When Mahalia attended her first play at the Greenbelt Arts Center (GAC), she envisioned herself on the stage reciting lines and acting out a scene. But there was a problem. The center, including the stage, was not accessible for actors in wheelchairs – like Greenbelter Mahalia.
She expressed interest in participating in Camp Encore two years ago. The three-week-long camp allows students to audition and play a role in a production. Last year, when Mahalia first participated in the camp she was able to do so because it was held at the Community Center instead of at GAC, its usual venue.
GAC’s stage is surrounded by chairs on three sides for patrons to sit and watch performances. To the right of the stage is the dressing room and beyond that is the green room, a place where actors convene before shows. For Mahalia, it wasn’t always possible for her to join her fellow actors in the dressing room. To get there, actors and crew members needed to climb stairs. That made it difficult for Mahalia to participate fully in the production.
Kate Magill Robinson, who has directed the camp’s productions for 11 years, sought to make Mahalia’s aspirations of performing in a play at the GAC a reality.
Robinson said she joined the GAC board two years ago with the thought of making the stage accessible a main priority. Her first goal was to acquire an evacuation chair for use in case of emergency. With money from the Nonprofit Recovery Grant Funds awarded to the GAC by the city, she made the purchase as the center’s first step toward becoming accessible.
She said the chair was used for the first time during a practice fire drill, and it made the process much simpler for an evacuation.
The next step was to place ramps for actors and crew members to pass from the green room to the dressing room and to the stage.
Two ramps were installed to connect all three areas, from being on stage in front of the spotlight to the set behind the curtains. Everyone is now able to get to any place they want to go. It allowed Mahalia to finally experience being an actor at the GAC, something she’s wanted to do since that first play she witnessed.
“It’s helping me, and now I think it’s going to help other people,” Mahalia said. “The ramps that were installed helped me get backstage to other areas that I wouldn’t otherwise be able to reach.”
These new features are part of the center’s effort to be inclusive. The BEE@GAC initiative promotes belonging, equity and expansion for everyone involved at the GAC and in the Greenbelt community.
“We’re not being equitable because we couldn’t have everybody on our stage. Let’s make that happen,” Robinson said. “It was a year of planning and working with different people and making sure we had a good setup and all that.”
The camp now returns to the stage at the GAC after its one-year hiatus during which it was held at the Community Center because of the accessibility challenges.
The campers are currently rehearsing for their production of Italian theater Commedia Dell’arte. Mahalia is playing the role of a soldier, something she’s excited about. The group of actors will perform on July 3.
“Seeing the new improvements for the ramps and stuff, it was really helpful,” she said. “I’m like ‘Wow, this is really possible.’ And now I’m able to fully experience it with full access.”
Matthew Neus is a student at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism interning with the Greenbelt News Review
