Chicago Children’s Theatre’s ‘This Ability’ streaming play puts youth with disabilities in the middle of a superhero adventure

Chicago Tribune - 12/11/2021

The Chicago Children’s Theatre (CCT) has been making its mark with youth with special needs, offering programming for those with developmental disabilities, those on the autism spectrum, the visually-impaired and hearing impaired communities for years.

In 2019, their “X Marks the Spot,” production allowed young audience members with low or impaired vision, to interact with the play through the other senses outside of vision. Now two years into the pandemic, the organization has turned disability into “This Ability,” a play that centers youth with disabilities in a superhero adventure.

On a November weekend, actors Kevin Smith, Kayla Casiano, and Holly Connor were on set in front of a green screen taking direction from co-writers Daniel Carlton and Nambi Kelley to wrap up scenes that their characters (Akeh, Moore, and Faith, respectively) were a part of.

The premise of the play (recommended for ages 6 and up): A cat celebrity escapes from O’Hare, lost on the streets of Chicago. Akeh, a young autistic person, uses the hashtag #thisability to start the search for the runaway kitty. As news spreads, Moore, a young deaf person, and Faith, a young blind person, follow Akeh’s lead and lean into their unique powers to find the feline. Every time the cat is spotted, the hashtag goes out with a video or picture and he tags it to all his online friends, so they can keep up with finding the cat.

The work features young actors with disabilities performing with animated backgrounds on film. What’s seen in real time, is transformed to look like a comic book with the help of media designer Leo Lei. The visuals and sounds of their world that is most dominant for them is the lens through which the audience views/hears/feels their individual comic book — from the point of view of their disability. Action and artwork convey the ways the heroes experience the world, challenging perceptions of what it means to be a hero.

Jacqueline Russell, Chicago Children’s Theatre’s co-founder and artistic director, said the pandemic allowed the theater to finally really work with kids with these different disabilities and put them in the spotlight, in a way that they could shine and not feel too much of a stress of live theater.

“Honestly, this is a wonderful mixture of experiences,” Russell said. “It was interesting, with the piece “X Marks the Spot,” we had people who were blind or low vision, consulting and working on the piece in different ways. But the actors, there was no one in the show, who actually was blind or low vision at the time, and we felt bad about that. I had to forgive myself and allow myself to understand that the next step will be that we will be working actually with children who are visually impaired on stage. And so this is also for me, a continuation.”

“This Ability” is the third production to emerge from Chicago Children’s Theatre’s new works incubator, the Springboard Project. In all, 15 theater artists were commissioned through CCT’s Springboard Project to conceive new ideas for original Theatre for Young Audience plays.

For Kevin Smith, 17, a Jones College Prep high school student, “This Ability” is his first play. Smith plays Akeh, an 11-year-old who identifies as “he,” and loves trains and canned pop. His character dons a quirky jacket with red accents and goggles. Smith’s mother, Jennifer Smith, enrolled him into CCT’s theater camp and he did so well that Sam Mauceri, CCT’s director of education and access programs, reached out and asked if he would be interested in having them cast him in a play.

“I was very excited about it because I know his ability as far as singing and dancing and making videos on YouTube or with his toy collection that he likes,” Jennifer Smith said. “I thought it would be perfect for him. I asked him was he interested? He said yeah, and it went from there. He was very nervous, but he worked very hard for it and I think he’s very proud of himself. I was very proud of him. Many rehearsals we were all tearing up because we were like, ‘wow, look what they can do.’”

When asked the best part of the play? Kevin said, “I use #thisability.” He said he wants to do more plays after this one.

“Seeing all of these young artists like Kevin thrive in this space together and then bring them into new opportunities like “This Ability” has just been incredible,” Mauceri said. “It’s something that I really hope that we can continue with our programming.”

Kayla Casiano, 18, is a Columbia College student, getting her fine arts degree. She plays 11-year-old Moore, who identifies as “she,” deaf. A native of the Belmont Cragin area of Chicago, she was 12 years old when the acting bug struck. Sporting an iridescent and purple superhero costume, Casiano said her interpreter at school told her about “This Ability.” Casiano is doing the voice for her character. “So that people know that I can speak as well, that deaf people can use their voice and sign at the same time,” she said.

Casiano wants the audience to walk away feeling like no matter what disability you have, you still can do whatever you want. “You can save a person’s life ... You just go ahead and do it. And you don’t let the hearing people in the world get in your way if you’re a deaf person, because nothing can block you. You can do whatever it is you want,” she said. Casiano’s costume has three symbols on it that means Deaf Power, her sugestion. The costumes in the production were designed by Sky Cubacub and customized for each actor and their disability.

Holly Connor, 16, a St. Louis resident, is visually impaired and autistic and plays Faith, an 11-year-old, who identifies as “she, they.” She’s done at least 70 plays during her performing career so far — her specialty musical theater and opera. Having started piano at six months old, singing at three and started lessons at four, Connor was performing in her first play at age 10. Connor’s mom, Katie Sears, found out about CCT’s play through social media. Sears liked the idea of “This Ability” because even though projects ask for a visually impaired character, they often cast sighted. But this work wanted a visually impaired character.

“When I read the script, I cried because it’s so spot on. And it’s just a whole different level when you’re actually playing someone with a visual impairment. I feel like she identifies with that more,” Sears said.

Connor’s excited to play piano in the play. She hopes people walk away with an understanding of interactions between people who are deaf, blind and autistic.

“Every time I do a new show, everyone includes me, so I’m spreading the awareness, acceptance and inclusion. I keep spreading it,” Connor said.

“This Ability” director Carlton has a son who is autistic. Carlton said it’s very difficult when you see children with disabilities in storylines who are generally set up as an obstacle. His dream was to change that perception from problem, to problem solver.

‘This has been a dream of mine, in terms of representation of kids with disabilities,” Carlton said. “This is the magic of CCT too — the sensitivity around conversations. We had actors who did not have these particular disabilities reading the first couple of times, and the conversation kept evolving into representation and it ended up becoming the mission. The kids — their excitement, particularly on the first day to hear and see themselves without any adjustment and make it a character. They came right into their power. And that’s a big testament to Jacqui and CCT, the disability advocates/helpers in conversation.”

“This Ability” accessibility consultant Elijah Eiler agrees.

“The thing that I’ve helped with the most is probably talking through ideas of disability inclusion and what collective access means, in a practical way,” Eiler said. “Because oftentimes, we will talk about kind of single disability access. This project is doing something very different in that it is looking at disability and accessibility in a more holistic way. Of course, that’s a process where it’s not a destination, and there’s always room for improvement. I think that the theater has done a great job with doing what they’re doing with this.”

“This Ability” will be available for viewing for free, release dates Dec. 15 for Akeh (Kevin Smith); Jan. 5 for Moore (Kayla Casiano); Jan. 19 for Faith (Holly Connor). More at chicagochildrenstheatre.org

drockett@chicagotribune.com