A cast of artists with the nonprofit theater company EPIC Players is proving that diversity goes beyond what can be seen, especially when it comes to developmental disabilities.
“I’ve known so many people with neurodiversities and disabilities as part of EPIC,” Sarah Kaufman, a writer and writer who was diagnosed with autism as an adult, told CBS News. “And it has opened up the world to me in such a beautiful way, and it has made me see that, like, there is so much value and so much art and so much wonder coming out of these brains that work differently.” .
Artistic director Aubrie Therrien founded EPIC Players in 2016, putting the mission of inclusion at the center of the stage and offering professional performing arts opportunities to all artists.
“You can’t be what you can’t see,” Therrien said. “So it’s very important for neurodivergent and neurodivergent artists to be represented on stage and on screen, and to know that it’s a job they can do. The arts are a viable job opportunity. And right now, people with disabilities they are very unemployed in this country. ”
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 19% of people living with a disability had a job last year, compared to almost 64% of people without a disability.
“So if we really care about equity and inclusion, that’s something we’re going to work on together. That’s why we do what we do,” Therrien said. “We pay all our artists to participate in our shows. We continue, you know, to increase that salary as much as we can. And we also find opportunities for our artists outside of EPIC and defend them.”
Conor Tague is part of this year’s EPIC Players in the musical “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
“I really think the industry should be more open to people who are neurodivergent, or have disabilities, to play people with disabilities,” Tague said, adding, “If it’s people with autism or Asperger’s, ADHD or anyone deaf … what? What really matters is that they can do so many things, in spite of everything. ”
According to GLAAD’s 2019 “Where We Are in TV” report, only 2.1% of regular TV characters with a maximum audience script portrayed people with disabilities, with a total of 18 characters. Another Ruderman Family Foundation report showed that 95% of disabled TV characters were played by actors without problems.
“I think there’s a fear that if we say, ‘Stop throwing out neurotypical actors as neurodivergent characters,’ you know, producers or directors or whatever, just listen, ‘Stop telling neurodivergent stories,'” he said. Kaufman. “But I think that’s just the message we want to send, and what EPIC is sending is this: keep telling these stories. Just include us. Let us help you explain them, because we are here and we are doing it. . And we’ve been doing it. And we do. “
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- Autism
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