I attended a theater performance by the Improbable Theater Company, which was presented by Herberger Theater Center in their Lunchtime Theater series. The troupe is composed of various people who either are disabled or are closely associated with the disabled community. There were six people in the play with two of the six being married to people with disabilities and the other four having disabilities ranging from muscular dystrophy to cerebral palsy.
Before I went to the play I honestly didn’t know or realize exactly what the performance would entail. I knew it was a play that had a cast made up of people with disabilities and other than the title of “Cause for Celebration” I knew nothing about the play.
This play was an incredible experience that was definitely eye opening. The play comprised of each member of the cast taking a turn with a monologue that outlined their life story and their disability. There were two men one of whom was married to a woman with spinal bifida and told his story on how they met. The other man was a mentor for a man who was in a hit and run and lost the ability to use any of his limbs as well as speech. One lady was born with muscular dystrophy and her sister died when she turned 12 from the same thing. So her whole childhood she was terrified that she would die when she turned 12. She went to high school before the ADA was passed and because there was no elevator she was forced to take her lunches in the classroom because she could not make it down to lunch and back before the bell rang. This is when she said that she first knew she was different. One of the actresses got arthritis when she was nine. It has been getting worse ever since she first got it. Now, 75% of her limbs are bionic and she was constantly cracking jokes about how she is glad she is different because it would suck to be like us and be all the same. She also said that she loves all the attentions she gets at airports when she goes through the scanner. She was very lighthearted and showed me how to make the best of a tough situation.
The third lady had what she called a hidden disability. She had memory problems and read her lines from her script, as she explained, because she had no short term memory. She said she was constantly being judges because she had very bad balance problems that caused people to look down on her for being drunk. The final monologue was done by the lady with cerebral palsy. She could not talk at all and humorously tried to speak with her voice and then proceeded to talk with her computer. Finally she had the director of the play, D’lores Goldsmith come out and tell her story. The highlights of her life were publishing her book as well as speaking at the ASU graduation and receiving her first ever standing ovation by thousands of people for her accomplishments.
It was amazing to me the trials and tribulations these people had to go through in order to just try and do some of the things the rest of us do without thinking. They were all so happy and content in their life station that it made me think how ungrateful I am when I cannot have the things I want and when I have to work extra hours to make rent. Things like that get me all bent out of shape and now when I stop and realize how stupid it is for me to act like that when they are always smiling and always moving forward in their life and their hurdles are so much more than anything I will ever have to deal with.
This play, and not necessarily the acting, effects or the script, but their stories told in a dramatic way absolutely floored me. I knew there were people out there who were disadvantaged but seeing them in front of me and hearing their stories motivated me to take advantage of the blessings I have in my own life such as being able to walk, remember what I had for breakfast and the ability to speak. Professionally as well as personally I feel like I have been given a gift. Even though I have had it my whole life I have definitely taken it for granted and need to learn to use it to help others. After the performance I spoke with D’lores about got her involved in working with people who have disabilities because through this play and this class I have been motivated to try and get involved with the disabled community. D’lores said that she knew someone who became disabled through a car accident and that is what motivated her to transfer her acting talents from traditional theater to improbable theater.
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