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Ping Chong makes invisible visible

Disabled Colorado Springs residents take center stage By John Moore Denver Post Theater Critic Posted: 10/02/2009 01:00:00 AM MDT Ping Chong addressing the audience at his welcoming greeting for "Invisible Voices." Cast members Sandy Lahman, Kevin Pettit, Rebecca Shields, and Kelly Ann Tobin can be seen at the bottom right. (Tom Kimmell) Ping Chong knows what it's like to be an "other." What he didn't realize growing up in New York's self-enclosed Chinese community was just how much togetherness he would eventually discover in a world full of otherness. American Indians. Urban youths. Refugees. The displaced. Anyone born into one culture now living in another. "Like many people in this country who come from another culture, you have this kind of double vision when living within a majority culture," said Chong, a first-generation immigrant who, through his 35-year-old theater company, has dedicated his life to giving voice to the unheard. His "Undesirable Elements" is an ongoing series of community- specific oral-history stage works examining the Ping Chong's oral-history play interweaves the stories of six real Colorado Springs people with disabilities a minority unusual in that it gains new members every day. (TheatreWorks )lives of those living, by choice or circumstance, outside the mainstream. He's created more than 40 innovative productions around the world, the latest of which is "Invisible Voices: New Perspectives on Disability," now playing through Oct. 17 in Colorado Springs. Voices like Billy Allen, a deaf high school teacher. Kevin Pettit, a physics professor living with a traumatic brain injury. Kelly Tobin, an amputee with skeletal dysplasia — and a mother of two. They are among the six Colorado Springs residents Chong and his team selected to be heard in "Invisible Voices," which weaves their very personal stories into a multidisciplinary theater piece performed by the six themselves. Another is Sandy Lahmann, a former special-ed teacher with multiple sclerosis. "I'm excited because . . . it's not about family members and service providers speaking out about what people with disabilities need," she said. "It's about people with disabilities making their own voices heard." "Invisible Voices" is a different kind of project for Chong, 63, because the disabled community spans all genders, ages and cultures — and accepts new members from the "majority culture" every day. The process began with applications from 40 local, disabled persons. Chong and his team selected 20 to interview for up to three hours each. The final ensemble of six was chosen based on how interesting and diverse their stories might be to an audience, and how the individuals (most without acting experience), might fare on a stage in terms of their audibility and comprehensibility. From there, Chong and associate director Sara Zatz continued to research each member's personal histories, sometimes going back several generations. "We cull all of this information and then essentialize it down to a script," Chong said. What results is not a sequence of six oral autobiographies. It's a real play weaving together how Ping Chong discusses his new "Invisible Voices," which runs through Oct. 17 in Colorado Springs. (Tom Kimmell)six lives have been informed by disability. "It is a storytelling form of theater, but it is highly orchestrated and structured," Chong said. The message he wants to leave is that "people with disabilities go about their daily lives like the rest of us as fully functioning members of society. They may have some challenges — but who doesn't? "In this process, you soon realize that some disabilities are visible and others aren't. There are many of us out there who have disabilities in all kinds of ways. They just aren't as easily seen. Somehow those whose disabilities are seen are more stigmatized." Chong suggests that audiences liken their artistic expectations to the experience of traveling to a new country. "The form is not necessarily familiar, but it is a new adventure," he said. "You don't know the customs or the language at first, but at the same time, you are opening up your world by doing that. "The audience always comes out feeling better about themselves, because it's really a kind of communion where people recognize each other's common humanity." And for Chong, after 35 years of bringing communities together, "I don't entirely feel as 'other' as I used to." John Moore: 303-954-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Invisible Voices: New Perspectives on Disability" Presented by Ping Cong & Company at TheatreWorks' Bon Vivant Theatre, 3955 Cragwood Drive on the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs campus. Featuring Billy Allen, Sandy Lahman, Rick Modderman, Rebecca Shields, Kevin Pettit and Kelly Tobin. Through Oct. 17. Alternating with "Our Town" at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturdays; 4 p.m. Sundays. Call 719-262-3232 or go to theatreworkscs.org for exact schedule. $15-$25. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spotlight on: Sandy Lahmann "I remain convinced the only way to make needed changes in this country to improve the lives of people with disabilities is if people with disabilities make their voices heard. And I am determined to make mine heard." — Lahmann, who plays herself. The story: New York's acclaimed Ping Chong company has come to Colorado Springs to create a new work in which six real area residents will tell their very personal stories of disability within a theatrical construct. The intrigue: "With 54 million people, the disabled are our largest, least understood and least visible minority," Lahmann said. And unlike most minority groups, "You could become a member at any time