addition to several other disabilities, none
of them affect his appearance. Meanwhile there are other actors in the Phamaly
clan who have a variety physical disability including, but not limited too,
cerebral palsy, spina bifida, muscular dystrophy, and early onset Parkinson’s. I can’t speak about the production too in depth having not seen it
myself, but I wonder if the creators chose to surround Daniel with physically
disabled actors…
(Oh and Dr. Fletcher they also did One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as
well!)
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| Cabaret, 2015 |
On to the next! There is so much to
unpack in Phamaly’s
Cabaret with
regard to disability, performing disability, and cripping and queering that I
will do my best with the few words I have left. The production was well
received in Denver.
Cabaret suits itself to this company of actors because persons with disabilities were a race of people the Nazis were looking to wipe out. It adds a whole other layer to the performance without any shoe-horning necessary. I believe Phamalay's success in all of it's productions is due to the involvement of persons with disability in all
elements of production. The theatre company is able to tackle disability
onstage in a way that doesn’t feel exploitive or wrong but rather powerful and
thought provoking because the productions are concieved through the "crip" lens and not from the point of view of the able bodied audience member. They invite us in to their world, rather than "forcing" their way into ours. Lisa Kennedy of
The Denver
Post wrote that, “There is little about physical vulnerability or human
tenacity that a Phamaly production won’t take on.” In Phamaly's
Cabaret, the characters are both physically and emotionally vulnerable, just like many of the actors themselves. Kennedy also writes that if you are expecting the
Kit Kat Girls to be the “exclusively air-brushed and photoshopped” Broadway
showgirls you’ve come to expect in musical theatre, “you’re in for a
fleshy-awakening.” In
Cabaret there was no effort to mask the actors' disabilities. After all it’s not like
the audience wasn’t expecting it. Phamaly markets itself as company that
“produces professional plays and musicals that exclusively feature actors with
all nature of disabilities.” So to
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| Cabaret, 2015 |
see the Kit Kat Girls onstage in their
lingerie, proudly bearing their missing limbs, partial paralysis, or grinding
away in spite of their limited movement was empowering to me in a way I did not
expect.
Phamaly Theatre sounded amazing when you brought it up in class, so I’m thrilled you chose to talk more about it in riffing on how disability had been “turned on its head” for you. This week was, for me and for others I suspect as well, a wake-up call when it came to our perceptions about disability. In addition to my friend Sarah whom I blogged about, I thought of a friend of mine who is blind who constantly had strangers grabbing him out of nowhere to try and help him cross the street. A friend of mine who is deaf has encountered people, friends and family included, who insist on raising their voices/shouting whenever they speak to him. I think so often, we are so quick to “feel bad” about someone’s disability and then we overcompensate to be helpful or polite. Mike had a quote from his mother in his blog that resonated with me, which was, “Just because they navigate the world in a different way than you, doesn't mean their lives are any less than yours." Any human being desires to live a happy and full a life, just as I do. The fact that they may tackle that goal with an approach that is different than me, is irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like Phamaly embraces life with gusto, in a non-exploitative and honorable way. By looking at the world through, as you said, the “crip” lens, they are able to bring truthful storytelling that isn’t about making the audience feel good about themselves for being able-bodied, but rather to celebrate an any-bodied person through song and narrative. The pictures you shared are great, and I love the idea of the Kit Kat Girls performing and empowering women as they proudly danced in a way that celebrated them and brought joy to the audience. I’ve seen Cabaret several times, and I actually get annoyed when the Kit Kat Girls are perfectly groomed (and able-bodied, I could posit). Because at the heart of the story- this is a time of war and poverty, and those girls are fighting for survival. War is a great equalizer for those trying to get by and stay alive, so Phamaly’s take is also actually probably more historically accurate than other productions might be.
Mission statements are something that I find can be easily botched by theatre companies who don’t have a clear-cut idea of the long term, or of what their sustainable goals are. That’s why so many theatre companies are on “mission-drift.” I don’t think that will be an issue for Phamaly’s straightforward, yet eloquent mission. In making their audiences culpable for the exploration of the company’s vision, the audience member has a tenable ambition as well as the artistic staff. In giving me, the spectator, the permission to re-envision disability through my own theatrical experience, I also become an advocate in making sure that every individual, able-bodied or uniquely-bodied, has the chance to create and bring to life excellent work in the medium of theatre. I’m a Phan of Phamaly! I look forward to seeing productions there in the future, hopefully with my friend Erica at my side.