A Christmas Carol - Breaking Barriers

Hello and welcome back! With Christmas around the corner, it makes sense that we focus on one of the most iconic stories of the season. I hope you enjoy.

Jai Srinivasan and Sebastian Ortiz have been facing challenges since they were infants. Both were diagnosed with cerebral palsy before they turned one, and they both have spent much of their young lives undergoing therapies and surgeries.



But now, that's all changed - on November 20th, these young men both began a new journey. They now are taking turns starring as one of the most visible characters with a disability in all on theatre: Tiny Tim in the Broadway revival of A Christmas Carol.

Even before this Broadway revival, A Christmas Carol has long been an anthem for those with disabilities, with Tiny Tim as not just one of the most recognizable characters in all of theatre, but one that disability advocates and disabled actors around the world have been inspired by and aspire to perform one day.

Charles Dickens in the original story described Tim's condition with pity, saying:
"Alas for Tiny Tim, he bore a little crutch, and had limbs supported by an iron frame!"
Tiny Tim pushes beyond this description made by his creator as a character who through the content of his spirit, his compassion, and his understanding plays the most pivotal part in changing Scrooge's life and intentions for the better. 
A Christmas Carol has been a play that is very near and dear to my heart for several years now. In 2017 and 2018, I was privileged to be able to perform in productions of a modern adaptation of the show with Wolfpack Theatre Company in Hyattsville, Maryland, and their 2019 production opened this past weekend. In the 2017 production, I performed the role of Edward (Fred in the original production), and in 2018 I performed two roles, Hollis (Edward's Husband), and Jacob Marley, pictured below.


Playing Marley in particular has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding roles I have ever performed. Challenging in that Marley and me (no pun intended) could not be farther apart in personality, although I do seem to have a habit of playing these kinds of roles - I find that characters like Marley are some of the best to play. But Marley was also one of the most rewarding roles I have played in that it allowed me to completely expose myself and my Spina Bifida.

Marley has always been the character in A Christmas Carol that represented what could happen to Scrooge. He is depicted in the books and on stage as being weighed down by chains that clink together as he walks. Knowing I was wearing those chains and that they were meant to weigh the character down and act as a physical representation of the bad choices he made in life, I made the conscious decision to exaggerate my limp and make my disability more pronounced. This acting choice paid off - to this day playing Marley has brought me some of the best reviews I have received.

To know that this tradition of featuring actors with disabilities in A Christmas Carol is continuing outside of the semi-professional company I work with and has given two young actors the opportunity to perform on Broadway warms my heart and brings me so much joy during this holiday season. 
But when you think about it, isn't that the entire point of the show? In an era where authenticity and representation is slowly but surely becoming the norm, presenters of some of these productions around the world are rethinking how they will depict this iconic character, and more often than in the past it is concluded that Tiny Tim, a role that represents the disabled community on the stage, should be performed by a child with a disability - this is a beautiful thing.
I hope you all have a wonderful holiday. And as Tim says - God Bless Us, Everyone!

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