Performers with disabilities bring provocative cabaret to Winnipeg stage

It's called disability theatre, but Sick + Twisted's artistic director says it's theatre "for anyone with a body."

This weekend, the relatively new production company will bring Lame Is to the stage – a cabaret with performances from about a dozen artists with disabilities.

"You're seeing bodies on stage that you never get to see but also the performances are so courageous and truthful and raw. That kind of truth and that kind of courage isn't something we see very often on stage," said Debbie Patterson.

It's the second-ever show for the company, which Patterson started last June.

The cabaret will have everything from performance art to comedy, including a piece from Dan Augusta, who strips down on stage to a John Mayer song and invites the audience to ask him questions about his body.

"When I used a cane, I had a lot of complete strangers ask me, 'Why do you have that?'" he said. "I had people ask if they could pray for me. I always chafed at these questions … This piece is a way for me to own those questions rather than let them happen to me."

Augusta has an undiagnosed chronic immune system disorder that has affected his physical appearance.

"There are a number of readily apparent scars or features that will be immediate targets for questions," he said. "It's admittedly a little scary."

Augusta has been on stage since he was 10 years old, starting at the Manitoba Theatre for Young People, and now, the 28-year-old performs regularly in independent productions and Winnipeg Fringe Festival plays.

"The piece very much does tap into issues of self-image and self-esteem. It's been sort of a process of learning to accept that these things about my body are likely permanent," he said. "I'm not trying to say with this piece that you should never ask questions … What I do want people to think about is the time and place they ask these questions and of whom they ask them."

'A piece of me that wishes she was still up on stage'

Angela Chalmers has a performance art and multimedia piece in the cabaret that attempts to transform her body into a national park.

"I worked professionally as an actor for 15 years, had a home invasion and my life flipped upside down in a matter of a day. For the last eight years I have been living with a disability as a result because I was very badly injured," she said.

The ensuing "poking and prodding" from doctors is what inspired the piece, she said.

Now, Chalmers works as a documentary producer and said having to transition out of acting due to the physical demands was extremely difficult.

"It would be a lie if I didn't acknowledge that there's a piece of me that wishes she was still up on stage on a regular basis," she said. "When this came about and Debbie started talking about it, it seemed like the one place where, if I am having a difficult day, that's going to be OK because everybody else in the room understands what that means."

Patterson said she wanted to start the company for exactly that reason.

"There aren't a lot of other performers with disabilities who are working in this country," she said. "I wanted to find a way to provide opportunities for people to do performances and also to train and develop as artists."

Lame Is has two showings this weekend at the Asper Centre for Theatre and Film.

Next, Sick + Twisted will unveil a larger-scale theatre production involving end of life choices.