Press Page 3

This October, in Zagreb, Croatia, I participated in Blind In Theatre: 6th International Theatre Festival of the Blind and Visually Impaired. I performed in A NERVOUS SMILE, by award-winning playwright John Belluso, with Theatre Breaking Through Barriers (TBTB), long-running NY theatre company founded by Ike Schambelan, introduced to me by AEA member George Ashiotis. The cast - Nick Viselli, Pamela Sabaugh, Melanie Boland, PSM Kimothy Cruse, Alden Fulcomer, and myself - viewed daily performances of various international companies including blind and low-vision artists, including Belgian, British, Bulgarian, Croatian, Finnish, German, Polish, and Serbian, after which we would have round-table discussions, with English as the common language. TBTB was well-received and given an award for long-term contributions to the festival. There were also workshops, movement sessions and works-in-progress. As an activist for greater visibility of artists with disabilities, I was bombarded each day by new insights and revelations about artists and art, whether disability-related or not, and was able to discuss our work on the tri-union I.AM.PWD media and civil rights campaign, as well as hearing what other countries do to incorporate artists with disabilities in their arts and entertainment.

Most notable was the state funding for both arts and disability services. While we depend on funds from organizations like TDF and Artists International, in Europe, where Art equals Culture, state funding is provided, as well as funding for blind artists in Zagreb, including office and studio space, bar, access to a 300-seat theatre, street markings and devices for blind pedestrians around of these facilities. Croatian theatre artists do not lack for innovative production values either, while their young audience work is tremendously clever and economical. The Polish and Serbian companies sported sophisticated multi-media effects, and the Belgians were wildly creative and imaginative. Above all, these artists seemed to be respected, whether sighted, blind, or blind and deaf. They had a confidence and pride in their work which implied support and acceptance in their own cultures. Disabled people are used to terms like "brave, courageous, inspiring, indomitable spirit," but this theatre, riveting by nature of its story and craft, was more mind-blowing than inspirational.

On the last day in Zagreb, our guide/translator, Tina, took us to a massive ancient cemetery north of the city, where we read poetry amongst the beautiful ornate graves, many memorials of friends and family of our group. We Americans remembered John Belluso for his contribution to this festival from beyond the grave. A playwright with a disability himself, this week would have pleased him. As we listened to our fellow artists, it was clear how much we had in common, how passionate we were about our work, how tough-skinned and sensitive we all are. We shared the human experience across boundaries of time, space, language, culture, and physical ability. We perceived and accepted each other with the love of family and were proud to have been a part of such a confluence of humanity and art. (more info: www.tbtb.org and www.iampwd.org)

THE SANDPAPER April 22, 2009
by Rick Mellerup

"Anita Hollander, whose performance as Grizabella made the Surflight's 2004 production of  Cats one for the history books, is reprising her role as Sister Mary Hubert, the Mistress of Novices, for the third time in the Steiner era. If you didn't see the Surflight's Cats (and you don't know  what you missed) she was also memorable in Fiddler on the Roof, Brighton Beach Memoirs, and Showboat. To use a religious metaphor - and it seems perfectly appropriate considering the subject matter of this review - if you want to build your show on a strong foundation, you can't go wrong with these two rocks [Hollander and Carolyn Popp]."

Letters to the Editor
Published: January 20, 2008
Support for Pistorius
To the Sports Editor:

As a high-thigh above-knee amputee actress who has tap danced in “Nunsense” and played a three-legged Grizabella in “Cats,” I take enormous umbrage at these dilettantes who have no way of knowing what it takes to run on two prostheses.
Oscar Pistorius has beaten incredible odds by his own determination and struggle to stand toe-to-toe with two-legged athletes. If the rules of the International Association of Athletics Federations are too archaic and lacking in vision that disabled athletes may someday compete with the so-called able bodied, then I strongly suggest that those rules be changed to meet the accomplishments of people with disabilities in the 21st century.
Anita Hollander
New York
The writer is the East Coast national chairwoman of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists Performers with Disabilities.

“There is a long history of writers trying for the dreamy effects that Gary Winter (and 13P's sensitive production of AT SAID) seem to sink into with ease. And in thumbnail, his plot — a stifled, static life finally finds its windows thrown open — will seem like the shallowest of clichés. But Mr. Winter manages to take some very pedestrian language (the word "ferris wheel" is so exotic that one character just wants to gaze at it on a page) and make it strange and mysterious again. The sensation is like watching Harold Pinter, feeling our most trusted words turn into slippery bars of meaning in our hands.”

Director Tim Farrell “clearly knows he has something Beckettian on his hands.” As a “hypersexed drug dealer,” Vedant Gokhale is “like Puck got washed up and started selling the heroin out of his magic flowers.” Lia Aprile and Anita Hollander “elide the difference between the playwright's words and themselves. Mr. Winter is building up poetry out of the simplest statements ... and it's difficult to believe that these women aren't simply generating it spontaneously. In relief against the sweet zaniness of Marisa Echeverria and Gilbert Cruz, they fool us into believing that they are the normal ones ... and that everyone these days talks like William Carlos Williams stuck in Bed-Stuy.”

by John J. Joyce
NSWCDD Public Affairs

Actress Anita Hollander performed her one-woman show, "Still Standing," at NSWC Dahlgren's National Disability Employment Awareness Month event held at the Aegis Auditorium on Tuesday, October 18, 2005.

Every song in Hollander's musical, performed to raise awareness about workers with disabilities was received with applause.

The actress has described her act as "a life survival guide set to music," and "an awareness guide about the disabled." She wrote the music and lyrics following the loss of her left leg to cancer in 1977. A blend of humor, drama and honesty, the show has been performed off-Broadway, as well as nationally at the White House and the Kennedy Center.

Many positive comments were made about Hollander's hard hitting, poignant and funny story of her life post amputation that she told through songs about specific incidents or attitudes.

As a member of all three actors' unions and as the East Coast National Chair of the AFTRA Performers with Disabilities committee, Hollander - who is also a singer, composer, lyricist, director, producer and teacher - has been working hard to enlighten and change attitudes and perceptions of the disabled.

"We've been struggling over the past few years with a shortage of scientists and engineers in this country," pointed out NSWCDD Commander Capt. Joseph McGettigan in his closing remarks. "This (science and engineering) is an area where a lot of disabled people can function and they can really do the job that we need them to do here in Dahlgren, and that's part of why we do this - to highlight the fact that there are a lot of people that have disabilities, but they really do have the ability to do the work that we need them to do."

After her performance, Anita answered several questions related to her disability. She told the audience that her excruciating drive and the sense of humor in her family was a gift that got her through everything. "Each one of us have obstacles and barriers to overcome, but we go through our tools of survival," said Hollander. "One tool of survival we all have is the joy of simply being alive."

NSWC Dahlgren Program Manager Laura Tronge was the moderator for the event.

"Our goal - no our mission - is to break down those things that separate us, and come together to enhance our understanding and skills to continue on our path to progress as an organization," said Tronge before she introduced NDW Commander Capt. Judy Smith who gave welcoming remarks.

"For those of us who fear change, or fear these barriers, people with disabilities are the shinning examples that the rest of us should follow," said Tronge. "On a daily basis they overcome these barriers, and are able to set the example in what can be overcome and what can be accomplished if you set your mind to doing it."

Words and Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber Based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot

"Cats is a delightful spectacle with which the Surflight has done a magnificent job…Anita Hollander’s performance as Grizabella is the highlight of the show. The once glamorous Grizabella left the tribe to follow her dreams and she comes back as a prodigal daughter, shunned by some, defended by others. Much the worse for wear, not only is her coat torn, but, in this production, she’s lost a leg. There are no tricks involved. Hollander achieves this effect by simply not wearing her prosthetic leg. She lost a leg to cancer in 1977. When her Grizabella sings Memory while standing on her one good leg, she lends this shopworn tune an eerie dignity it has never possessed before and which you will not soon forget.” -Tom Wrona, The Beachcomber

"Anita Hollander grabs the audience during her rendition of the world-famous 'Memory' and made it so personal she moistened not a few eyes in the audience". -Bre Golden, The Islander

“Anita Hollander, a glorious singer and excellent actress, performs the role of Grizabella.” - Peter Filichia, New Jersey Star-Ledger