At the Intersection of Disability and Drama : A Critical Anthology of New Plays

"Cripples ain't supposed to be happy" sings Anita Hollander, balancing on her single leg and grinning broadly. This moment--from her multi-award-winning one-woman show, Still Standing --captures the essence of this theatre anthology. Hollander and nineteen other playwright-performers craftily subvert and smash stereotypes about how those within the disability community should look, think, and behave. Utilizing the often-conflicting tools of Critical Disability Studies and Medical Humanities, these plays and their accompanying essays approach disability as a vast, intersectional demographic, which ties individuals together less by whatever impairment, difference, or non-normative condition they experience, and more by their daily need to navigate a world that wasn't built for them. From race, gender, and sexuality to education, dating, and pandemics, these plays reveal there is no aspect of human life that does not, in some way, intersect with disability. "Cripples ain't supposed to be happy" sings Anita Hollander, balancing on her single leg and grinning broadly. This moment--from her multi-award-winning one-woman show, Still Standing--captures the essence of this theatre anthology. Hollander and nineteen other playwright-performers craftily subvert and smash stereotypes about how those within the disability community should look, think, and behave. Utilizing the often-conflicting tools of Critical Disability Studies and Medical Humanities, these plays and their accompanying essays approach disability as a vast, intersectional demographic, which ties individuals together less by whatever impairment, difference, or non-normative condition they experience, and more by their daily need to navigate a world that wasn't built for them. From race, gender, and sexuality to education, dating, and pandemics, these plays reveal there is no aspect of human life that does not, in some way, intersect with disability. Cover 1 Acknowledgments 8 Foreword 10 Preface 14 Introduction 20 Part One. First Person Singular 32 STIFF 33 The 2018 Invisible Man 51 An Open Letter to the Usher at the Theatre Who Asked Me if I Was “the Sick Girl” 57 RPM 65 Whack Job 75 I Come from Hoarders 92 A Performer’s Monologue 113 Why This Monologue Isn’t Memorized (A True Story) 117 Tinted 123 Invisidisability 137 Crooked 147 Last Train In 159 Part Two. Past Is Present 178 The Last Reading of Charlotte Cushman 179 Tales of My Uncle 202 Gramp 209 Dyscalculia 242 Part Three. Alone, Together 270 The Brechtones 271 Hiccups 299 Ex/centric Fixations Project 326 About the Contributors 398 Index 404 Drama,General,Social Science,People With Disabilities "'Cripples ain't supposed to be happy' sings Anita Hollander, balancing on her single leg and grinning broadly. This moment-from her multi-award-winning one-woman show, Still Standing-captures the essence of this theatre anthology. Hollander and nineteen other playwright-performers craftily subvert and smash stereotypes about how those within the disability community should look, think, and behave. Utilizing the often-conflicting tools of Critical Disability Studies and Medical Humanities, these playsand their accompanying essays approach disability as a vast, intersectional demographic, which ties individuals together less by whatever impairment, difference, or non-normative condition they experience, and more by their daily need to navigate a world that wasn't built for them. From race, gender, and sexuality to education, dating, and pandemics, these plays reveal there is no aspect of human life that does not, in some way, intersect with disability"-Provided by publisher