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!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bryan Cranston Calls Out Ignoring of Disabled Actors - The Irony

Image
Hello and Happy New Year! Welcome to my first blog post of 2020. Today's post will be a bit more ranty than usual, but bear with me as it's something I feel needs to be talked about. Recently, a group of Hollywood stars and film executives signed onto a letter calling out Hollywood's "systematic exclusion" of disabled people in movies. The letter calls on the entertainment industry to audition people with disabilities and also cast qualified actors with disabilities, which would improve their visibility while also expanding the pool of talent overall Among the actors that have signed onto this letter are Mark Ruffalo, Danny DeVito, Edward Norton, and perhaps most surprisingly to me personally, Bryan Cranston. While I appreciate and respect any person who will stand up for the rights of the disabled and inclusion of actors who identify as disabled, the irony of Bryan Cranston signing onto this letter while not acknowledging his own past issues in this space is...
Read more

Six UK Lets the Wheels Fall Off on Accessibility and Disability

Image
Hello! First, let me say I'm sorry for not posting anything to this blog in the last year and a half. No excuses, I just had no inspiration and couldn't really think of anything to write about. I hope everyone who reads this has been well, has been safe, and is getting vaccinated or has already been vaccinated. I cannot stress that last point enough - GET VACCINATED if you have not already done so! To be completely honest I was not planning on writing a new post yet, but yesterday I saw this and it needed to be talked about, so let's get into this mess that Six the musical in London has gotten itself into. First, a little background - Six is a musical that has been running on the West End in London since early 2019 and has been an international success since - with other productions playing in Sydney, a U.K. Tour, and a U.S. pre-Broadway tour that will officially open on Broadway in September now that the pandemic is (hopefully) beginning to subside. The show places the 6 w...
Read more

Let It Go - Disability Anthem

Image
6 years ago this month, Disney released what had been until this year (The Lion King remake now holds this title) it's most successful film to date, Frozen , and if I had to guess, the newly relaxed Frozen 2  will do just as well as the original. If by any chance you have been living under a rock and don't know what I'm referring too, Frozen  tells the story of Elsa, princess of Arendelle, who was born with magical powers of ice and snow. After an incident as a child where Elsa harms Anna with her powers, Elsa's parents decide it is best to keep her hidden from the outside world while also separating her from Anna until her powers can be controlled. After inadvertently causing Arendelle to fall into an eternal winter, Elsa runs away and goes into hiding, and soon after begins to come into her own and accepting herself and her powers, and Elsa sings one of the most iconic songs in Disney, and I'd argue film, history: "Let It Go" is an anthem of se...
Read more