Disability Resource: Theatre and Arts
Actors’ Fund of America www.actorsfund.org/
The Actors’ Fund is for people on the stage and behind the scenes, in front of the camera and behind the lens. It’s for agents, announcers, carpenters and clowns, actors and dancers, magicians and musicians, producers and free agents, stage hands and singers. People in film and theatre, TV and radio, music, dance and opera, and the full spectrum of other entertainment media have always turned to the Actors’ Fund when some personal or family crisis threatens their well-being. Maintains a very complete list of industry websites of unions & guilds, theater, film and television related sites.
Alliance for Inclusion Arts http://inclusioninthearts.org
Association of Mouth & Foot Painting Artists Worldwide www.mfpausa.com Supports artists who, due to handicap or illness, have created works of art with their mouth or foot.
Awareness Theater Company www.vsavt.org/public-awareness/
A theatrical group composed of people with and without disabilities in Vermont.
Axis Dance Company www.Axisdance.org
Based in Oakland, CA, Axis has been described as a "visual and physical discovery, creating fascinating works of movement art." Axis has become an internationally known resource for physically integrated dance and is known for setting high artistic and educational standards.
Blandina, Sister Pauline www.paulineblandina.org
Original paintings by a St. Louis artist who has a disability. Check it out!
Callahan Online www.callahanonline.com
There’s nothing funny about a quadriplegic in a wheelchair. Unless, of course, that person is John Callahan. For nearly a decade, this irreverent cartoonist has been shocking America with his own special brand of wicked humor. In the world of Callahan, nothing is sacred, nothing is taboo and nothing is funnier!
Dancing Wheels http://www.dancingwheels.org/
One of the first professional modern dance companies in the U.S. comprised of dancers with and without disabilities, Dancing Wheels was established in 1980 and is based in Cleveland, Ohio.
Deaf Art www.deafart.org/
Dedicated to art by people who are Deaf
Deaf West Theatre www.deafwest.org
Founded in 1991 to directly improve and enrich the cultural lives of the 1.2 million deaf and hard of hearing individuals who live in the Los Angeles area.
Disability Project www.uppityco.com/dp.html
St. Louis ensemble of people with and without disabilities engaging in conversation, writing, sound, movement, and theatrical exercises to develop performance material around the culture of disability.
Full Radius Dance www.fullradiusdance.org
Mission: To promote, advance and enhance the modern dance form for persons with disabilities, for dance artists, and the general community.
Heart N Soul www.heartnsoul.co.uk
A British dynamic arts organization offering creative opportunities to people with learning disabilities.
Interact www.interactcenter.com
Creating art and challenging society’s view of disability in Minnesota.
Media Access Office disabilityemployment.org
Actively promotes the employment and accurate portrayal of persons with disabilities in all areas of the media and entertainment industry, ensuring that the industry recognizes people with disabilities as part of cultural diversity.
Missouri Assistive Technology Advisory Council www.at.mo.gov
National Arts & Disability Center http://nadc.ucla.edu/
National information dissemination, technical assistance and referral center specializing in the field of arts and disability.
National Institute for Arts & Disabilities www.niadart.org
Mission: To provide an art program for people with developmental disabilities which promotes creative expression, independence, dignity and community integration.
National Theatre of the Deaf www.ntd.org
Mission: To produce theatrically challenging work at a world class level, drawing from as wide a range of the world’s literature as possible; to perform these original works in a style that links American Sign Language with the spoken word; to seek, train and employ Deaf artists; to offer our work to as culturally diverse and inclusive an audience as possible; to provide community outreach activities that will educate and enlighten the general public.
Project Ability www.project-ability.co.uk/
An interesting VSA Arts-like program in England.
Scraping the Surface: https://www.playwrightsguild.ca/playwright/lyle-victor-albert Autobiographical one-man show, written and performed as a monologue by Canadian playwright/performer Lyle Victor Albert—"Vic." Vic shares his experiences as a teenager with cerebral palsy. Excellent show!
Screen Actors Guild www.sagaftra.org/
Membership organization for filmmakers and actors. Includes a directory, guild members, history, awards, resources and links in other film, theater, & television professional organizations.
Theater Breaking Through Barriers www.tbtb.org/
Critically acclaimed New York company made up of both visually impaired and sighted theater professionals.
VSA Arts www.vsarts.org
VSA arts is an international organization that creates learning opportunities through the arts for people with disabilities.
VSA Missouri www.vsamissouri.org/
The comprehensive resource, titled "Actors with Disabilities In Film/Hollywood" provides in-depth information on disabilities and how they're portrayed in the world of acting, actors who have disabilities in film and Hollywood, and why it is important to have this type of representation in cinema. The movies that portray disabilities, especially when actors with disabilities themselves are given the opportunity to play these roles, are powerful types of representation that create support, inclusion, and awareness for the many individuals that live with a disability. Although there is a point of contention in cinema, where actors without disabilities play characters with a disability, both activists and audiences are working to create a more welcoming and open-minded place in Hollywood and film for actors living with disabilities to thrive in.
https://octaneseating.com/blog/disabled-actors-in-film-hollywood/