Kirsty Johnston, a disability performance scholar from the University of British Columbia, will offer a talk entitled \u201cCreeps<\/i>\u00a0and the Critics: disability theatre\u2019s challenges for journalism.\u201d Recently produced in both Seattle (2014) \u00a0and Vancouver (2016), David Freeman\u2019s 1971 New York Drama Desk award winning play\u00a0Creeps\u00a0<\/i>has posed significant critical challenges for both artists and critics. The play is important for disability theatre and performance scholars not least because it is the first offered by Victoria Ann Lewis in her landmark 2006 collection,\u00a0Beyond Victims and Villains: Contemporary Plays by Disabled Playwrights<\/i>. Emphasizing Freeman\u2019s pioneering decision in\u00a0Creeps<\/i>\u00a0to feature many different disabled characters in cahoots and argument together, Lewis argues that\u00a0Creeps<\/i>\u00a0\u201cprematurely [bore] theatrical witness to wrongs that would not find political analysis and advocacy until later in the decade\u201d (xxxiv). The recent staged readings and productions have generated complex artistic and critical responses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kirsty Johnston, a disability performance scholar from the University of British Columbia, will offer a talk entitled \u201cCreeps and the Critics: disability theatre\u2019s challenges for journalism.\u201d Recently produced in both Seattle (2014) and Vancouver (2016), David Freeman\u2019s 1971 New York Drama Desk award winning play Creeps has posed significant critical challenges for both artists and critics. The play is important for disability theatre and performance scholars not least because it is the first offered by Victoria Ann Lewis in her landmark 2006 collection, Beyond Victims and Villains: Contemporary Plays by Disabled Playwrights. Emphasizing Freeman\u2019s pioneering decision in Creeps to feature many different disabled characters in cahoots and argument together, Lewis argues that Creeps \u201cprematurely [bore] theatrical witness to wrongs that would not find political analysis and advocacy until later in the decade\u201d (xxxiv). The recent staged readings and productions have generated complex artistic and critical responses.<\/p>\n