Founded in 2015 as an extension of Blue Butterfly Productions, TheatreX pushes artists with varying disabilities to live up to their full potential through a season of performances and two semesters of education classes. Theatre eXceptional aspires to create innovative theatre and performance art with, for, and about people with disabilities with the goal of addressing and eliminating the misconceptions and social stigmas so often placed upon these communities that inhibit their full acceptance into our society. Just as when our society excludes people with disabilities from playing a visible role in our communities, so when we exclude artists with disabilities from playing a visible role in our industry, we as an art form miss out on an opportunity to create and collaborate with an entire generation of artists with profound talent and potential. In addition, these very artists are denied not only their right to express themselves through the performing arts, but also a venue in which to practice and perfect their craft. In addition to an annual fall play with a combined cast, we will also produce one large-scale musical each summer with a cast primarily with performers with disabilities. Alongside these two yearly productions, our staff of teaching artists has been hired by our city's Parks and Recreation Department to teach introductory theatre classes and devised theatre workshops for adult artists with disabilities, as well as instructional theatre therapy classes for professional artists and teachers interested in working with these populations. In the near future, we hope to develop a relationship with the public school system that will allow our teachers to go directly into the classroom to work with the kids and teenagers of our community on eliminating the social stigmas of disability.
