Selected Readings on Accessible & Equitable Theater in Los Angeles
"Hands like starfish/Feet like moons: Disabled Women’s Theatre Collectives" from Women, Collective Creation, and Devised Performance by Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva (Editor); Scott Proudfit (Editor)Women, Collective Creation, and Devised Performance by ISBN: 9781137603272Date: 2016-08-30This chapter presents three case studies of disabled women’s collective theatre practice: the Other Voices Women’s Workshop (Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles) which Lewis founded in 1982; Cheryl Marie Wade with Wry Crips (Oakland, 1985–1989); and AXIS Dance Theatre (Oakland, 1987–present).
- "Legitimate: Los Angeles Theater Embraces Needs Of Deaf. Hearing-Impaired" / by Marie Saxon Silverman
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Variety, 1986-01-08, Vol.321 (11), p.227 - "Troupe Lets Deaf In on the Action Theater: Renowned National Theatre of the Deaf lifts curtain on live performance for the hearing-impaired" / by Laura Michelis
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The Los Angeles Times: Orange County Edition, 1990-10-05 - "Tango treads: Joy Mincey Powell brings the art of wheelchair dance to Los Angeles" / by Anne Kelly SaxenmeyerBack stage West (2000), 2002-09-19, Vol.9 (38), p.4
- "Art and Activism: Pioneering theater artists with disabilities" / Interviews conducted by Kathy Cowan and Esther Ehrilich in 2002 and 2003Bancroft Library. Regional Oral History Office, issuing body.; Berkeley, California : Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, 2002-2003.
- "Waitin’ for the Light to Shine: Musicals and Disability" / by Raymond Knapp, et al.
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The Oxford Handbook of Music and Disability Studies, 2015-12-10. - "Hearing Difference across Theatres: Experimental, Disability, and Deaf Performance"
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Theatre journal (Washington, D.C.), 2006-10-01, Vol.58 (3), p.417-436 - "Cornerstone Theater Company's Justice Cycle" / by Anne García-Romero
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TheatreForum (La Jolla, San Diego, Calif.), 2010, Vol.38 (38), p.47-59.
Selected Dissertations
- Other Voices, 1982-2000: Claiming Community, the Dilemma of Disability and Difference in the People's Theater / by Victoria Ann Lewis.Dissertation (Ph.D)--University of California, Los Angeles 2000.
- Choreographing the New Supercrip: Contemporary Performances of Gender, Embodiment and Disability / by Anne Currier Tucker.Dissertation (M.A.)--University of California, Los Angeles 2007.
Theater & Artistic Practices
Disability and Theatre by ISBN: 9781138288966Date: 2017-07-20Disability and Theatre: A Practical Manual for Inclusion in the Arts is a step-by step manual on how to create inclusive theatre, including how and where to find actors, how to publicize productions, run rehearsals, act intricate scenes like fights and battles, work with unions, contracts, and agents, and deal with technical issues. This practical information was born from the author's 16 years of running the first inclusive theatre company in New York City, and is applicable to any performance level: children's theatre, community theatre, regional theatre, touring companies, Broadway, and academic theatre.
Theatre and Disability by ISBN: 9781137605719Date: 2017-07-27This text examines the complex relationship between theatre and disability, bringing together a wide variety of performance examples in order to explore theatrical disability through the conceptual frameworks of disability as spectacle, narrative, and experience.
- "Activating the Past: Performing Disability Rights in the Classroom" / by Victoria Lewis & Sara Kishi Wolf
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Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies, 2018, Vol.12 (2), p.185-201 - "Taking ADA From the Page to the Stage" / by John LoeppkyAmerican Theater, March 26, 2021
- List of Entertainment Venues with Accommodations for Patrons with Hearing LossList of venues in Southern California and Los Angeles that have taken steps to provide accessibility to patrons with hearing loss. List via AmazingHearing.net
Local Spotlight: Deaf West Theatre
- "From the Archives: Deaf West Theatre's Signs of Community" / by DJ KursNational Endowment for the Arts. Oct 24, 2016
- "Singing, and Signing, Beethoven’s ‘Fidelio’ in Los Angeles" / by Adam NagourneyThe New York Times, April 13, 2022.
The Los Angeles Philharmonic and Deaf West Theater are working on an innovative production conceived for both hearing and deaf operagoers. - "Deaf West Theatre and the Broadway musical: Big River and beyond" / by Jeff Calhoun, et al.Studies in musical theatre, 2015-03-01, Vol.9 (1), p.85-104
In February 2014, UCLA hosted a reunion of the cast and production team of Deaf West's Tony Award-winning production of Big River from 2004. In front of a public audience, participants in the original production reflected on the challenges and rewards of putting together a piece of musical theatre using deaf and hearing actors and incorporating new ideas about how to use American Sign Language (ASL) as the basis for choreography. - "Disabling privilege: Further reflections on Deaf West’s Big River" / by Raymond Knapp
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Studies in musical theatre , 2015, Vol.9(1), p.105-109 - Beyond hearing: An actor's process in preparing the role of Bobby from American Buffalo / by Matthew Ryan PestDissertation (M.A.)--CSULA, 2015.
Beginning in January of 2015, Pest had the privilege of working with Deaf West Theatre and California State University, Los Angeles on a co-production of David Mamet’s critically acclaimed play, American Buffalo. In this project report, Pest documents the journey of preparation and the acting process used in creating their role. This includes their preparation, research, the six-week rehearsal period, the fourteen performances, and personal reflections on the entire process.