Feature: PIPPIN at The Off-Beat Players

It is our firm belief at BroadwayWorld.com that everyone should be able to enjoy theater, as a performer, crew member, or audience member, regardless of different abilities. Thank goodness we discovered a theater group that is committed to making this happen.

This is epic. Many theater companies will have a sign language interpreter for an evening or make a production for people with sensory issues for one afternoon, but that’s not the same thing as being all-inclusive behind the scenes, on stage, and in the audience.

The Off-Beat Players officially incorporated in 2008, but prior to that, it was a small group of people who put on shows with Abilis in Greenwich, an organization that provides services and supports for people of all ages with various disabilities. The Off-Beat Players separated from Abilis to focus on building “our company with the conviction that whether on-stage, backstage, or in the audience, the power of inclusive theatre is transformational.”

Both before and since its separate incorporation, the Off-Beat Players performed at the Arch Street Center in Greenwich, which only had about 100 seats and some folding chairs when overflowing, and no real stage. They had to make do with what they had, even with their large cast. In 2018, the Off-Beat Players started to perform at the Greenwich Country Day School’s Performing Arts Center, where they can easily fit a large cast and accommodate a large audience. This move was consistent with their goal of being an inclusive theatre company for young adults with and without disabilities.

Michael Busani, co-chairman of the Off-Beat Players’ Board of Directors notes that with a company that has cast members who have more visible differences in their abilities, “the actors do a show differently regardless of the show…. They are unabashedly themselves and inhabit the characters in their way,” although not always conventionally. But it can work.

The epitome of this is when the Off-Beat Players produced Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. The performer who played the title character is blind. The director worked that into the show. Joseph felt his father’s face when they met again. It was a special connection that added to the show. “We don’t draw attention to it,” notes Busani, “but you can’t ignore it. If someone is talented, they’re talented. You can’t take that away.”

He elaborates, “Sometimes we get people who would be perfect for a role,” and then they have to adapt. For example, a performer may not be able to dance, but “you can find ways, even when there are challenges.”

This summer you can see 27 gifted actors in the perennial favorite musical Pippin. Cast members are Charlie Nogaki, Cos Defelice, Sofia Balestra, Ned Davis, Sarah Mickley, Lauren Mickley, Michelle Yoon, Harry Perlman, Gaia Szeliga, Christian Morabito, Will Smit,
Charlie Garcia, Peter Melone, Stephen Roseman, Kieran McGuire, Henry Freyer, Ingrid Imp, Luke Saggese, Amaya Guzman Barros, Tara Wighton, Emily Lewis, Alyssa Inness, Talia Marie Vasillo, Piya Sharma, Madelyn Sullivan, Sophie Yu, and Dylan Winter. And, as always, the Off-Beat Players will be performing with a live band. Although they put on one musical, usually in the summer, they are trying to branch out and do other things.

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