Librarians at Seattle Public Library put together a curated list of media to accompany our virtual (Re)Imagine Accessible Theater Panel, a part of our (Re)Imagine Theater panel series. Get ready for the conversation with these related books, plays, articles, and interviews.

Though all Seattle Public Library locations are currently closed, learn about SPL's curbside pickup service.

About Us   
Essays From the Disability Series of the New York Times
Book - 2019 

 

AmeriDisability's 9 Theater Companies Putting Actors with Disabilities Center Stage by Nancy DeVault    
https://www.ameridisability.com/post/9-theater-companies-putting-actors-with-disabilities-center-stage
Web Resource 

According to a recent study, non-disabled actors play 95 percent of television characters with disabilities. DeVault reports on a selection of American theater companies that focus on inclusion.

ARTS: Possibilities, Disabilities & the Arts  
https://spl.kanopy.com/product/arts-possibilities-disabilities-arts   
Streaming Video - 2015

Director Keri Bower examines how to create commercial and personal successes for young artists with disabilities through encouraging and pairing them with professional artists working in fields closely related to their talents.

Disability and Theater     
A Practical Manual for Inclusion in the Arts 
by Barton-Farcas, Stephanie 
eBook - 2017

This practical, step-by-step guide pulls from Barton-Farcas' 16 years of experience running New York City's first inclusive theatre company.

The Deaf Movement and Musical Theater      
https://www.spl.org/audio/18_06_04_DeafMovementMusicalTheater.mp3   
by Castille, Caleb
MP3 - 2018

Learn more about deaf actors and the use of American Sign Language in musical theater by listening to this podcast recording of a special panel presented by The 5th Avenue Theatre and The Seattle Public Library.

Disability Visibility 
First-person Stories from the Twenty-first Century   
Book - 2020

Published on the 30th anniversary of the American with Disabilities Act, this collection of personal essays by contemporary disabled writers was edited by activist Alice Wong.

The Disability Rights Movement  
From Charity to Confrontation  
by Fleischer, Doris Zames 
Book - 2011

In this updated edition, scholars Flesicher and Zames provide a comprehensive overview of the historical and ongoing movement to create a society inclusive of people with disabilities, bringing their narrative up to the 21st-century.

The Boys Next Door 
A Play in Two Acts  
by Griffin, Tom 
Book - 1988

Poignant and gently humorous, The Boys Next Door features characters with developmental and mental health disabilities living in a Boston communal home.

From the Periphery 
Real-life Stories of Disability 
by Justesen, Pia  
Book - 2020

Disability rights lawyer Justesen "interviews people in the Chicago area with various disabilities . . . to create a moving, in-depth oral history of an oft-forgotten and ignored U.S. minority: people with disabilities." (Library Journal)

Children of A Lesser God  
by Medoff, Mark    
Book - 1980

Winner of the 1980 Tony Award for Best Play, Children of A Lesser God was specifically written for the Deaf actress Phyllis Frelich and focuses on the relationship between a custodian and a speech pathologist.

A New Kind of Listening: The Community Inclusive Theater Group 
https://spl.kanopy.com/product/new-kind-listening-community-inclusive-the
Streaming Video - 2009 

A New Kind of Listening is the story of a visionary director, a one-of-a-kind theater group, and a young man who could not speak, yet found the voice he had been looking for all his life. (The Groove Publications)

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time   
by Stephens, Simon    
Book - 2012

15-year-old Christopher John Francis Boone, who has an autism spectrum condition, investigates the mysterious death of his neighbor's dog in this award-winning play adapted from the novel of the same name by Mark Haddon.

The Theatre Times' Disabled Bodies in American Theatre by Madison Parrotta   
https://thetheatretimes.com/disabled-bodies-american-theatre/   
Web Resource 

In this well-researched article, Parrotta advocates for total inclusion within theatre: "We need a theatre that makes every part of itself accessible."

Fifth of July 
A Play in Two Acts  
by Wilson, Lanford 
Book - 1982

Ken, a paraplegic Vietnam War veteran, and his lover Jed, a horticulturist, prepare to sell their Missouri farmhouse.

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