Tidings . . . from the Seasonally Affected

Encore Studio for the Performing Arts is a Madison theater group that bills itself as Wisconsin’s only professional theater company for people with disabilities. Their mission states, “Encore actors develop their creative skills and talents to communicate, through the performing arts, a challenging and authentic message about disability and culture.”

An example of working toward that goal is the unusual holiday season play, Tidings . . . from the Seasonally Affected. This is not It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s a look at the lives of several characters who experience more than one kind of seasonal affective disorder. According to founder and Artistic Director, Kelsy Schoenhaar, for disabled people it is “ . . . not necessarily a vacation, the holidays.”

The play takes place in Sycamore, Illinois in 1977, a time known in the human services field as deinstitutionalization, when individuals were released from mental health and other institutions in staggering numbers. Many became homeless, some became integrated into the larger society, and many moved into group homes.. Tidings follows the story of a character who moved to a group home during that period. It shows how several characters are affected by the holidays.

Schoenhaar says that their audiences typically discover that “they find similarities and not so many differences,” when they watch the troupe’s disabled actors perform. She says that the actors “have different disabilities” and that “the work we do is written to our actors . . . to the absolute height of their abilities.”

Tidings . . . from the Seasonally Affected opens on November 30 and runs through December 15 at the Bartell Theater, 113 East Mifflin Street. Call (608) 661-9696 x 6 for reservations or more information about performances. For more information about Encore Studio for the Performing Arts go to www.encorestudio.org.