Theater and wheelchairs

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/1/2004 2:18:51 PM Central Standard Time,

kdavis@... writes:

and I am writing to the theater this afternoon to thank them.

Great idea, Barb, & good for them!!

Love Lana

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 2/1/2004 2:18:51 PM Central Standard Time,

kdavis@... writes:

and I am writing to the theater this afternoon to thank them.

Great idea, Barb, & good for them!!

Love Lana

[Guest guest]

Last week I went to see A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum at

the 5th Avenue Musical Theatre here in Seattle. At start of the show, the

Artistic Director made the following announcement. " We have a saying in the

theater, 'the show must go on' and tonight it will go on with the addition

of a wheelchair and an additional cast member to push the wheelchair. "

The show is too complicated to explain in a brief email. You can read it at

http://www.5thavenuetheatre.org/forum_synopsis.shtml if you are really

interested. The character, Senex, is the father of Hero, a young man in

love.

The actor who played Senex suffered some sort of foot injury that required a

wheelchair and a brace. Instead of calling in the understudies, the theatre

chose to allow the actor to continue in the role. They did a fantastic job

of incorporating the wheelchair into the scenes by adding Romanesque wheel

covers and fancy cloth draping. They blended the wheelchair seamlessly into

the choreography as if it were written into the original script with the

actor and other cast members taking turns at spinning and maneuvering the

chair in time with the other characters. It was so well-done that if there

had not been an announcement of the change, one could have assumed the role

had always included a wheelchair.

I applaud the 5th Avenue for allowing the show to go on with the wheelchair

rather than make casting changes. At the same time, I wonder if they would

have or could have made the same accommodation had it been another character

in the show. I doubt the same accommodations would have been made for

younger characters or characters whose roles were clearly defined as young

and healthy - i.e. the sexy courtesans, the young lovers, or lead role

Pseudolis. Still, it is nice to see that accommodations were made in this

show and I am writing to the theater this afternoon to thank them.

-Barb