Inside/Out…voices from the disability community

Seven remarkable individuals…seven remarkable stories. VSA arts has commissioned Ping Chong & Company to create the world premiere of Inside/Out…voices from the disability community, a performance piece about disability in America.

First-hand experiences from the disability community are explored in this new production as part of Ping Chong & Company’s ongoing series of oral-history theater works. Exploring issues of culture and identity in America, powerful personal histories are interwoven into a script that is performed by the participants themselves, giving voice to stories that frequently go unheard.

Participants ranging in age from 23-65 were selected for their personal experience with disability:

Josh Hecht is a rising New York director whose mother had multiple sclerosis.

Monique Holt, performing artist, is an adjunct theater professor at Gallaudet University.

Christopher Imbrosciano is a young actor with cerebral palsy who apprenticed at the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

Zazel-Chavah O’Garra is a dancer (Alvin Ailey), cover model (Essence), and disability advocate who is a brain tumor survivor.

Vivian Cary Jenkins is a former healthcare administrator who became legally blind later in life.

Matthew S. Joffe is an actor as well as director of the Office for Students with Disabilities at a New York community college. He was born with Moebius Syndrome.

Blair Wing has her MFA in acting from Ohio State University. She was paralyzed in a car accident at the age of 18.