A Brief Overview

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According to the 2000 census, there are nearly a million persons with disabilities in Missouri, which has a population 5,595,211.

Here are the figures:

Persons age 5-20 years with a disability ~ 103,038
Persons age 21-64 years with a disability ~ 567,320
Persons age 65-older with a disability ~ 303,279
Total ~ 973,637

That is 17.4% of the population.

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With both disabled and non-disabled participants, from 18-70 years of age, the Project endeavors to empower individuals, honor their stories, spark imaginations, foster community and enhance public awareness about disability.

Under the award-winning direction of Joan Lipkin, Artistic Director of That UPPITY Theatre Company, and with guest artists, we are creating a multi-disciplinary piece that explores such areas as architectural accessibility, transportation, sexuality, health care, and societal attitudes.

Much of our work is based in humor.

We also offer a flexible touring program of various theatrical scenes that can be tailored to meet the specific needs of corporations, educational institutions, civic and religious groups, conferences and festivals.

Diversity In Action

Our group is diverse in race, ethnicity, class, occupation, education, religion, sexual orientation, physical ability, and performance experience.

We share an interest in playing and creating together, concern about the perception of disability in our culture, commitment to the value of a group process, and desire to make an innovative theatrical public performance.

Some of the challenges facing our participants have included spinal cord injury, blindness, Spina Bifida, Muscular Dystrophy, Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, AIDS, alcoholism, asthma, epilepsy, cancer, Polio, stroke, amputation and depression.

When & Where We Meet

We meet most Saturday mornings from 10am to 1pm at The Washington University School of Medicine Program in Occupational Therapy, 4444 Forest Park Blvd., in the Central West End.

This is a welcoming, centrally located and accessible space, and we are grateful to the school for sharing their resources.

We also schedule occasional evening rehearsals when we have a major upcoming engagement.

Other Related Projects

In order to make our work available to as many people as possible, we are creating a documentary to air on cable television and for other distribution.

We are also photographing our work in progress.

Ideally we hope to develop a traveling photo-essay that chronicles the experiences and concerns of our group.