From 
Del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
TwitThis
The Cause: Physically Handicapped Amateur Musical Actor's League
Denver, CO -- Twenty years ago, disabled students Teri Westerman, Kathleen Traylor, Gregg Vigil, and Kevin Ahl were told by their teacher to give up on their acting dreams. No director would want to hire a disabled performer, the teacher said. Fueled by their teacher's lack of confidence, the group decided to create their own theater company where disabilities were not a factor. They called their group PHAMALY (pronounced family), which stands for Physically Handicapped Amateur Musical Actor's League.
In their first production, Guys and Dolls, actors had to play numerous roles due to the lack of people in the troupe. PHAMALY went out onto the streets to recruit both physically and developmentally disabled people to get involved in their new theater company. Since then, they have recruited more than 40 actors which a range of physical, mental, emotional, and learning disabilities.
As the numbers grew, so did the productions and soon, they were embraced by the "regular" theater community. Theatergoers sometimes had trepidation about attending a play with only disabled actors. But after five minutes, it was easy to forget the actors were not from "traditional" theater. Twenty-two performances and numerous awards later, PHAMALY has dedicated itself to "producing traditional theater in nontraditional ways." The production company will celebrate its twentieth anniversary in 2009. To celebrate, it will perform Steel Magnolias and Man of La Mancha.
To learn more about PHAMALY, please visit http://phamaly.org
-- Submitted by Mickey Axtell-Mauck
Advertisement 
