GOOD DEEDS
For years, artists with
disabilities were relegated
to the margins and denied
creative opportunities by
discriminatory attitudes,
unfair barriers to access,
and ignorance. Rather than
resign to this exclusion,
they’ve created their own
opportunities. Two Portland
companies featuring disabled
artists, PHAME and Wobbly
Dance, are premiering
projects this summer that
take them in new directions
and illustrate the value
of including artists of all
abilities on Oregon stages.
FROM THE MARGINS
TO THE MAINSTREAM
BY BRETT CAMPBELL.
BEYOND THE ROUTINE
PHAME, an acronym for
Pacific Honored Artists Musicians and Entertainers, is an
academy that creates opportunities for artists with developmental disabilities. After
celebrating its 30th anniversary
last year with its most extensive performance schedule yet,
Executive Director Stephen
Marc Beaudoin sensed the
Academy was ready for more,
“an artistic stretch project
... out of our broader vision
to position the organization
and the artists we serve in the
artistic mainstream.”
Departing from the traditional
American musicals they’d performed previously, PHAME
embraced the most ambitious
project they could imagine:
an original musical which
would involve music, theatre
and dance. They had the ideal
playwright in Debbie Lamedman, a Portland-based former
teaching staff member at
PHAME who’s been commissioned by theatre companies
across the country. “She knows
what it’s like to work with
artists and actors with developmental disabilities,” explains
Beaudoin. She’s even written
integrated stage works (that is,
involving performers with and
without disabilities) before.
PHAME gave Lamedman only
one instruction: be inclusive
by creating characters with a
range of ability and disability.
“Her interest as a playwright
is writing great theatre,” Beaudoin explains. “We haven’t
taken a tokenistic approach.
We didn’t give her a checklist
and say ‘include these disabilities.’ ”
Lamedman’s musical Up the
Fall, which will premiere in
August at Artists Repertory
Theatre, calls for one of the
characters to ride around in a
chariot, which could include
an electric scooter or wheelchair but doesn’t have to. The
chariot is only one artifact
drawn from many different
folk tales and myths from
cultures around the world
that collide in Up the Fall in a
manner somewhat reminiscent
of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the
Woods.
For Up the Fall’s music,
PHAME turned to another
frequent collaborator, Portland
songwriter Laura Gibson,
who’s earned national attention for her delicate story
songs. This will be her first
time writing music for the
theatre. The creative team
also includes PHAME Music
Director Matthew Gailey, who