Phamaly Theatre Company

Last updated
Phamaly Theatre Company
Company type Non-profit
Industry Entertainment
Genre Theatre / Disability
Founded1989
Headquarters
Denver, CO
,
United States
Area served
Denver Metro
Website www.phamaly.org

Phamaly Theatre Company (formerly the Physically Handicapped Actors & Musical Artists League or PHAMALy), also known as just Phamaly (as in "family"), is a theater group and touring company based in Denver, Colorado, formed entirely of people with disabilities from across the spectrum. [1] Phamaly was founded in 1989 by five people living with disabilities who wanted to create a theatre company that provided individuals like them with the opportunity to perform. [2] Since their debut, Phamaly Theatre Company (PTC) has produced more and more shows each year, including original works which have received multiple local awards, such as Denver Post Ovation Awards, Westword Awards, and Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Awards. [3] The company's season also includes various touring and educational shows. [4]

Contents

Origin

A group of five students living with disabilities (Kevin Ahl, Richard Britton, Kathleen Traylor, Gregg Vigil, and Teri Westerman Wagner) from the Boettcher School in Denver, Colorado founded Phamaly in 1989. [5] They all shared a frustration for the lack of theatrical opportunities for individuals with disabilities from all identities—racial, ethnic, gender, and class. Beginning in 1990 with their first show Guys and Dolls , the art company has reimagined their work to maintain the principle of inclusion. [4] The spacial and structural challenges characteristic of American theatres persisted in the company's early days as it was founded before the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed. [5] [6]

PTC performed shows that were traditionally not about disability, such as Oklahoma! , The Wiz , and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Democrat in order to "reframe the audience's thinking about what it means to have a disability." [5] Their shows presented the actors as "real" people who face the realities of disability, stretching the able-bodied limitations of the traditional shows. Although PTC is now the leader in theatre with disabled artists, they struggled to be seen as a serious company because their approach is about the normalcy of disability, something not yet represented in current spaces. [5]

History (1992–2007)

In their successful debut at the Denver Center for Performing Arts (DCPA) with Anything Goes (1992), PTC entered a prevailing community partnership with the DCPA. After their tenth show – Side Show (1999) – Denver Mayor's Award for Excellence in Arts and Culture is awarded to PTC. [3] In 2003, The Pajama Game received the Denver Post Ovation Award for Best Choreography (Debbie Stark). [3]

At the turn of the new year, Steve Wilson stepped into the art company as the new artistic director, implementing a new direction for PTC while maintaining inclusivity. Along with Wilson's appointment, PTC's second production of Guys and Dolls (2004) received the Westword Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical (Lucy Roucis). [3] 2005 came with even more recognition for PTC as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (2005) received the Denver Post Ovation Award for Best Musical and Best Director (Steve Wilson) as well as the Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Steve Wilson). [3]

On August 29, 2006, Phamaly was featured in a lengthy segment of The News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. [7] This marked the company's first mainstream national publicity. Previous to that, Phamaly is also the subject of a documentary short entitled We Are PHAMALY directed by Daniel Junge. [8] Long-time company member Mark Dissette made a feature-length documentary, There's Still Hope for Dreams (A PHAMALy Story) (2008). [9] In 2007, PTC debuted their first non-musical Our Town (2007) in the Aurora Fox Arts Center which begins a 10-year partnership between the two organizations. [3] That same year, PTC received the Colorado Theatre Guild Henry Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Juliet Villa), Outstanding Lighting Design (Stephen D. Mazzeno), Outstanding Choreography (Debbie Stark, Cindy Bray) and Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Steve Wilson) for Urinetown the Musical (2007). [3] [10]

Theatre accessibility

Phamaly Theatre company provides various accommodations to its performers in order to make theatre more accessible. The actors are offered these accommodations from the get-go, as they are stated on casting calls. [11]

To make the audition process more accessible for neurodivergent people, Phamaly Theatre Company provides detailed information about what to expect at their facilities. [12] This information is provided on their website and includes pictures to give cast members a heads up about sensory information such as what colors to expect. [12] Further Phamaly Theatre's The Wiz makes the stage more accessible by allowing the actor to explore creative liberty with their disability such as using it as a metaphor, instead of labeling it as distracting for the audience. [12]

Phamaly theatre contrasts with other disability theatres because their aim is producing traditional works while other theatre companies center disability in their narratives. [13] In its founding, the theatre company did not focus on making social commentary about disabilities and they continue to view their social impact as a result that comes with their main goal, making theatre accessible. [13] Phamaly theatre's style is that of Bertolt Brecht which is described as alienating the audience instead of alienating the actor and their disabilities. The goal of the Brecht model is to make the audience think critically about their presumptions about disabilities. Regular attendees of the Phamaly Theatre Company claim that the performers' disabilities go to the back of their minds as they watch performances until the script requires them to consider the experience of inaccessibility. [13]

2007–2022

Since the fall of 2008, PTC produced a series of sketch comedy productions entitled Vox Phamalia. Performed by Phamaly artists, these cabaret-style shows consist of original comedic, dramatic, and musical material written in a workshop over several weeks before being performed. [14] The 2011 version – Vox Phamalia: Quadrapalooza – received numerous awards and nominations from Denver theatre critics, including one for Best Director for Edith Weiss, who originated the Vox Phamalia series. [15]

Year after year, PTC continued to win community awards. 2012 saw another original comedy series titled disLabled marked the company's debut appearance in the city of Boulder, Colorado, and recurred for two years in 2013 and 2014. [16] Then, as Bryce Alexander took over as artistic director, Phamaly traveled to Osaka, Japan to present its first international performance The Fantasticks (2015). The production won Denver Mayor's Award for Excellence in Arts and Culture. In 2016, Regan Linton became the first person with a disability to be artistic director as well as the "first wheelchair user to head a major U.S. theatre company". [3]

Through the development of Morph Masters: How Disability Made Famous Artists Awesome! (2019), PTC collaborated with Phamaly actors to present a show that focuses on famous artists who live(d) and work(ed) with a disability. PTC was awarded Best Theater for the Classics by Best of Denver 2020 Westword. [3] With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, PTC stayed resilient. Utilizing the unpredictability and adaptability of the disabled experience became their advantage, PTC created accessible and inclusive online programming for artists and audiences. [12] Along with the launch reading salons which gave Phamaly actors the change to read classic and contemporary works, the art company also developed a web series known as Rewrite- which views classics from a disability perspective. [12]

Phamaly success stories

Two members of Phamaly – Regan Linton and Jason Dorwart – have gone on to earn, respectively, a Master of Fine Arts degree in acting and a PhD in Theatre and Drama, both through the University of California, San Diego. [17] [18] In fact, Regan Linton was the first actor in a wheelchair admitted into this MFA at UCSD. [19] Linton went on to become the first wheelchair user to be cast as a company member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and currently serves as Phamaly's Artistic Director. Dorwart is now assistant professor of Global Theatre Studies at Hong Kong Baptist University after spending four years as visiting assistant professor of theater at Oberlin College. [17] In addition, Laura Alsum, one of the original Vox Phamalia actors/writers, completed the Masters program for screenwriting at UCLA where she won the Tribeca Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize for Screenwriting. [20] Long-time Phamaly member Lucy Roucis was featured doing her stand-up comedy act about Parkinson's disease in the 2010 romantic comedy Love & Other Drugs . [21] Long-time company member Jeremy Palmer earned his MFA in Screenwriting from the University of Southern California and went on to win the Tribeca Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize in 2018.

Inclusion

As PTC values access and inclusion, the company provides accommodations that are not often seen in other theatre companies. [5] For example, during the audition process, PTC provides actors with materials in braille and American Sign Language upon request, viewing events to explore the space, and neutral readers to assist in cold readings. [22] In addition, PTC hosts post-show talkbacks with their audiences where actors laugh and connect with audiences who feel uncomfortable or unfamiliar with disabilities. Through the process of show production, accommodations have created a humanizing and de-sensitized space for disability. [22]

In addition, PTC manipulates the stage in innovative ways to place disability onstage. Urinetown, the Musical! is a prime example of the "provocative" productions which showcase the actors' differences and capabilities. For example, Steve Wilson's decision to incorporate a blind chorus line during the song "Mr. Cladwell," acquired a new meaning to an "ensemble" as performers helped one another to enter, exit, and change positions. [23] The scenic design of the stage was also carefully and creatively calculated for the disabled actors, reimagining artistically the stigmatization of disability. By considering sight-line issues, the designers painted two traps with the prominent wheelchair logo, acting as a public pay toilet. [23] As actors rolled over the traps, they were lowered to be in partial view of the audience to "empty their colostomy bag," thereby commenting on the daily realities and privacy concerns of those with physical disabilities. [23]

Production history (1990–2019)

Previous Phamaly productions have included: [24]

Related Research Articles

<i>Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat</i> Musical by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is a sung-through musical with lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on the character of Joseph from the Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly; their first collaboration, The Likes of Us, written in 1965, was not performed until 2005. Its family-friendly retelling of Joseph, familiar themes, and catchy music have resulted in numerous stagings. According to the owner of the copyright, the Really Useful Group, by 2008 more than 20,000 schools and amateur theatre groups had staged productions.

<i>Urinetown</i> Satirical comedy musical

Urinetown: The Musical is a satirical comedy musical that premiered in 2001, with music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Hollmann and Greg Kotis, and book by Kotis. It satirizes the legal system, capitalism, social irresponsibility, populism, bureaucracy, corporate mismanagement, and municipal politics. The show also parodies musicals such as The Threepenny Opera, The Cradle Will Rock and Les Misérables, and the Broadway musical itself as a form.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denver Center for the Performing Arts</span> Set of concert halls within the larger Denver Performing Arts Complex

The Denver Center for the Performing Arts(DCPA) is an organization in Denver, Colorado which provides a showcase for live theatre, a nurturing ground for new plays, a preferred stop on the Broadway touring circuit, acting classes for the community and rental facilities. It was founded in 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamai Loman</span> Dutch singer (born 1986)

Jamai Johannes Loman is a Dutch singer, musical actor and presenter who was the winner of the first series of Idols, the Dutch variant of Pop Idol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Avenue Theater</span> Building in CO, USA

The Avenue Theater, located at 417 E. 17th Avenue in Downtown Denver, Colorado has been a producing comedies, musicals, and plays as well as improvisational comedy for 39 years. It is home to the World Humor Organization (WHO) and Chicken Lips Entertainment

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Denver Performing Arts Complex</span> Entertainment complex in Colorado, U.S.

The Denver Performing Arts Complex in Denver, Colorado, is one of the largest performing arts centers in the United States. The DCPA is a four-block, 12-acre (49,000 m2) site containing ten performance spaces with over 10,000 seats connected by an 80-foot-tall (24 m) glass roof. It is home to a professional theater company and also hosts Broadway musical tours, contemporary dance and ballet, chorales, symphony orchestras, opera productions, and pop stars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colorado Shakespeare Festival</span> Shakespeare festival in Boulder, Colorado

The Colorado Shakespeare Festival is a professional acting company in association with the University of Colorado at Boulder. It was established in 1958, making it one of the oldest such festivals in the United States, and has roots going back to the early 1900s.

Rick Crom is an American actor, singer, comedian, lyricist, and composer. He has appeared in numerous television shows and specials, Broadway and off-Broadway musicals, as well as written several off-Broadway revues, and has 3 times been nominated for the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lyrics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Karl</span> American actor and singer (born 1974)

Andy Karl is an American actor and singer. He is best known for performing in musical theatre specifically musicals adapted from successful movies. He has received several accolades including a Laurence Olivier Award and a Drama Desk Award as well as nominations for three Tony Awards. He is also known for playing Sgt. Mike Dodds on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit from 2015 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craig Hospital</span> Hospital in Colorado, United States

Craig Hospital is a neurorehabilitation and research hospital in Englewood, Colorado specializing in spinal cord injury (SCI) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) rehabilitation and research. Craig is a 93-bed, private, not-for-profit, free-standing long-term acute care and rehabilitation hospital that provides a comprehensive system of inpatient and outpatient medical care, rehabilitation, neurosurgical rehabilitative care, and long-term follow-up services. Half of Craig's patients come from outside of Colorado each year, and in the past four years Craig has treated patients from all 50 states and several foreign countries. At any given time, the staff at Craig treats approximately 55 inpatients with spinal cord injuries, 30 with traumatic brain injuries, and 50-60 outpatients. Craig provides housing for out-of-state families and outpatients, including the first 30 days free for families of new inpatients.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Cassidy (actor)</span> American actor (born 1962)

Patrick William Cassidy is an American actor and singer best known for his roles in musical theatre and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BoHo Theatre</span> Chicago-based theatre company

BoHo Theatre was a non-profit Chicago-based theatre company. Founded in 2003, their productions garnered praise, were favored with Joseph Jefferson Award recommendations and citations for several productions. The company was founded by artistic director Stephen Genovese until 2010, when he was succeeded by artistic director Peter Marston Sullivan. The final artistic director for Boho was the Jeff Award winning director, and Paramount Theatre lead actor, Stephen Schellhardt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buntport Theater</span> Non-profit professional theater group based in Denver, Colorado

Buntport Theater Company is a non-profit professional theater group in Denver, Colorado. The company creates and produces original works and adaptations through a collaborative team approach without officially designated positions for writers, directors, or designers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pioneer Theatre Company</span> Professional theatre company in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

The Pioneer Theatre Company (PTC) is one of four professional theatre companies in Utah, and the only fully professional theatre in Salt Lake City, contracting with union members belonging to Actors' Equity Association (AEA), Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC) and United Scenic Artists (USA829). PTC was formed in 1962 and performs at the Simmons Pioneer Memorial Theatre on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City. The non-profit company produces seven plays each season, running from September to May, including classics, musicals, dramas, and comedies. The company creates its own productions on site, including costumes and scenery, while sometimes using actors and directors from out-of-state. Among a number of premieres, the company produced the nation's first regional premiere of Les Misérables in 2007, giving 82 sold out performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disability in the arts</span> Inclusive practices involving disability

Disability in the arts is an aspect within various arts disciplines of inclusive practices involving disability. It manifests itself in the output and mission of some stage and modern dance performing-arts companies, and as the subject matter of individual works of art, such as the work of specific painters and those who draw.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Practical Theatre Company</span>

The Practical Theatre Company is a Chicago-based theatre company founded by Northwestern University students and active throughout the 1980s before returning to the stage in 2010. Its productions have included new plays, satiric agitprop, rock and roll events, and a series of successful improvisational comedy revues. The PTC, whose motto is "Art is Good", is notable for the fact that the entire cast of its 1982 improvisational comedy revue, The Golden 50th Anniversary Jubilee was hired by Saturday Night Live.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">G. William Oakley</span> American actor

G. William "Bill" Oakley, Jr. was a theatrical producer-director-actor and seminal figure in the revival of early American theater, melodrama and vaudeville with theaters in Colorado and Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Orvedahl</span> American comedian (born 1976)

Andrew Orvedahl is an American comedian best known for his work with The Grawlix, a comedy trio consisting of Orvedahl, Adam Cayton-Holland and Ben Roy, and the TruTV scripted comedy television show Those Who Can't. As a member of The Grawlix, Orvedahl has starred in a series of Funny or Die video releases written and directed by The Nix Bros and the Grawlix Saves The World, a podcast on the Starburns Audio Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bonfils Memorial Theatre</span> United States historic place, in Denver, Colorado

Bonfils Memorial Theatre, also known as Lowenstein Theatre, was a community theatre in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Denver, Colorado, which operated from 1953 to 1986. Built by Denver philanthropist Helen Bonfils in memory of her parents, Frederick Gilmer Bonfils and Belle Barton Bonfils, it staged plays, operas, concerts, films, lectures, and television shows, presenting more than 400 productions. In 1985 it was renamed the Lowenstein Theatre in honor of its longtime producer, Henry Lowenstein. The theatre closed in 1986 and sat vacant for two decades. It was purchased in 2005 by Charles Woolley of the St. Charles Town Company, which renovated and reopened the building in 2006 as a Tattered Cover bookstore. The theatre building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brenton Weyi</span> American essayist, playwright and poet of DR-Congolese descent

Brenton Weyi is an American essayist, thinker, playwright, poet, and humanist. He is an inaugural Playwright Fellow at Denver Center for the Performing Arts as well as a lead organizer for TEDxBoulder—one of the largest global TEDx events. He is known for cross-disciplinary creativity as well as for his upcoming musical, My Country, My Country

References

  1. 1 2 Moore, John (December 30, 2015). "2015 True West Award: Phamaly Theatre Company's 'Cabaret'". DCPA Newscenter. Denver Center for Performing Arts. Archived from the original on March 20, 2016.
  2. ↑ "About Phamaly". Phamaly. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "History & Awards". Phamaly Theatre Company. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  4. 1 2 "About Phamaly Theatre Company". Phamaly Theatre Company. Retrieved 2022-05-03.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Wolf, Stephanie. "How The Crushed Dreams Of 5 Disabled Actors Became The Phamaly Theatre Company". Colorado Public Radio. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  6. ↑ "Art Talk with Phamaly Theatre Artistic Director Regan Linton". www.arts.gov. Retrieved 2022-06-06.
  7. 1 2 Bowser, Betty Ann (August 29, 2006). "Denver Theater Featuring Disabled Cast Gains Popularity". PBS Newshour. Archived from the original on January 19, 2011. Transcript.
  8. 1 2 Crosetto, Alice; Garcha, Rajinder; Horan, Mark (2009). Disabilities and Disorders in Literature for Youth: A Selective Annotated Bibliography for K-12 . Scarecrow Press. pp.  263–4. ISBN   978-0-8108-6962-2.
  9. ↑ "There's Still Hope for Dreams, A PHAMALy Story". Denver Film Society. Archived from the original on March 27, 2016. Retrieved March 27, 2016.
  10. ↑ Calhoun, Patricia (July 11, 2008). "Oh, Henry! A Rewarding Night of Theater Awards". Westword. Archived from the original on March 26, 2016.
  11. ↑ Reiffenrath, Tanja (2016). Memoirs of Well-Being. doi:10.1515/9783839435465. ISBN   978-3-8394-3546-5. S2CID   217271323.[ page needed ]
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 "How Denver's internationally-known Phamaly Theatre is surviving the coronavirus crisis". The Denver Post. 2020-08-14. Retrieved 2022-05-02.
  13. 1 2 3 Floro BAS. Enlarging the place: Adapting the community theatre rehearsal process for elderly persons, persons with mobility impairment, and persons with autism spectrum disorder. [Order No. 10823621]. State University of New York at Buffalo; 2018.
  14. 1 2 Moore, John (October 28, 2011). ""Vox" is PHAMALy's knee-slapping sketch comedy – knees optional". Denver Post. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011.
  15. 1 2 Moore, John (December 24, 2011). "2011 Denver Post Ovation Award Winners". Denver Post. Archived from the original on January 14, 2012.
  16. 1 2 Veltman, Chloe (April 24, 2014). "Weekend Arts Roundup". Colorado Public Radio. Archived from the original on April 28, 2014.
  17. 1 2 Holicky, Richard (May 1, 2015). "The Transformation of Regan Linton". New Mobility . Archived from the original on June 16, 2015.
  18. ↑ "About Jason Dorwart". UC San Diego. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015.
  19. ↑ Sefel, John (October 2012). "Finding PHAMALy". Stage Directions. 25 (10): 34–36. ProQuest   1170957010.
  20. ↑ Guerrasio, Jason (February 28, 2014). "Get To Know Sloan Student Grand Jury Prize Winner Laura Alsum". Tribeca Film Institute. Archived from the original on April 7, 2014.
  21. ↑ Moore, John (November 13, 2010). "Parkinson's comedy has Denver actress riding high". Denver Post. Archived from the original on March 27, 2016.
  22. 1 2 McRae, Talleri A. (2018). "The Aesthetics of Inclusion". Theatre, Performance and Change. pp. 247–252. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-65828-5_26. ISBN   978-3-319-65827-8.
  23. 1 2 3 Thornberry, Rebecca Stone (2008). "Urinetown, the Musical! (review)". Theatre Journal. 60 (2): 278–280. doi:10.1353/tj.0.0021. S2CID   192076356. Project MUSE   240552.
  24. ↑ "Past productions". Phamaly. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
  25. ↑ Lillie, Jim. "Step Right Up". Westword. Archived from the original on February 18, 2005.
  26. ↑ Wittman, Juliet (June 12, 2008). "Side Show". Westword. Archived from the original on March 27, 2016.
  27. ↑ Kleinman, Jessica (September 10, 2012). "Phamaly Presents: Cyrano de Bergerac". Theatre. 303 Magazine. Retrieved November 15, 2014.
  28. ↑ Kennedy, Lisa (December 22, 2013). "Best of 2013: The 10 highest theater notes that made a critic happy to be watching". Archived from the original on December 24, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.