The story of Freak The Mighty follows the friendship of two characters with disabilities—Max, a boy who is large for his age and has been labeled as having learning disabilities, and Kevin, who has symptoms of a rare condition (Morquio syndrome) that causes dwarfism.

When development of this musical began, the producers of the show engaged access consultants, both of whom are people with lived experience of disabilities, to consult in various ways to make shows more accessible.

Seattle Rep’s Communications Manager Nicole Bearden spoke with consultants Talleri A. McRae and Sofiya Cheyenne, both of whom have had an immeasurable impact on this world premiere musical, including language changes, casting, audience and artist experience, and beyond.

^{Freak The Mighty Access Consultants Talleri A. McRae (left) and Sofiya Cheyenne (right).} 

Nicole Bearden (NB): Can you share what the role of an access consultant looks like when working on a new musical, and when you became involved with Freak The Mighty?

Talleri A. McRae (TM): I work with a handful of theaters around the country. Just about three years ago, a visit to La Jolla Playhouse overlapped with the [producers behind Junkyard Dog Productions]. They told me about a really exciting new project that they were just getting started on, and they were wondering if I was interested in offering some access consulting.

They told me about Freak The Mighty, which was a new title for me, and I went and did some searching. I found both the original novel from 1993 and the 1998 film adaptation, The Mighty. We were talking about particular people that we thought would bring a lot to this story and this process, and I mentioned my dear friend and colleague Sofiya Cheyenne.

Sofiya Cheyenne (SC): And that’s where I come in. I have a rare form of dwarfism called Spondyloepiphyseal Dysplasia Congenital (SEDc), which if you translate that into layman’s terms, it essentially means that my bones grow differently than average-sized people.

As a performer and as an artist, I have always brought my dwarfism to every project that I’ve been in, so being a consultant is a new hat that I’m wearing.

When Talleri asked me about Freak The Mighty, I was very familiar with the story. For the dwarfism community, for the short stature community—especially if you grew up in the 90s—you might have intersected with this story. It’s a full circle moment for me because I knew the book and movie as a child and didn’t really have a great relationship with the story. I was super excited to bring that authentic experience to the process.

NB: In an early conversation with co-producers Seattle Rep and Cleveland Play House, you talked about the complicated history and context around words like “freak.” What kinds of conversations did that spark in the rehearsal room and within the new works development process?

TM: Our role as access consultants definitely includes looking at language with the writing team. It’s also been broader than that. We’ve had a great opportunity to work with the casting team, looking for authentic casting in the role of Kevin and as many roles as possible. We’ve also been supporting cast members with their own access needs.

SC: The original novel did have some language that today could be harmful. Coming into this consultancy, we went right to the hard stuff in the beginning and talked about words and language a lot.

Specifically thinking about the word “freak,” for example, which is in the title of the show—there’s a historical context where “freak” is loaded, especially for people with disabilities and people with dwarfism across those communities. We had a lot of conversations just making sure that people understood that not all people embrace that word, that it’s still a word that can be triggering for people.

Disabled people have been considered “freaks” since the beginning of time, and there are different connotations that come with that word. Specifically, since the early 19th and 20th centuries, the sideshow and “freak show” era. That was probably the most exploitative and objectifying time for people with disabilities, oddities, curiosities, “freaks,” whatever you want to call it. There’s still a ripple effect in today’s society. Today, people still treat little people like myself, or people with dwarfism, in objectifying ways. I connect this back to that time where there were “freak shows” and the word “freak” or—trigger warning—the word “midget” was used.

These are objectifying words, although some people embrace them as well. The point is, we’ve taught this show’s creative team how to tell this story today by acknowledging the original content—acknowledging that there was a time where words were harmful, and the harm those words can still carry today.   

Ready to learn more? Watch our full video interview with Talleri and Sofiya.

See Talleri and Sofiya's work in action with Freak The Mighty, on stage now through Sept. 6 at Seattle Rep.

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