December 9, 2024 • 13 mins
Epic Players Theatre presents “A Christmas Carol”, December 10-15 at Theatre Row, Theatre 5, 410 W. 42nd Street in Midtown. Travis Burbee is the Associate Artistic Director of EPIC Players, a theater company created to highlight neurodivergent and autistic artists. For more, visit epicplayersnyc.org.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome and thanks for listening to Get Connected. We are
in New York's holiday station, but not the only ones
in the holiday spirit. I would like to introduce you
on this first part of Get Connected this morning to
Epic Players Theater, presenting a Christmas Carol this week Tuesday
to Sunday at Theater Row on West forty second Street.
Epic Players Theater was created to highlight neurodivergent and artistic artists.
(00:35):
Our guest is Travis Berbie, the Associate artistic director of
Epic Players. Travis, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hello, thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to
be here.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The website for more information on the show, which is
this Tuesday to Sunday theater ow again it is forty
second Street, West forty second Street in Midtown is Epic
Players NYC dot org. Before we talk about the show, Travis,
I wonder let's start talk about Epic Players the company's
mission and can you talk a little bit about its history.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, so Epic started in twenty sixteen. It was founded
by Auberytherian, our executive director, and it was really born
out of just seeing a need for accessibility in theater
and to create a platform for neurodiverse and disabled artists
to showcase their talent.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
So who are your actors, age ranges? Where do they
come from? All the things?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Our actors are from all over. We primarily are based
in New York, but we have kind of a sister
company in La now. Also, we in the Pandemic actually
did a ton of virtual programming and so now we
have members who are all over the nation.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I actually acted with one of your actors a few
years ago, twenty twenty two. I think Christine Newberry. She Yeah,
she played one of my kids in a staged reading
that we did in Brooklyn and she was really lovely.
She was really lovely, So.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, I love Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
She does a lot of work outside of I think
epic as well. And it's interesting to me. We've seen,
you know, theaters become more accessible to a wider spectrum
of audiences. What about theaters being more accessible to a
wider spectrum of actors.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
There's a lot of lack of accessibility in theater, especially
professional theater, there's not a whole lot of space for
people to be different or or maybe get accommodations that
are anything out of the ordinary. So that's a big
focus of our company. We really are trying to bridge
(02:43):
the gap between the neurodivergent acting community and the professional
theater community. That is partly done by our free educational
classes for our company members that teach theater skills and
performance skills and help folks, you know, rise to those
professional standards. But we also have paid performance opportunities, so
(03:07):
it's a chance for folks to perform and get paid
for their work while also learning all the ins and
outs of working in a professional theater and hopefully give
them all the skills that they need to go beyond
and work at other places as well.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
So since you mentioned education, in addition to being a
director with EPIC, you also head up the in school
education classes. How are your classes tailored to these artists.
What are some of the specific ways they are accessible
to the people you're working with.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
The biggest thing is knowing the people we're working with
and adjusting things to them. Accessibility doesn't have any sort
of one size fits all. It's unique and different for
each group, each person, So a big part of what
we do comes from knowing who we're working with and
really gearing things to them to ensure they're successful and
(04:00):
getting as much as they can out of the class
or lesson. Along with that, I think there's a lot
of listening and connecting. We do a lot of making
sure that we're engaging everyone all the time and really
connecting with people individually. We have in all of our
classes we have support mentors who are there who can
(04:23):
help run the class along with the lead teacher, but
are also there to kind of work with folks one
on one if they might need some more one on
one support.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I remember someone saying once that you might have up
to three directors per show.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, we typically have a lead director and then at
least two assistant directors.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
When you mentioned sort of listening to what people need,
I remember someone saying once it was an actor with autism.
He was saying, it's like it's a different accent. I
hear something one way, you hear something another way. It's
just kind of tuning into that.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah. Absolutely. I think a great example of that is
that we talk about a lot is economy of language,
So really trying to use as few words as possible
as you're teaching or directing. We often think as people,
the more we say, the clearer picture we're creating, which
(05:16):
can be true for some folks, but for a lot
of our community. The more we say, the more we add,
the more confusing something might become because there's more elements
to think about. The fewer words you can use to
say something, often the clearer your communication.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Is going to be. That's a fascinating thing that you
just said, because I had been reading recently something that
said the less we know about a subject, This is
for everybody. The less we know about a subject, the
more we tend to talk when we're trying to make
our point.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, totally makes sense.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
We're speaking with Travis Berbie. He is the Associate artistic
director of Epic Players. They are created to highlight neurodivergent
and autistic artists. Epic Theater presents their neuro inclusive rendition
of a Christmas Carol this week December tenth through fifteenth,
that's Tuesday through Sunday at Theater Row Theater five four
ten West forty second Street in Midtown. Epic Players NYC
(06:14):
dot org is the website for more information. You're listening
to get connected on one oh six point seven light FM.
I'm Mina del Rio. How does the story and the
message of a Christmas Carol connect with the mission of
the company.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
There's certainly a theme of disability in Christmas Carol. You know,
the character Tiny Tim is historically disabled. We're really coming
at the story by really letting the voices of our
actors and community shine through this story. I think it
(06:51):
is really relevant to us because it shares a message
of we're all stronger together, and when we uplift each
other and support each other other, we were able to
kind of all come to a brighter place together.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Epic in general does not do shows that are centered
around disabled characters. That is a choice, is it not.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, we we in original work, we often will have
stuff that's that speaks to the neurodiverse experience. But we
also really want to show people that, yes, roles that
are written for characters that are disabled should be played
by actors with disabilities. But also that's not all that
(07:34):
actors with disabilities can do. Our actors can also play
the lead roles that people might not historically think of
as characters who might have a disability, but there's no
reason we can't portray those characters that way. Often when
people come to our shows, they're they're just blown away
by what our actors can do on stage, because I
(07:59):
think a lot of people have a misconception about what
a nerdiverse or disabled actor might be capable of on stage,
and when they come to our shows, they see that
that's just not true, and that they can do an incredible,
incredible job and an amazing performance.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Let's also talk about opportunities that are presented. It's an
interesting stat I wanted to mention to you. So it's
thought that about twenty percent of Americans are neurodiverse to
some degree that means living with ADHD, dyslexia, autism, or touretts,
for instance, but only two percent of roles in the
entertainment industry are written for characters with a disability. Again,
(08:38):
you don't necessarily have to play a disabled character if
you are a disabled actor, But how does that strike
you on the writing side.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yeah, there certainly is a lack of representation both in
what is written for actors with disabilities, but also just
representation of actors with disabilities and of that such a
small still so often we're seeing characters that are disabled
still being played by neurotypical or able bodied actors. And
(09:09):
there's there's a saying that in the disability community that
we use a lot that is nothing about us without us,
and and it's which refers to the importance of authentic representation,
and there shouldn't be things out there that are about
the disability community that the disability community isn't involved with
(09:31):
in some way.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
To change gears for just a minute, maybe people recently
saw the company on Good Morning America. Can you talk
about that and the annual giving campaign that was featured.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, so we're in the midst of our Giving Tuesday campaign.
Our goal is to raise one hundred thousand dollars and
we're well on their way. But yeah, we're really excited
to be on Good Morning America and get that that
wide exposure. We Since Epic started, we have only grown
(10:05):
and grown and grown from year to year as we
have brought on more players, and it costs about five
five hundred a year to support one player. So this
Giving Tuesday campaign is really coore to us being able
to continue to support our actors and continue the work
that we're doing and to support all the huge waiting
(10:29):
lists we have of people who want to be involved
with Epic and we're getting to the point where we
want to keep growing, but we need the funds and
ability to do that so we're able to continue our
mission and keep supporting more and more actors.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And I think it's worth reminding people that the classes
are free. Performances of course don't cost anything, and there's
a huge staff supporting everything that goes on at Epic Players.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Exactly. It takes a village, as they say, and we
have an amazing passionate, inclusive staff that we want to
continue to have on board and work with us.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
You can find out more about ways to support Epic
Players at Epic PLAYERSNYC dot org and more about the
show coming up. Let's wrap up talking about the show,
which is a Christmas Carol this week Tuesday through Sunday
at Theater Row on forty second Street West forty second Street.
These performances are including neurodivergent actors. I assume they would
also be great for neurodivergent audiences.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yes, absolutely, I think neurodivergent disabled audiences as well as
neurotypical mainstream audiences alike.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
And what is different and special about these performances.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
We've created an original script for this show, so our
version of a Christmas Carol is totally unique and unlike
any other version of a Christmas Carol. You will see.
We really went back to the original book with our interpretation,
and then within the app also devised some theater with
(12:04):
our actors through improvs things like that, to create an
original script that is so unique and so funny. I
can't tell you how hilarious these actors are in the show.
We've been laughing our heads off every rehearsal. So I
think it's a really unique story, and you see in
(12:27):
the writing of the script how each person's voice for
their characters is really unique and so authentic to who
that actor is in the real world.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
The show is coming up this week. The shows. There's
multiple opportunities to see Epic Players Theater perform A Christmas
Carol December tenth through fifteenth. That's Tuesday through Sunday at
Theater Row Theater five at four to ten West forty
second Street in Midtown. You can find out more and
get tickets and find out ways to support Epic Players
Theater at Epic Players NYC dot org. Travis Berbie is
(13:04):
the Associate artistic director of Epic Players. Thank you for
being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Thanks so much for having me. It was great to chat.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
Welcome to Get Connected with Nina del Rio, a weekly
conversation about fitness, health and happenings in our community on
one oh six point seven Light FM.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Welcome and thanks for listening to Get Connected. We are
in New York's holiday station, but not the only ones
in the holiday spirit. I would like to introduce you
on this first part of Get Connected this morning to
Epic Players Theater, presenting a Christmas Carol this week Tuesday
to Sunday at Theater Row on West forty second Street.
Epic Players Theater was created to highlight neurodivergent and artistic artists.
(00:35):
Our guest is Travis Berbie, the Associate artistic director of
Epic Players. Travis, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
Hello, thanks so much for having me. I'm excited to
be here.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
The website for more information on the show, which is
this Tuesday to Sunday theater ow again it is forty
second Street, West forty second Street in Midtown is Epic
Players NYC dot org. Before we talk about the show, Travis,
I wonder let's start talk about Epic Players the company's
mission and can you talk a little bit about its history.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah, so Epic started in twenty sixteen. It was founded
by Auberytherian, our executive director, and it was really born
out of just seeing a need for accessibility in theater
and to create a platform for neurodiverse and disabled artists
to showcase their talent.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
So who are your actors, age ranges? Where do they
come from? All the things?
Speaker 3 (01:29):
Our actors are from all over. We primarily are based
in New York, but we have kind of a sister
company in La now. Also, we in the Pandemic actually
did a ton of virtual programming and so now we
have members who are all over the nation.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
I actually acted with one of your actors a few
years ago, twenty twenty two. I think Christine Newberry. She Yeah,
she played one of my kids in a staged reading
that we did in Brooklyn and she was really lovely.
She was really lovely, So.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Yeah, I love Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
She does a lot of work outside of I think
epic as well. And it's interesting to me. We've seen,
you know, theaters become more accessible to a wider spectrum
of audiences. What about theaters being more accessible to a
wider spectrum of actors.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
There's a lot of lack of accessibility in theater, especially
professional theater, there's not a whole lot of space for
people to be different or or maybe get accommodations that
are anything out of the ordinary. So that's a big
focus of our company. We really are trying to bridge
(02:43):
the gap between the neurodivergent acting community and the professional
theater community. That is partly done by our free educational
classes for our company members that teach theater skills and
performance skills and help folks, you know, rise to those
professional standards. But we also have paid performance opportunities, so
(03:07):
it's a chance for folks to perform and get paid
for their work while also learning all the ins and
outs of working in a professional theater and hopefully give
them all the skills that they need to go beyond
and work at other places as well.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
So since you mentioned education, in addition to being a
director with EPIC, you also head up the in school
education classes. How are your classes tailored to these artists.
What are some of the specific ways they are accessible
to the people you're working with.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
The biggest thing is knowing the people we're working with
and adjusting things to them. Accessibility doesn't have any sort
of one size fits all. It's unique and different for
each group, each person, So a big part of what
we do comes from knowing who we're working with and
really gearing things to them to ensure they're successful and
(04:00):
getting as much as they can out of the class
or lesson. Along with that, I think there's a lot
of listening and connecting. We do a lot of making
sure that we're engaging everyone all the time and really
connecting with people individually. We have in all of our
classes we have support mentors who are there who can
(04:23):
help run the class along with the lead teacher, but
are also there to kind of work with folks one
on one if they might need some more one on
one support.
Speaker 2 (04:30):
I remember someone saying once that you might have up
to three directors per show.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
Yeah, we typically have a lead director and then at
least two assistant directors.
Speaker 2 (04:40):
When you mentioned sort of listening to what people need,
I remember someone saying once it was an actor with autism.
He was saying, it's like it's a different accent. I
hear something one way, you hear something another way. It's
just kind of tuning into that.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
Yeah. Absolutely. I think a great example of that is
that we talk about a lot is economy of language,
So really trying to use as few words as possible
as you're teaching or directing. We often think as people,
the more we say, the clearer picture we're creating, which
(05:16):
can be true for some folks, but for a lot
of our community. The more we say, the more we add,
the more confusing something might become because there's more elements
to think about. The fewer words you can use to
say something, often the clearer your communication.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
Is going to be. That's a fascinating thing that you
just said, because I had been reading recently something that
said the less we know about a subject, This is
for everybody. The less we know about a subject, the
more we tend to talk when we're trying to make
our point.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Yeah, totally makes sense.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
We're speaking with Travis Berbie. He is the Associate artistic
director of Epic Players. They are created to highlight neurodivergent
and autistic artists. Epic Theater presents their neuro inclusive rendition
of a Christmas Carol this week December tenth through fifteenth,
that's Tuesday through Sunday at Theater Row Theater five four
ten West forty second Street in Midtown. Epic Players NYC
(06:14):
dot org is the website for more information. You're listening
to get connected on one oh six point seven light FM.
I'm Mina del Rio. How does the story and the
message of a Christmas Carol connect with the mission of
the company.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
There's certainly a theme of disability in Christmas Carol. You know,
the character Tiny Tim is historically disabled. We're really coming
at the story by really letting the voices of our
actors and community shine through this story. I think it
(06:51):
is really relevant to us because it shares a message
of we're all stronger together, and when we uplift each
other and support each other other, we were able to
kind of all come to a brighter place together.
Speaker 2 (07:06):
Epic in general does not do shows that are centered
around disabled characters. That is a choice, is it not.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
Yeah, we we in original work, we often will have
stuff that's that speaks to the neurodiverse experience. But we
also really want to show people that, yes, roles that
are written for characters that are disabled should be played
by actors with disabilities. But also that's not all that
(07:34):
actors with disabilities can do. Our actors can also play
the lead roles that people might not historically think of
as characters who might have a disability, but there's no
reason we can't portray those characters that way. Often when
people come to our shows, they're they're just blown away
by what our actors can do on stage, because I
(07:59):
think a lot of people have a misconception about what
a nerdiverse or disabled actor might be capable of on stage,
and when they come to our shows, they see that
that's just not true, and that they can do an incredible,
incredible job and an amazing performance.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Let's also talk about opportunities that are presented. It's an
interesting stat I wanted to mention to you. So it's
thought that about twenty percent of Americans are neurodiverse to
some degree that means living with ADHD, dyslexia, autism, or touretts,
for instance, but only two percent of roles in the
entertainment industry are written for characters with a disability. Again,
(08:38):
you don't necessarily have to play a disabled character if
you are a disabled actor, But how does that strike
you on the writing side.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yeah, there certainly is a lack of representation both in
what is written for actors with disabilities, but also just
representation of actors with disabilities and of that such a
small still so often we're seeing characters that are disabled
still being played by neurotypical or able bodied actors. And
(09:09):
there's there's a saying that in the disability community that
we use a lot that is nothing about us without us,
and and it's which refers to the importance of authentic representation,
and there shouldn't be things out there that are about
the disability community that the disability community isn't involved with
(09:31):
in some way.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
To change gears for just a minute, maybe people recently
saw the company on Good Morning America. Can you talk
about that and the annual giving campaign that was featured.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Yeah, so we're in the midst of our Giving Tuesday campaign.
Our goal is to raise one hundred thousand dollars and
we're well on their way. But yeah, we're really excited
to be on Good Morning America and get that that
wide exposure. We Since Epic started, we have only grown
(10:05):
and grown and grown from year to year as we
have brought on more players, and it costs about five
five hundred a year to support one player. So this
Giving Tuesday campaign is really coore to us being able
to continue to support our actors and continue the work
that we're doing and to support all the huge waiting
(10:29):
lists we have of people who want to be involved
with Epic and we're getting to the point where we
want to keep growing, but we need the funds and
ability to do that so we're able to continue our
mission and keep supporting more and more actors.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And I think it's worth reminding people that the classes
are free. Performances of course don't cost anything, and there's
a huge staff supporting everything that goes on at Epic Players.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Exactly. It takes a village, as they say, and we
have an amazing passionate, inclusive staff that we want to
continue to have on board and work with us.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
You can find out more about ways to support Epic
Players at Epic PLAYERSNYC dot org and more about the
show coming up. Let's wrap up talking about the show,
which is a Christmas Carol this week Tuesday through Sunday
at Theater Row on forty second Street West forty second Street.
These performances are including neurodivergent actors. I assume they would
also be great for neurodivergent audiences.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
Yes, absolutely, I think neurodivergent disabled audiences as well as
neurotypical mainstream audiences alike.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
And what is different and special about these performances.
Speaker 3 (11:43):
We've created an original script for this show, so our
version of a Christmas Carol is totally unique and unlike
any other version of a Christmas Carol. You will see.
We really went back to the original book with our interpretation,
and then within the app also devised some theater with
(12:04):
our actors through improvs things like that, to create an
original script that is so unique and so funny. I
can't tell you how hilarious these actors are in the show.
We've been laughing our heads off every rehearsal. So I
think it's a really unique story, and you see in
(12:27):
the writing of the script how each person's voice for
their characters is really unique and so authentic to who
that actor is in the real world.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
The show is coming up this week. The shows. There's
multiple opportunities to see Epic Players Theater perform A Christmas
Carol December tenth through fifteenth. That's Tuesday through Sunday at
Theater Row Theater five at four to ten West forty
second Street in Midtown. You can find out more and
get tickets and find out ways to support Epic Players
Theater at Epic Players NYC dot org. Travis Berbie is
(13:04):
the Associate artistic director of Epic Players. Thank you for
being on Get Connected.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
Thanks so much for having me. It was great to chat.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
This has been Get Connected with Nina del Rio on
one oh six point seven light Fm. The views and
opinions of our guests do not necessarily reflect the views
of the station. If you missed any part of our
show or want to share it, visit our website for
downloads and podcasts at one oh six to seven lightfm
dot com. Thanks for listening.
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