Giving Everybody Access to Theater

PUBLISHED by Boston Metro

Every summer for one night only, Boston Center for the Arts hosts a musical featuring one of the most diverse casts in the city. The show is a product of Access to Theatre, a program involving young adults of many back-grounds, with and without disabilities and showcasing various talents.


Though the play is promoted as “accessible” for performers and audiences alike, Donna Folan, artistic director, says ATT isn’t centered around disabilities. The goal is for a diverse group of people to find a common ground, forming one “creative space” despite their differences.

After three weeks of hard work, the company, whose members range in age from 13 to 25, will perform a two-hour, original play in a fully accessible theater.

The first week of the workshop facilitates ice breakers and brainstorming, while participants bring in scripts, poems or dance routines. Suggestions from all 26 performers are included in the play, which will be ASL interpreted and audio described.
“It’s everybody’s idea, and it shows what everybody thinks of and that everybody’s a team,” says Trayvon Tennyson, 14, an ATT newcomer.

“It involves people and helps people grow in areas they haven’t experienced — adventure and new opportunities,” says Ben Kimbrel, 24, a peer leader who has been with the program for 10 years.

Tennyson says he joined ATT this summer to learn how to better interact with others. After a week, he says the group is like a family.

“If we unite and believe in each other, I think we can really pull it off,” says Tennyson. “People getting out of their wheelchairs — I’ve never seen that before. It just shows the comfort and love.”

Access to Theatre
Friday, 2 and 7:30 p.m.
Cyclorama at the Boston
Center for the Arts
539 Tremont St., Boston
MBTA: Orange line to Back Bay
Free, 617-556-4075
www.bcaonline.org