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A Funny Thing Happened When I Played Disabled (or) I Heart Eddie Redmayne

7/17/2015

12 Comments

 
Picture
"Representation in the fictional world signifies social existence; absence means symbolic annihilation."
-George Gerbner

I was recently in a one-act  entitled, 
John, Who's Here From Cambridge by Martyna Majok as part of Ensemble Studio Theatre's 35th Marathon of One-Act Plays. John is a man with cerebral palsy, which I was born with, but mine is less severe than the character I was playing. I am grateful that the playwright and the producers gave me the opportunity to act this part. Could a competent, skilled, non-disabled actor play this role? Yes.

However, I feel  that my lived-in experience of cerebral palsy makes me uniquely suited for the role. I know what the tension in the body feels like, I know the social and emotional impact of someone who has lived with a life-long disability (specifically CP) and I 
have friends and people close to me who I am modeling the character of John after.

Does all this mean I can just sit down and do the role? Not necessarily. I may know more about how to approach the role from day one than an able-bodied actor would, I know how to articulate my experience in relation to the characters to my ensemble members and director during the rehearsal process, but in order to do the role well, to do my job well, I still have to adopt an intense physical  and vocal posture very different from my own. I have to be transformative as an actor. I have act my ass off.

At the risk of sounding reductive, this is what acting is- playing someone who is different from yourself. I must have done a good job, because after the show most people thought I wasn't actually disabled.

From the start of previews and throughout the course of the run of the show, here's a selection of comments I either heard or read expressed to me or about me:
"I'm so glad you can actually walk."
"I was actually worried about you."
"I haven't seen you in a while and I wasn't sure if you had regressed."
"Didn't I see you in...*name of another show featuring actors with various physical disabilities* recently?"
And my new-current-all-time-personal-favorite:
One on-line review stated- "Mozgala is excellent, but I have to wonder what would happen if they actually cast a disabled actor in this role."
The reviewer changed the text immediately upon notification from the producers, but offered no apology for the insult or the shoddy research.

This variety of responses is fascinating to me as a disabled person and performer. Granted, the character of John is a wheelchair user, I am not, and my disability isn't necessarily apparent until I am mobile. This doesn't change the fact that the overall presumption from the general audience was that I was a non-disabled actor playing disabled. The various responses, to me, point to an overwhelming sense of relief felt by an audience which inferred I was "not disabled." Phew.     

This past Oscar season there was a lot of talk and social media anxiety over the casting of non-disabled actors playing disabled roles. The chatter focused primarily on Eddie Redmayne's nomination and win for his portrayal of Professor Steven Hawking in, The Theory of Everything.

Redmayne's Oscar win continues a long-standing precedent of actors receiving or being nominated* for Hollywood's most coveted prize for the portrayal of disabled individuals; Jane Wyman (Johnny Belinda 1949), John Voight (Coming Home 1978), Dustin Hoffman (Rain Man 1988), Daniel Day-Lewis (My Left Foot 1989), Al Pacino (Scent Of A Woman 1992), Mary McDonnell (Passion Fish 1992*), Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump 1994), Leonardo DiCaprio (What's Eating Gilbert Grape 1994*) Sean Penn (I Am Sam 2002*), Selma Hayek (Frida 2002*) Jamie Fox (Ray 2004), Hillary Swank (Million Dollar Baby 2005), John Hawks (The Sessions 2012*), etc, just to name a few but it's not just Hollywood.

The last two Broadway seasons have been chock-a-block with shows featuring disabled characters. Richard III (Mark Rylance/TONY nomination), The Glass Menagerie (Celia Keenan-Bolger/TONY nomination), The Cripple of Inishmaan (Daniel Radcliffe/TONY nomination), The Elephant Man (Bradley Cooper/TONY nomination), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, (Alexander Sharp/TONY winner--TONY winner Best Play) and nominally, An American In Paris; which features a disabled veteran with a "bad leg." But boy can he dance! 

Should disabled actors be cast in disabled roles? Yes. The reasons the practice of "cripface" or "disability drag," as I have heard it referred to, persists are numerous and myriad. It's a serious issue that needs serious attention and serious action. I feel responsibility for this action lies both within and without the Disability community. I also feel that if WE (The Disabled community and its allies) want this to change and be seen in Hollywood and on Broadway stages, WE'VE got a lot of work to do before we get there.

In all the hoi-polloi around this issue, I rarely hear mention of the need for action that relates to the creation of new work that supports the casting of disabled actors and the development of disabled talent through professional training programs and companies that have an exploration of Disability core to their  mission statements.

Casting is only one small piece of a much larger issue. To say that decision makers in the industry should cast disabled actors in disabled roles is all well and good, but it doesn't address the simple fact that today,  in 2015, the twenty-fifth anniversary year of the Americans With Disabilities Act, American audiences are not ready to deal with Disability in a real way. Disability is not being presented consistently in a real, satisfying way. As a result, disabled people and disabled bodies are not a visible, viable part of our cultural landscape.

In my own small way, I am dedicated to changing this. As I write this the words of poet and activist, Eli Clare come to mind- if my job as an artist is to hold the mirror up to nature, I have to first remember that I come from a long line of people who hate being looked at, who have habitually and chronically hated mirrors and cameras, who hate looking at our own bodies. I also come from people who are learning to relish our bodies, who are stretching into a comfortable pride and spending long, joyful moments in front of mirrors. We are people learning how to make are bodies home. 

Rest easy, America. In my experience, it seems nobody really knows anything about Disability. But don't worry, together, I'm hoping we can figure some things out.

-Gregg Mozgala, Disabled Actor, Artistic Director  



12 Comments
Rich Hinz link
7/17/2015 01:40:14 am

Great article Gregg!

Reply
Gregg Mozgala link
7/17/2015 01:44:47 am

Thanks, Rich!

Reply
Robin
7/17/2015 03:25:41 am

Thank you for writing this.

Reply
Margot link
7/17/2015 03:54:50 am

Fantastic article Gregg! This right here is why I make my films! The responses from people that you listed completely cracked me up LOL. You have no idea how many people tell me they think you,or I are able bodied when they first see us. It's even worse for people I know whose CP is even less visible. That was rude of the reporter not to apologize in some fashion.

You're friend,
Margot

P.S Don't worry I have NOT forgotten to contact you. I'll do that ASAP. So so sorry for the delay!!!

Reply
Ivan link
7/18/2015 06:55:22 am

very good article! i have long thought many of the same things, though having recently been involved in casting on a piece with a disabled role, the pool of available actors also impacts casting! I have noticed every other year when a TV show has a script that calls for albino actors, it is one of the same 4 actors every single time. In our particular session, the role had been written specifically for a disabled actress the producer knew, who then was out of town for the required dates. In casting, we only had one actress with a disability show up to the audition, and she just wasn't the right age for the role!

I would love to see Hollywood STOP outsourcing roles though. It is remarkable to me that we consider it such an unpardonable offense to have a white actor portray a black actor, yet routinely use make-up and effects to make white actors Asian or Middle Eastern, or even go so far as to make little people act out a role and THEN CGI MORE FAMOUS ACTORS FACES ONTO THEIR BODIES.

Anyway, thank you for the article, hope my rant is in keeping with your feelings on the subject!

Reply
Gregg Mozgala link
7/20/2015 12:46:42 am

Ivan, thanks for the comment. I agree with you, yes. Your comment touches on several issues, and I am running into the same obstacles as a producer myself. This is why I think more work and more training opportunities should be developed. More opportunities = more talented actors. Thank you for chiming in and joining the conversation.

Reply
Margot link
7/21/2015 07:19:42 am

I noticed the same thing and had to reuse actors twice. There doesn't seem to be as large of a pool of available actors with disabilities.

Reply
Rich Hinz link
7/21/2015 08:02:05 am

I appreciate efforts made by casting to find PWD actors for parts. I've seen other comments about having trouble finding actors with disabilities and, it's true, more training/opportunities will go a long way.

There are actors with disabilities out there now. God ones. I've noticed when a project is looking for a child to star in a movie or TV show, the call is sent far and wide to numerous cities looking. Presumably because in looking for a new kid to act, they don't want to limit the pool to LA or New York. I'm not sure the same thing happens when looking for a PWD actor. An able bodied actor might move to LA or New York to launch an acting career and get multiple opportunities/auditions throughout the year and be able to find a survival job until they "make it". However, unless they already live there, It's hard for a PWD to move to LA or New York to launch an acting career knowing they'll get one or two auditions a year if they're lucky and based on past casting numbers, the production will likely cast an able bodied actor in the role anyway. PWDs traditionally have a much harder time finding employment because of, among other things prejudice. So getting that survival job is that much harder as well.

If casting is serious about hiring PWD actors the net has to be cast far and wide. With Taped auditions and apps like Skype, an actor from anywhere can be seen for a role regardless of where it's casting. I've interviewed for a job in another town and then moved there once I was hired. The same can be said for going to a particular city once you've been cast.

I LOVE conversations like these! It's what needs to happen to bring about change.

Amy Meisner-Threet
1/17/2016 01:28:30 pm

Terrific article Gregg. Surprised you didn't mention the bright light of Spring Awakening with the first REAL DiSABLED performer (Ali Stoker) in a wheelchair that isn't just a prop. Along with Largely Deaf cast. It can be done! Reagan Linton @ Oregon Shakespeare Festival as a company member using a wheelchair. Film/TV (Superstore w/fake wheelchair user) seem harder to crack. Not sure why....

Reply
Gregg link
3/30/2016 07:28:39 am

Amy,
Thanks for reading and for your comment. This post was originally written before Spring Awakening was on Broadway.

Reply
R David Robinson
3/27/2016 09:58:45 am

Gregg,
Thanks for your articulate article. I had the pleasure of seeing your performance in John, Who's Here from Cambridge at both EST and the Sam French Festival. Wonderful play and excellent performance. I confess, I simply don't know how to talk about disability. I can be quite shy. In not wishing to make you and other disabled actors feel like "the other," my shyness and fear of revealing my ignorance no doubt bring about that which I'm trying to avoid. I dare say, that's part of the problem. As an Actor who's now play writing, this reminds me, as I'm trying to develop rich characters with gobs of authentic detail, disability can provide a unique perspective that may enlarge the world of my play, adding resonance. Naturally, this will require my doing my homework, asking questions, educating myself. And, It may help to draw me out of my own shell. Thanks again.
Warm regards,
R David

Reply
Gregg link
3/30/2016 07:25:03 am

R David,
Thanks for the comment. I totally understand where you're coming from, and believe me, I deal with the same issues- even as a disabled individual. There's no one-size-fits-all solution to this. The simplest thing you can do is ask the person(s) with a disability how they like to be referred to and go from there.

Reply



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