#jeremy strong truly invented acting

[voiceless-terror]

can’t believe jeremy strong and sarah snook invented acting on today of all days. truly mother

[camthesolemnone]

Hi, I have like, 4 more ideas that came to me while I was at work, so #1: horror movie. Medic and Heacy are in their cottage, and have just watched a horror movie of some kind before they go to bed, right? Yeah. BUT! As they get ready, something odd happens that sets them both on edge (turns out it's just one of the birds or something) but they end up scarred and not wanting to go to sleep

I changed this one a bit but the main idea remains in-tact. I’m sorry that this took so long to get out and that the ending is kinda shitty. I’m working on the other prompts you sent me alongside this one! Also, I don’t know if you saw the pinned message or not but requests are now closed, so please hold off on sending any more.

"Is leetle Scout asleep as well?" Heavy asked, sitting comfortably on the rec room couch.

Medic nodded and reached for the VHS tape sitting on the glass table in the middle of the room. A tiny smile graced the Russian's features.

"Is good, we have television all to our selves!"

"Ja, and don't expect to sleep tonight, Mikhail! Herr Engineer told me that this is one of the scariest movies he’s ever seen," Ludwig replied, holding up the tape for his partner to see.

Written across the label in black sharpie was the simple word, 'Halloween.' The label should have been difficult to read in the dark, but the Russian noticed how it almost seemed to radiate a burgundy light...must have been some crazy glow-in-the-dark marker Engineer had invented, he concluded. Heavy crossed his arms triumphantly and laughed.

"Do not count on it, Doktor! Heavy is not phased by baby horror films!”

“Oh, we’ll see about that!”

A moment of time was spent struggling to find out which remote went to which device, but eventually, the pair got the movie inside the VHS player and smiled excitedly as color flooded the screen. Ludwig left the room briefly to make popcorn and plopped down on the couch next to his lover to click “Play” on the title screen upon his return.

“If Doktor gets scared, you can hold onto me~” Mikhail teased, and Ludwig shoved his shoulder.

“Are you sure you’re 45 years old, liebe? Because right now, you sound like a lovestruck teenager!” The doctor shot, handing him the popcorn bowl.

“Well...” Heavy began, settling a massive arm around Medic’s shoulders, “One part of that statement is correct.”

.

Unsurprisingly, Heavy was correct about being immune to the movie’s horrors. Then again, Medic was also not affected by the film, so they took more pleasure in the plot and the acting then the actual scary moments. 

Of course, Ludwig grew giddy when gore was involved.

“Hohoho! Look at all of that blood! If I was the killer in this scenario, I would collect it for future use,” he commented.

Heavy raised a questioning eyebrow and attempted to distract himself with the popcorn, but he soon came to the realization that there was nothing left but kernels. His German companion took to removing the bucket from his grasp and standing up.

“I need to use the bathroom, so I’ll take this back on the way,” the doctor stated, and the heavy weapons specialist nodded in response.

Mikhail was left all alone with the intensifying film in the dimly lit room. He would never admit it, but now that Ludwig was gone, he felt smaller. It wasn’t a feeling of fear but of slight unease; things would likely be alright for Heavy, but there was always a shred of uncertainty.

As time passed and the movie reached its climax, Heavy became more and more enthralled with the action, to the point where he forgot about Medic’s absence. His eyes were fixated on the glowing screen, his hands gripped tightly at the wool blanket surrounding him. Mikhail fell deep into the world of gruesome fantasy, and as a consequence, he nearly shot out of his seat at the sound of rapid footsteps and whisper-shouting coming from down the hall.

“Heavy! Oi, big guy!” Demoman said, urgency in his tone.

The Russian let his blanket drop to the floor and stared at the demolitions expert with confusion and anxiousness. The Scot all but captured his arm with both of his own and began dragging him down the hall as best as he could.

“Slow down, Tavish. What is this about?” Mikhail asked.

Demo turned his gaze back to his teammate.

“The Doc ‘s dead in the cludgie!”

Heavy’s eyes widened with shock, emotional pain, and fury towards whoever had committed such an act. Sure, Medic would respawn, but whoever had laid a finger on his beloved doctor was in for a beatdown. Unless it was an accident, in which case Mikhail would scold the German about being reckless.

The pair burst through the door to the community showers and the Russian nearly gasped at the sight. Ludwig laid unmoving in the center of the room with blood staining the front of his lab coat and the ground surrounding him. There was no weapon to be found, but in the corner of the room, with his back towards the door, sat a curled up, trembling, mumbling Scout.

Mikhail’s first thought was that Jeremy had committed this grisly murder, but Tavish put a hand out in front of his chest before he could progress. The Russian opted for whispering Medic’s name as a substitute.

“Scout! What the hell happened here!” Demo cried.

The young runner didn’t reply. He continued to rock back and forth, murmuring and wrapping his arms around himself. The Scot approached him cautiously, taking a calm, more concerned approach. Heavy followed.

“Aye, are you alright, mate?”

Demo reached out to put a hand on Scout’s shoulder, and a series of rapid events unfolded.

Scout’s entire body whipped around and stood up, and the Bostonian let out a high pitched, almost demonic screech. In his left hand was a knife stained in blood, Medic’s blood, and Heavy and Demo exhibited two very different reactions.

Demoman yelped and jumped back, going into flight mode. The massive Russian on the other hand, fearful for the lives of himself and his friend, took a strong step forward and lashed out at Jeremy’s face. One square punch to the jaw was enough to send the man flying across the communal bathroom and into the wall. He slumped over after the hit, out cold.

“What in the-! It was almost like that boy was possessed!” Demo shouted.

When Mikhail and Tavish’s hurried breathing finally began to slow, a new sound rang throughout the room: laughter.

Medic was rolling on the floor alive and well, laughing his ass off and further soiling his labcoat. Heavy gasped out a “Doktor!” at the man’s sudden revival while Demoman stood frozen.

“Hahaha! I can’t believe it! I just thought I’d have a bit of fun scaring you, liebe, but watching you knock out Scout was far more amusing!” The doctor exclaimed, rolling on his stomach and propping himself up on his elbows like a teenage girl lying on her bed while talking to a friend over the phone.

Demoman was the first to flare up.

“What?! So you’re saying this was all a prank?! You’re sick in the head, Medic!”

The Scot was tempted to slap him silly, but with Heavy in the room, that clearly wasn’t an option. With another frustrated grunt, he stomped off and back to bed.

Now it was Heavy’s turn.

“That was not funny, Ludwig! Heavy thought you were dead!” He scowled.

The doctor hauled himself off the ground and stood up straight, wiping some of the fake(?) blood on his hands off onto his lab coat.

“What’s there to worry about? Even if I had been stabbed, I would have just respawned, Mikhail.”

“I know, but...”

Medic’s expression dropped. His love had one massive paw gripping his opposite forearm and his face was distraught. He looked smaller, scared almost, and a tiny crack situated itself in the German’s heart. If he had known such an act would hurt Heavy so deeply, he wouldn’t have even thought about going through with it. There was also the issue of Scout. Ludwig relished the sight of the cocky, annoying Boston boy being beat up, but for once, he regretted roping him into his plans. The runner had been all too willing to help him with the scare, and Medic repaid him with his bear’s violence.

He sighed and shook his head at himself internally. Yes, his prank hadn’t been very rational, he concluded.

With slow, apologetic steps, Medic approached his partner and wrapped his arms around him gently, rubbing his broad back with one hand.

“Es tut mir leid, Heavy. This was all very foolish of me,” he admitted.

Heavy returned the embrace and buried his nose into his doctor’s hair, which smelled of blood and autumn leaves.

“You know it is because I do not like seeing you hurt, moya lyubov. Every time evil Spy kills you on battlefield, my blood boils. Would sacrifice myself a million times to keep you safe,” he murmured, and Ludwig’s heart cracked a little more.

His arms tightened around the giant with increased guilt. It pained him profoundly to see Mikhail die too.

 “I love you, Heavy. From the bottom of my soul, I am truly sorry.”

The Russian moved one hand from the smaller man’s waist to cup his cheek protectively.

“I love you too, Doktor, but please, do not play with death. Someday, we will not get another life.”

.

The credits of the movie had long concluded by the time the two of them returned to the rec room. Medic was rather disappointed that he had missed the latter half of the film, but what made up for it was a soft kiss to his forehead and a set of teasing words given to him by his lover before being sent off to sleep.

“Next time, we watch psychological thriller, da? Less gore will give you less dangerous ideas,” Mikhail suggested, patting a hand on Ludwig’s shoulder.

The doctor laughed and gave him a sly smile that warded off his fears, allowed him to breathe normally again. He was still alive.

“I like the sound of that, but you’re making the popcorn!”

[zombiesun]

top 5 succession moments

1. kendall roy eldest daughter bathroom breakdown in particular when he sweeps and cleans it up 

2. gerri/roman phone sex 

3. shiv and kendall hugging scene made me full body sob 

4. kendall giving greg the penthouse and greg bouncing around it like a coked up chicken truly gave me heartburn 

5. logan punching roman and kendall going apeshit aka jeremy strong invented acting 

[nicollekidman]

me before watching succession: idk if I really wanna watch a show with all these rich white guys in it. me after watching succession: Jeremy Strong invented true acting and coincidentally kieran culkin did also invent acting

it’s like all the women are truly operating at a whole other frequency as expected and then BAM kieran and jeremy and matthew are like “some men can be talented as well maybe sometimes” WIG

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Rest of the Weekend Warrior’s 2020 Top 25… and His Terrible 12 Movies!

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll notice that my Top 10 has already appeared over at Below the Line, and you can either go there and read those first or start with the movies that fell just outside my top 10, including a few movies you might not have heard about.

Back at the very beginning of 2020, I made a private resolution that I would watch more screeners. This is because I had become quite legendary for publicists sending me screeners and me just not getting the time to watch them with all the running around I was doing to screenings. I will never make a resolution like that ever again. (In fact, if my 2021 resolution was to have more sex, I only really need to do it once.)

This year, I wrote (no joke) slightly under 300 reviews, which may be more than I wrote in the three years prior. Part of this was having extra time from not travelling around the city trying to get to screenings, but also, once I decided to transition my weekly box office column into a review column, I decided that I was gonna watch and review as many movies as I possibly could this year. I’m sure there are others who do this all the time, but man, I don’t know how you do it. There were days where I got so burnt out at staring at my laptop for 15 hours every day that I just had to stop.

Still, when you’re watching 300 movies in a single year, any movie that can get into my annual Top 25 (or even get an Honorable Mention) should feel somewhat honored.

Anyway, onto the second 15 movies in my Top 25 (click on the title for a link to each of my reviews!):

11. Herself (Amazon Prime Video) – One of my more recent viewings is this film directed by Phyllida Lloyd  (Mamma Mia!) and starring British actress Clare Dunne (who also co-wrote the script) as a mother of two young girls who got out of an abusive marriage with a man who still shares custody with her daughters. She wants to give her girls a place to live so she decides to build her own house on a plot of land given to her as a gift. It’s such a simple premise but Lloyd and Dunne have made a wonderful not-too-heavy drama that still slams you with its raw emotions.

12. Jungleland (IFC Films) – I really enjoyed Max Winkler’s earlier movie Ceremony, but this underground boxing drama about two brothers (Jack O’Connell, Charlie Hunnam) was also a solid crime-drama that follows them on a road trip to deliver a mob boss’ mistress (Jessica Barden) back to him on their way to a big match. Winker really outdid himself in terms of the storytelling and somehow managed to avoid most of the normal boxing movie cliches while allowing this to stand up to some of the greats.

13. Palm Springs (NEON/Hulu) – One of the first of this year’s Sundance movies that really connected with me, Max Barbakow’s sci-fi comedy starred Andy Samberg as a guy stuck at a horrible wedding who ends up in a Groundhog’s Day situation with the wonderful Christin Milioti was so much fun. Adding to the madness was JK Simmons as a guy who seems to be out to get Samberg’s character for reasons we don’t learn until much later. Such a brilliant and hilarious movie with so much great re-watch value.

14. Soul (Disney•Pixar) – The latest from the animation studio that seemingly can’t do wrong – but that depends on who you ask – follows jazz pianist Joe (voiced by Jamie Foxx) who dies and ends up “The Great Beyond” desperate to get back to earth having just gotten his big break. Helping him (sort of) is a soul voiced by Tina Fey, and things don’t go quite as Joe helped. Co-written and co-directed by Kemp Powers, the film goes in a different direction from Docter’s last animated film, Inside Out, but still retaining some of the same metaphysical fabric that made that Oscar-winning animated film connect with adults just as much as with kids.

15. Mangrove (Amazon Prime Video) – The debate on whether Steve McQueen’s latest “Small Axe Anthology”  should be deemed a TV series or five separate movies continues to rage as Amazon decides to save the movie for the Emmies. At  two hours long, Mangrove is the closest of the series to being a  great stand-alone film, and frankly, I thought it was better than McQueen’s Oscar-winning film, 12 Years a Slave. This told the true story of restaurant owner, Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes), and how he’s persecuted by the racist local police in the late ‘60s, but when he teams with a local Black Panther activist (Black Panther’s Letitia Wright), a protest march turns into a tense court trial for a number of people involved in it.

16. I Will Make You Mine (Gravitas Ventures) – Actor Lynn Chen’s directorial debut was actually the third movie in a trilogy of indie films centered around musician/songwriter Goh Nakamura, who appeared in all three films. I watched this the first time thought it was just okay. When I realized it was part of a series of films, and I went back and watched the other two movies, I was completely blown away by what Chen did within this finale. With movies, you generally only have a limited time to explore its characters, but like Richard Linklater’s “Before” movies, this movie helped to really create depth in the characters by revisiting them. I was kind of shocked that I hadn’t seen the other movies – few critics have – and though only 18 other critics reviewed this one, the film is still 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, which should tell you how good it is.

17. Sylvie’s Love (Amazon Prime Video) – Tessa Thompson and Nnamdi Asomugha starred in Eugene Ashe’s 50s-60s-set romantic drama about an early television producer and a jazz musician, following their relationship after a summer fling that ends with him leaving for Paris. Separated for years, she remarries and raise the child from her former lover, but then they reconnect and… well, you’ll have to watch it for yourself. It’s on Prime Video right now, so if you’re a subscriber, you have no reason not to. (And Erik Davis of Fandango had a great idea… watch this as a double feature with McQueen’s Lovers Rock from “Small Axe Anthology”!)

18. The Traitor (Sony Pictures Classics) – Last year’s Italian section for the Oscar International Film was a fantastic The Godfather-like crime-thriller, this one starring Pierfrancesco Favino as Tomassso Buscetta, a Palermo-based Casa Nostra family member responsible for the heroin trade in the ‘80s who flees to Brazil. It’s an amazing story showing that filmmaker Marco Bellochio did his research to create a movie that didn’t really get the critical love or attention it deserved.

19. Weathering With You (GKids) – And here is Japan’s selection for the Oscar International Film, a rare Anime film, this one by Your Name director Makoto Shinkai, this one more about a fantasy-romance about a young man who meets a young woman who can control the rain, which they turn into a lucrative business. I didn’t love it quite as much as Your Name, which was a truly inventive turn on the “body-switching” movie, but this also had some of the same characterizations that make Shinkai’s work so terrific, so it was impossible not to enjoy how it translated into his latest feature.

20. Lingua Franca (ARRAY Releasing/Netflix) – Trans filmmaker Isabel Sandoval’s film was released in the same weekend as another movie with a trans lead, Flavio Alves’ The Garden Left Behind. While they were both good, Sandoval wrote, directed and starred in her movie which was about her character Olivia having a romance with a guy surrounded by transphobic bros. Olivia is also trying to get her green card, and the immigrant aspect of the film really added a lot to what seemed like a deeply personal film.

21. The Outpost (Screen Media Films) – I’ve been a fan of Rod Lurie’s work for almost as long as I’ve been writing reviews. In fact, one of my very FIRST movie reviews was for his movie The Last Castle in 2001. I’ve also been fortunate to call him friend. I’ve watched Rod transition into quite a skilled television director, but I been waiting over ten years for him to make a movie as good as his amazing political thriller, Nothing but the Truth. Working from Jake Tapper’s non-fiction novel, Lurie created a full-on and unapologetic war movie as good as Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor, Blackhawk Down or any other modern war film… but also a film as personal as any others released this year.

22. The Trial of the Chicago 7 (Netflix) – Aaron Sorkin’s second film as a director stepped things up, WAY up, as he decided to take on one of the more noted events that signified the famed “Summer of Love” of 1969, as a number of peaceful protesters were tried by the federal government for “inciting a riot.” The amazing cast included Eddie Redmayne, Sacha  Baron Cohen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen 2, Michal Keaton, Mark Rylance, Frank Langella, Jeremy Strong and many more. It was an abundance of acting riches and when you have such a fine wordsmith in screenwriter/playwright Sorkin, it’s hard to go wrong. The thing is that by the time I saw this, I had already seen Steve McQueen’s Mangrove, which in my opinion is a far superior version of a similar story from the same time period.

23. Words on Bathroom Walls (LD Entertainment/Roadside Attractions) – A movie I didn’t expect much from but totally fell in love with was this romantic drama starring Charlie Plummer as Adam Petrozelli, a young man sent to a Catholic School where he hopes to keep his schizophrenia a secret from his new classmates. The film co-starred Taylor Russell from Waves as Adam’s friend and love interest, who also gets worried about Adam’s erratic behavior whenever he goes off his meds. Adam’s condition was shown by the personalities he interacts with, played by Anna Sophia Robb, Devon Bostick and Lobo Sebastian, but the movie also stars the great Molly Parker as Adam’s mother and Walton Goggins as her live-in boyfriend. All of this adds up to a great coming-of-age film from Thor Freudenthal that also became one of the first couple movies since March to test out theatrical waters months after the pandemic shutdown.

24. Sputnik (IFC Midnight) – An amazing Russian sci-fi thriller from Egor Abramenko (remember that name!) that’s likely to be compared to Alien  but adds so much more depth by taking place in communist Russia during the ‘80s. It stars Pyotr Fyodorov as a cosmonaut who brought something back with him from space and Oksana Akinshina as the psychologist who has to figure what is happening. It starts quite, reminding you of the original Russian film Solaris, but by the end, it gets pretty insane. More than anything, it finds a way of doing something original within an overused sci-fi trope.

25. Parallel (Vertical Entertainment)  - Similarly, I had pretty low expectations for Isaac Ezban’s sci-fi/horror film about a group of Silicon Valley friends who discover a mirror that allows them to travel to and from alternate versions of their own dimension, which they use for criminal activities. Soon, some of them have gotten out of control with the power and money that this access gives them, but like Palm Springs, it’s a great take on another overused sci-fi trope that’s done so beautifully. (Warning: There have been a LOT of movies with this title in the last five years. Make sure you choose the right one!)

Honorary Mentions: The Prom (Netflix), Kindred (IFC Midnight), On the Rocks (A24/Apple TV+), Yellow Rose(Sony), Misbehaviour (Shout! Factory), Premature (IFC Films), Spontaneous (Paramount), The Climb (Sony Pictures Classics)

Oh, and as a reminder, here’s my top 10, this time with links to my reviews where applicable:

10. One Night in Miami.. (Amazon Prime Video) 9. Pieces of a Woman (Netflix) 8. Sound of Metal (Amazon Prime Video) 7. Mulan (Disney+) 6. Synchronic (Well GO USA) (Tied with Disney+’s Hamilton) 5. Nomadland (Searchlight Studios) 4. News of the World (Universal) 3. Minari (A24) 2. Corpus Christi 1. Promising Young Woman (Focus Features)

And some MORE DOCS I liked that didn’t make my Top 12 over at Below the Line:

13. Robin’s Wish (Vertical) 14. PJ Harvey: A Dog Called Money 15. 76 Days (MTV Documentaries) 16. Rebuilding Paradise (NatGeo) 17. The Fight (Magnolia) 18. Collective (Magnolia) 19. Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story (Shout! Studios) 20. We Are Freestyle Love Supreme (Hulu) 21. My Name is Pedro (Sweet 180) 22. Crock of Gold: A Night with Shane MacGowan (Magnolia) 23. You Cannot Kill David Arquette (Super) 24. Feels Good Man 25. Suzi Q (Utopia Distribution)

The Terrible 12 of 2020!:

And it’s the moment you’ve been waiting for -- and the reason I guess most people are reading this -- so I apologize for making all five of you read through all the great movies and docs of 2020 before getting to the juicy stuff. Let’s get to it!

12. Superintelligence (HBO Max) – There was a time when I loved Melissa McCarthy – years before Bridesmaids – but her success after that film and her decision to keep making movies with husband/director Ben Falcone has only led to a few halfway decent comedies. (I didn’t think The Boss was that bad, but that’s cause it co-starred Kristen Bell.) So imagine if you’re one of the first big studio comedies to be dumped to Warner Media’s new streaming service, HBO Max, and that was almost SIX MONTHS BEFORE COVID HIT! How bad could a movie be to have that little support and confidence from the studio? Well, I found out that very thing, as I sat through this horrible movie that had McCarthy play another one of her usual “everywomen,” this one who encounters an Artificial Intelligence, voiced by James Corben, who has achieved sentience. Trying to learn what it is to be human, the AI starts giving McCarthy’s character everything she wants, including a relationship an old workmate, played by Bobby Canavale. The movie wasn’t very funny but it also branched into a rom-com plot that just didn’t suit either McCarthy or Canavale, so yes, quite an epic fail.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “'Superintelligence' is not a term I'd use for whoever greenlit this piece of crap.”

11. Hubie Halloween (Netflix) – I don’t think that Hubie Halloween was anywhere near Adam Sandler’s worst movies ever, and probably not even his worst for Netflix – although there have been some VERY bad ones. The problem is that any opportunity Sandler was given in this movie to show he can deliver something other than “more of the same” had him instead resorting to the physical humor that appealed to his fanbase. And yet, it wasn’t even the worst movie to come out that week it debuted on the streamer. (See below.)

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “A perfectly fine Netflix movie, not something I’d ever want to have to sit in a movie theater watching with others.”

10. Max Cloud – This sci-fi-action-comedy didn’t have a terrible premise – I mean, I enjoyed it in all three Jumanji movies --  but it was marred by being such a monumentally badly made movie that stars one of the one actors in the business, namely Scott Adkins. Set in 1990, Adkins plays the title character in a video game, in which a teen girl finds herself transported as a character. If you wondered what a Jumanji movie would look like in the hands of a completely incompetent cast and crew, well, here you go.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “Pretty awful, a bad faux video game movie that should have had its plug pulled.”

9. The Stand-In (Saban Films) – Not to be outdone by her frequent co-star Adam Sandler, Drew Barrymore threw out all of the love she’s garnered from previous movies and her new talk show by playing dual roles of a raunchy comedy star best known for her pratfalls (so kind of a cross between Sandler and Melissa McCarthy?). Barrymore also played her nearly identical stand-in who didn’t get as much acclaim but gets to stand in for her famous lookalike when the latter goes on a bender and ends up hiding in her mansion for five years. Not sure why Barrymore thought this would be a good way to put her back on the movie screen, but yikes… one of her character’s big gimmicks is falling face first into a pile of horse shit – not funny and just plain gross.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “Guarantees Barrymore a double-dose Razzie nomination.”

8. The War with Grandpa (101 Studios) – For whatever reason, I decided not to review this Weinstein Co. cast-off family comedy starring Robert De Niro and Uma Thurman. Maybe that’s because I hated the movie so much I could barely get through it, and with a Friday review embargo, I just decided not to waste any more time thinking about it. So why didn’t it end up lower, you ask? I have no effin’ idea.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: N/A

7. Pearl – There have been some bad young adult romances over the past few years, and while I don’t think Bobby Roth’s is actually based on any existing book, it might as well have been, because it was very, very bad. It stars Larsen Thompson as a 15-year-old piano prodigy who is sent to live with her unemployed film director uncle, played by Anthony LaPaglia, who was so super-creepy in that role. I don’t remember much else, since I deliberately scrubbed my memory of this movie’s existence.  Little did I realize that I’d be watching an even WORSE version of this movie a few months later.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “LaPaglia is way too good an actor, who deserves better than this.”

6. Black Water: Abyss – Another movie I watched late in the week and just didn’t have time or bother to review. Honestly, I remember very little about this. I think it involves crocodiles? Who knows, who cares? Not me or anyone else I expect. Everything about this movie was pretty bad.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: N/A

5. The Turning (Universal) – Probably the biggest studio movie to wind up on this list, and possibly the only reason I didn’t review this was because I interviewed the director, Floria Sigismondi (The Runaways), who is generally a pretty awesome artist. But I love the original source material on which this is based and seeing how much better Netflix’s The Horror of Bly Manor was a few months later just made me a little sore that a movie starring the great Mackenzie Davis with Finn Wolfhard and Brooklyn Prince could end up with one of the lamest endings of a horror movie in recent memory.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: N/A

4. Butt Boy (Epic Pictures) – Tyler Cornack’s comedy-slash-thriller was my worst movie of the year for many, many months until the three movies below it reared their ugly heads. Still, this one is pretty ugly as it stars Conack himself as Chip Gutchel, a man who becomes obsessed after a proctology exam so that things just keep vanishing up his own asshole. Yeah, I think my RT quote is fairly apt.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “I wouldn't recommend this to my worst enemy.”

3. Buddy Games (Saban Films/Paramount) – The fact that Josh Duhamel’s directorial debut came out the same week as Superintelligence yet ended up lower on this list is fairly telling. It involves Duhamel and a group of his friends taking part in ridiculous competitions for money, and shows what happens when these friends reunite five years later to throw another Buddy Game. It was just very low-brow and disgusting and a not particularly funny take on the Jackass movies. There was scene that almost made me stop watching.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “To call Buddy Games moronic, idiotic or even asinine, would be an insult to morons, idiots or asses, who are also likely the movie's target audience.���

2. Sno Babies (Better Noise Films) – This poorly-conceived “Afterschool Special” that follows a high school senior named Kristen (Katie Kelly) and her ever-growing drug addiction was almost like a young adult version of Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream if just about everything about the movie was bad from the writing to the acting to just really horrible images that no one would want to watch or be put through. If the film just followed Kelly’s character, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad, but it’s a narrative that follows a bunch of characters including a couple wanting to have a baby… and when Kristen becomes pregnant due to her being on drugs, well, you can probably guess where it’s going. The only movie this year that had me literally yelling at my laptop like a lunatic.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “The people who made this movie should never be allowed to make another movie again.”

1. Dead Reckoning (Shout! Studios) – Scott Adkins makes his second appearance in the Terrible 12 with a movie in which he plays an Albanian terrorist. In fact, when I first heard about this movie and the fact it was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak, the cinematographer/director behind Romeo is Bleeding and lots of trashy action flickers from the Aughts, it made me expect something in that vein. Instead, this is another young adult drama set in Nantucket with K.J. Apa from Riverdale playing Adkins’ brother who falls for a local teen lush, played by India Eisley, who proceeds to chug alcohol in every scene. Oh, her parents were killed in a terrorist act… coincidence? I think not. Eventually, we learn that Adkins’ character is planning a terrorist act by blowing up a boat on the 4th of July, and that’s maybe an hour or more into the movie. And yeah, there’s a number of action scenes awkwardly shoehorned into the story as well… Adkins’ fight with a nurse trying to help him was particularly hilarious. But the fact that the movie is being sold as “a thriller inspired by the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013” just makes the whole thing even more awkward and insulting. This one ends up in the “What on earth were they thinking, whoever financed this movie?” box.

Rotten Tomatoes Quote: “The only way to have any fun watching this disaster is to play a drinking game where you take a drink every time Eisley's character takes a drink.”

That’s it for this year…. Happy New Year and on to 2021!

[thesffcorner]

The Gentleman

The Gentleman is directed by Guy Richie, and follows a star-studded cast of characters. We start with Frazer (Hugh Grant), a private eye, who is blackmailing Ray (Charlie Hunnam) and his boss for 2 million pounds. Ray’s boss Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey) is the undisputed lord of weed, having a business worth 400 million pounds, which he is trying to sell to American ‘businessman’ Matthew (Jeremy Strong) and retire. Through a series of unfortunate circumstances involving a farm robbery, a brush with the Chinese mafia, the unfortunate death of a Russian oligarch’s son and a newspaper mogul’s personal vendetta, the deal seems to be in danger of falling through, and Frazer is there to capitalize on it.

This movie is wildly entertaining, though nothing original. If you’ve seen one Guy Richie film, you’ve seen them all; the specifics are different obviously, but this is still another gangster action-comedy with a men with heavy accents, coming up with the most creative ways of using the word cunt in every sentence and a plot so convoluted, you need to be taking notes.

It’s a good film, is what I’m trying to say; as good as Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch, but definitely on par with RocknRolla or the Man from U.N.C.L.E. I have a lot of thoughts, as I always do with Richie’s films, so if you are curious to know more, and don’t mind some mild spoilers, join me after the cut.

The framing device of this film reminded me a lot of the Cloud Atlas story about the Russian gangster, turned author who threw a critic off of a roof, because it’s all told in flashback, with Frazer explaining everything that happened to Ray, as if he’s writing a Hollywood screenplay. He has in fact written said screenplay, and there are even some funny scenes where he has Ray help him act it out.

I’m not really sure how I feel about the framing device; it was at once annoying to have over half of the film told to us, because I kept thinking we were still setting up the characters when we are over half of the film in. However, there is a point to this, in that Frazer is an unreliable narrator, and he fabricates portions of the story and even invents entire scenes. However, you really do need to enjoy Hugh Grant’s voice if you are going to watch this because he has a LOT of narration. He isn’t an active player in most of the film, and yet he’s the POV character; everything we know about Mickey, Dry Eyes and Matthew we learn from him; the only character who isn’t entirely informed by him is Ray.

Grant is an entertaining narrator; he has a rather colorful vocabulary, which makes even the most basic descriptions of the characters hilarious or if nothing else shocking. He seems to speak exclusively in sexual innuendos, and every sentence is him hitting on Ray or a metaphor for sex. A lot of the blocking in the scenes, and even entire jokes are at the expense of men trying to outwit and outplay each-other in the most homoerotic of ways, but I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to be laughing at the absurdity of the situation or at the implication that Grant is gay and is failing to hit on Ray. None of characters are queer, and yet the film has no problem with queercoding the two more effeminate characters in the film, and having them be the main villains, which was… a choice. In Richie’s defense, everyone is a horrible person in this film, but there is a rather clear distinction between the way say, Mickey is presented and Frazer.

Even Ray, who is his own POV character, spends a lot of the film running around London at Mickey’s bidding. He and Mickey are glued to the hip; Mickey has a wife that he clearly loves and is devoted to, and yet if he and Ray aren’t sharing a scene they are on the phone with each other. I can’t tell what the film is trying to say with that, other than that Ray is completely devoted to Mickey, and if there is some bigger metaphor there, I missed it.

The action was surprisingly mild and played mostly for comedic effect. There were a few brutal scenes, like someone getting run over by a train, or a truly, TRULY unnecessary rape attempt of the ONLY female character in the film. But for the most part, the action is played for laughs: there is a hilarious chase scene throughout London that had me in stitches, and then an even funnier music/combat video of a robbery.

But let’s be real; you are here for the dialogue and the characters. Side note, I don’t know who was translating this film in Macedonian, but they were having a field day with the subtitles: I had no idea there even existed that many ways to say the word cock in Macedonian.

As any Richie film, the characters are absurdly crass and verbose; every line is a euphemism for sex, and the characters are constantly casually racist or misogynist. They are meant to be like that; they are gangsters, drug dealers and killers after all, but even the characters we are meant to sympathize with, like Ray display some weirdly vicious hatred of women and especially drug addicts. Rich coming from someone who smokes weed. It’s explained away that he is just a germaphobe, and he considers addicts filthy, but that isn’t exactly painting him in a better light. Ray as a whole was a character of contradictions. He is very judgmental and snobby, but he also hates rich people. He is presented to be out of touch, but also clever. His relationship with Colin Farrel’s coach character was pretty funny (and the most explicitly queerbaiting), but I do have to admit that his attempts to come off as threatening to the Couch were more hilarious than genuine.

The character I liked the most and who had the least amount of dialogue was weirdly enough, Matthew McConaughey’s Mickey. He was perfect for the part; he just exudes power, and a thinly veiled aggression that could explode at any moment. I absolutely bought him as a ruthless and intelligent businessman, and every scene he was in I was engaged. I also just have a weakness for characters who are indisputably powerful and yet they love their partner, in this case his wife Ros.

I wish Ros was in the film more; she’s entertaining, she has some funny lines. I think Richie might have a thing for women and cars, because this is the second character who works as a mechanic; in this case she makes extravagant sports cars for the rich wives and mistresses of gangsters. I also liked how she supported Mickey’s desire to retire, while not actually being the one who makes him do it.

However, she was the only female character in the film, and there is the aforementioned completely unnecessary rape attempt. I actually hated this part, because there is nothing funny or entertaining about sexual violence, especially not in a film where there are no other women. There only other female ‘character’ is Laura, who has 2 lines and gets unceremoniously killed off.

The scene where she dies is supposed to be a dramatic climax of the film; it’s the scene where we acknowledge for a moment how truly dangerous heroin is and how the people who make and deal heroin are actively ruining lives. But to have that verdict come from a white man, a white AMERICAN man who has made a fortune off of selling weed to rich kids and aristocrats was infuriating. Don’t try to have some kind of moral high ground when your lead character is proof of men who exploit the unjust legal system and get away with crimes that people of color could never.

There were many scenes that were ‘comically racist’; the standout is the Coach arguing with his black student that the phrase ‘black cunt’ isn’t racist because he is black and a cunt. I’m not going to debate you on whether that’s racist or not; I’m not black.

However, the entirety of Henry Golding’s character? That was racist.

I don’t blame him for taking the role; he gets to be an unhinged gangster holding his own against Matthew McConaughey. He gets to piss on a corpse. But he also plays the Oriental vicious and violent opponent, to the calm, collected and suave white man; he attempts to rape someone, kills his own boss in blind ambition and double crosses his partner, while relying heavily on stereotypes, which were not fun to watch.

Then we have Matthew who is Jewsh, which is very strongly hammered into us by the film. He is effeminate, duplicitous, greedy and physically weak; and then he gets to be the main villain and mastermind behind everything. Jeremy Strong is great in the part as always, but he’s still playing a rather overt and dangerous stereotype. Let’s not even talk about Frazer or the amount of fat jokes made at Eddie Marsan’s expense.

Overall, I liked this film. I enjoyed it, I laughed, I was appropriately shocked. But I just couldn’t shake some of the more problematic aspects of the story, and I don’t even think they were intentional. But I think those things still should be pointed out and discussed because I know Richie can do better, and relying on outdated and lazy stereotypes in 2020 is just a bit weak.

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Caissie Levy (Elsa) and Company. Photo by Deen van Meer.

The Review: Frozen, the Musical on Broadway

By Ross

This was going to be an exciting evening at the theatre for me. Not for the reason you might first expect, but for another, because this time would be the first time I was going to the theatre with my young niece, Hazel, just the two of us. This was not her first time in a Broadway house, mind you, she had sat on my lap while watching Cinderella a few years back at the Broadway Theatre (currently the home of Rocktopia), and my guest to see Annie at the Paper Mill Playhouse last fall, so she knows the ropes and how to behave, but this was the first time that Mother Cheryl wasn’t sitting close by. This time, Hazel was dropped off and her parents watched as us enter the St. James Theatre, on our own, primed and excited to see the new Disney Broadway musical, Frozen. We sat in heightened anticipation, watching the Northern Lights dance across the curtain, with Hazel so excited she didn’t want to close her eyes, in case she might miss something.

Caissie Levy (Elsa), Patti Murin (Anna) and Company. Photo by Deen van Meer.

The musical, as I’m sure everyone is well aware, is based on the ever-so popular animated movie that is one of Hazel’s favorite sing-along stories. With music and lyrics by the fantastic team that brought you the animated movie musicals, ‘Coco‘ (Oscar Award for Best Original Song: “Remember Me“) and ‘Frozen’ (Oscar and Grammy Award for “Let It Go“) and a book by Jennifer Lee, the talented Oscar-winning writer of Walt Disney’s ‘Frozen‘, which she also directed with Chris Buck, this Broadway adaptation was the perfect show for young Hazel, it gave her everything she could have hoped for, a story line she knew, some great songs that she loves and knows by heart, but what it didn’t really give her is the idea that you can have something as wonderful as the film ‘Frozen‘ and spin it far beyond the land of serviceable, and into a new realm, one that is artistically creative, advancing, and expanding.  For that, we will have to go see Julie Taymor’s Lion King, because invention and dynamic wonderment isn’t going to be found under the standardized snowy landscapes of director Michael Grandage’s creation, Frozen, the Broadway Musical.

Caissie Levy (Elsa). Photo by Deen van Meer

All the main ingredients are present though.  The wonderfully regal Elsa, played strongly at first by the young Brooklyn Nelson (Mathilda), morphing into the impressive and very talented Caissie Levy (Broadway’s 2014 Les Misérables, Ghost, Public’s First Daughter Suite).  Her strong voice and presence add weight and beauty to the lovely new song, “Dangerous to Dream” and the one Hazel and everyone else was breathlessly waiting for “Let It Go“, which was skin-tingling in its dramatic rendition.  Bravo Caissie. And even though I’m still attached to Idina Menzel’s brilliant version, especially in the way she closes the song on that perfect last line reading, Levy doesn’t disappoint one audience member.  Hazel was awe-struck, wide-eyed and unbelieving, writing in her wonderful review: “If you blink while Elsa changes, you’ll miss it, cause it just falls and it happens really fast…She changes from her queen dress to an icy beautiful dress….I liked the play ALOT!”

Patti Murin (Anna), John Riddle (Hans). Photo by Deen van Meer

But for me, the joy of the evening lies in the hands of both the young and soon-to-be a star, Mattea Conforti (Sunday in the Park with George), and the most wonderful Patti Murin (Broadway’s Lysistrata Jones), who brings such fun and frolic to the young sister, Anna.  In Murin’s portrayal, the piece finds its connection and attachment, falling in love with her goofiness and sense of wonder just as fast as she falls in love with Hans during the wacky and wonderful number, “Love Is an Open Door“.  John Riddle (Broadway’s The Visit), who plays the handsome too-good-to-be-true Prince of the Southern Isles, convinces us at the beginning that he is her shining knight, just like we are told in the fairy tale books, even though somewhere in the back of our minds, we are well aware how this will all turn out in the end.  He’s a bit too stiff in his other moments, especially his signature song, “Hans of the Southern Isles” but together with Anna, we join in their fun, embracing each and every hilarious pun and jokie playful grimace that Murin gives us on that wonderfully expressive and elastic face of hers.

Jelani Alladin (Kristoff). Patti Murin (Anna). Photo by Deen van Meer.

It is when she finally engages with the absolutely heart-melting Jelani Alladin (Signature’s Sweetee), giving a comically gentle and engaging performance as the lowly ice merchant Kristoff, that the romantic tugging starts and the slim storyline finds its warm heart, especially in the very enjoyable added song, “What Do You Know About Love?“. That, alongside one of my favorites, “Reindeer(s) Are Better Than People“, make us glad that Kristoff, and his most amazing, trustworthy, and sadly under-used Sven, created impressively by Andrew Pirozzi (NBC’s “Hairspray Live!“), make us glad his sled has arrived into the land of Arendelle, and even more joyful that Anna runs into him on those snowy slopes.

Jelani Alladin (Kristoff), Andrew Pirozzi (Sven). Photo by Deen van Meer.

Along side these main characters, magic is the central core of this show, and some of it can be found in a few other nicely structured and appealing representations from the film. The second act opener, “Hygge“, lead by Oaken, hilariously portrayed by Kevin Del Aguila (Broadway’s Peter and the Starcatcher) is great fun and a joy to behold. The King and Queen of the Trolls are magnificently reinterpreted by the impressive Timothy

Hazel writing her review.

Hughes (Broadway’s Chaplin) and Olivia Phillip (Broadway’s Waitress) in their joyful number, “Fixer Upper“. Hazel wrote that she “loved the part when the trolls helped Anna’s frozen head“, it was one of the truly inspired magical moments of creation that lifted up the standard to the spectacular, giving us a new vantage point over the snowy slopes of Frozen.

  Olaf, created by master puppet designer, Michael Curry, (Lion King) works fairly well and totally looks the part, but is sadly just mediocre in conceptualization. The manipulations and performance by Greg Hildreth (Roundabout’s The Robber Bridegroom) as that comic sidekick snowman serves the grander structure well, is playful and fun, especially in his fun rendition of “In Summer“, but for some reason, the separation of puppeteer and puppet never really seems complete.

Patti Murin (Anna), Jelani Alladin (Kristoff), and Company. Photo by Deen van Meer.

In some way, this is very representational of the whole production. Director Grandage (West End’s Merrily We Roll Along, Broadway’s Frost/Nixon), with some help from choreographer Rob Ashford (Park Ave Armory’s Macbeth, Broadway’s Evita), set and costume designer, Christopher Oram (Broadway’s Wolf Hall Parts 1 &2) with special effects by Jeremy Chernick, lighting by Natasha Katz, sound design by Peter Hylenski, and video design by Finn Ross fail to add that extra layer of magic that would take this show from a very acceptable adaptation of an animated film into something that could stand on its own two feet. Without the memory of the better film propping it up and attracting a crowd, Frozen wouldn’t be the success it is destined to be because it rarely steps beyond the expected. As Hazel writes: “The voices and clothes were awesome” and I agree whole heartedly, but without the added layer of snowy surprise and excitement, the musical stays somewhere just above a theme park ride or stage show, barely reaching above the standard.  We needed visionary stage magic to lift us up, not a snowflake patterned curtain of crystals or some ice shards jutting out from the side in a feeble attempt to frighten. Elsa’s dangerous abilities are much more dynamic and dangerous than that, and with the rather simplistic representations, we are never transformed or dazzled into submission.

Caissie Levy (Elsa) and Company. Photo by Deen van Meer.

The story line is pretty straight forward, just as it is in the movie, which in itself is a bit messy and oddly nonsensical.   But for me the subtext of this tale is the most fascinating part: the story of a young person being seen by her parents as containing a quality that makes her different from the rest, and instead of encouraging her to embrace it and be proud, she is told, quite plainly, to “keep it inside” and hide it away.  When her secret finally comes out, literally, she has to run away and create her own kingdom where she can embrace her specialness and be herself.  Her sister follows her trying to convince her that she can and will be accepted back home, but it takes a special act of courage and true love to finally come home and be accepted by her community. Once she is, she finally feels some freedom to be herself and can rejoin the family that she almost discarded. In all honesty, and this has been said a thousand times before, it sounds like any number of coming out stories I have heard over the years from members of the LGBT community regarding their childhood and young adulthood experiences, and why big cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and San Francisco are seen as gay meccas and safe kingdoms for escape.  I will say that I think it’s a fascinating parallel and one wisely told, but a bit problematic in that Elsa has no romanic prospects or future partnership plans. She is given just a life of regal solitude basking in the loving relationship that she can watch from the sidelines of her more ‘normal’ younger sister and her partnership and romantic life.

Hazel elated.

Company of Frozen.

But I might be asking a bit too much from a Disney musical adaptation from an animated kids movie musical (or am I?). It seems this Broadway stage tale had a hard enough time finding the little magic it did in this transfer, and although the legions of adoring fans will gather and make this musical a hit, I’m not sure it will rise up to the regal levels of other Broadway royals, like The Lion King or even Aladdin. It’s definitely not a Tarzan, the disastrous 2006 adaptation directed and designed by Bob Crowley, just a purely serviceable Disney adaptation of the most successful animated movie of all time. And it will be a hit, no matter what any one says.

  Regardless, this was an awesome night for Hazel and myself, the first of, what I hope will be many when my young theatre-junkie in-the-making will accompany me to the theatre for future plays and musicals.  Soon she will be old enough to take the train in all by herself, just to meet me for pre-theatre dinner and then a Broadway show. But for now, it was with great pleasure that I was able to have her as my +1 and share with her a show that she loves and adores; “I really liked this play!!!!!!!!!” I just had to make sure she didn’t join in with the actors, and start to sing along with Elsa when that epic song, “Let It Go” concluded the first act and filled the air with anticipation and excitement.  She was not disappointed, she was elated.

Patti Murin (Anna) and Caissie Levy (Elsa) with Jacob Smith in Disney Theatrical Productions’ Frozen, the new Broadway musical, music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and book by Jennifer Lee, opening night March 22nd, starring Caissie Levy (Elsa), Patti Murin (Anna), Jelani Alladin (Kristoff), Greg Hildreth (Olaf), John Riddle (Hans), Robert Creighton (Weselton), Kevin Del Aguila (Oaken), Timothy Hughes (Pabbie), Andrew Pirozzi (Sven), Audrey Bennett and Mattea Conforti (Young Anna), Brooklyn Nelson and Ayla Schwartz (Young Elsa). Michael Grandage: director. Photo by Deen van Meer. 

#frontmezzjunkies reviews: @FrozenBroadway - An Elated Hazel Sees a Serviable Snowy Show. @CassieLevy @PattiMurin @JelaniAlladin @JohnRiddle @greg_hildreth @TimothyHughes44 The Review: Frozen, the Musical on Broadway By Ross This was going to be an exciting evening at the theatre for me.

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Press release: Major pharma leader MSD first to endorse government’s Industrial Strategy as it announces major investment in the UK has been published on Energy Solutions News

New Post has been published on http://www.energybrokers.co.uk/news/press-release/press-release-major-pharma-leader-msd-first-to-endorse-governments-industrial-strategy-as-it-announces-major-investment-in-the-uk

Press release: Major pharma leader MSD first to endorse government’s Industrial Strategy as it announces major investment in the UK

Government announces it has secured a major strategic investment into UK by MSD ahead of this morning’s publication of its flagship Industrial Strategy

Landmark investment comes as a huge vote of confidence in the government’s approach to industrial strategy, with the global healthcare company committing to open a new world-class hub in the UK

Industrial Strategy will outline the government’s plan to address the UK’s underlying productivity challenge, with a focus on 5 key foundations: ideas, people, infrastructure, business environment, places

The Business Secretary has confirmed today (27 November) that world-leading life sciences company MSD is set to make a major investment into the UK economy with the opening of a new state-of-the-art UK hub, helping ensure innovative research into future treatments for patients and pioneering medicines are completed in Britain.

The news comes as the government is set to unveil its flagship Industrial Strategy later this morning, with a long-term plan for how Britain can build on its economic strengths, address its productivity challenge, positively embrace technological change, and support businesses and its workers.

The Sector Deal agreement comes as a major endorsement of the government’s Industrial Strategy vision and has been secured through the upcoming Life Sciences Sector Deal, one of 4 such deals that government is set to confirm later today and announce in the weeks ahead.

Alongside the Life Sciences Sector Deal, government will confirm it has agreed deals with construction, artificial intelligence and automotive. Each deal represents a new strategic and long-term partnership with government, backed by private sector co-investment.

Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

We are at one of the most important, exciting and challenging times there has ever been in the history of the world’s commerce and industry.

Powered by new technology, new industries are being created, existing ones changing and the way we live our lives – as workers, citizens and consumers – transformed.

We are an open, flexible economy, built on trade and engagement with the world. We have a competitive business environment with a deserved reputation for being a dependable and confident place to do business, thanks to our high standards, respected institutions and a reliable rule of law.

We are renowned for innovation and discovery, with some of the best universities and research institutions in the world producing some of the most inventive people on earth.

We have commercial and industrial sectors – from advanced manufacturing to financial services; from life sciences to the creative industries – which are competitive with the best in the world.

In this Industrial Strategy we set out how we will maintain and enhance these and other strengths and deploy them to our advantage.

But any serious strategy should address the weaknesses that stop us achieving our potential, as well as our strengths, and this Industrial Strategy does that.

Britain’s productivity performance has not been good enough, and is holding back our earning power as a country.

So this Industrial Strategy deliberately strengthens the 5 foundations of productivity: ideas, people, infrastructure, business environment and places.

By acting together as a nation, and in a sustained way, to improve the underperforming conditions for productivity we can drive up our earning power.

MSD UK hub

The investment announced by MSD, known as Merck and co. in North America, will support a new world-leading life sciences discovery research facility in the UK, supporting a total of 950 jobs in high-skilled and high-value research roles.

Investments by a number of pharmaceutical companies into the UK will form a key part of the Sector Deal, a central Industrial Strategy measure, set to be signed in the coming weeks by the life sciences sector and government.

Announcing the investment, Business Secretary Greg Clark said:

Our life sciences sector is one of the UK’s fastest developing industries, with a turnover in excess of £64 billion, employing 233,000 across the UK.

MSD’s commitment today, and the wider Sector Deal investment we have secured, proves the process outlined in the Industrial Strategy can give companies the confidence and direction they need to invest in the UK. It will ensure Britain continues to be at the forefront of innovation and represents a huge vote of confidence in our Industrial Strategy.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:

I want patients to continue to be at the front of the queue for the best treatments available. The NHS has a proud history of spearheading medical innovation and today’s investment in our strong and growing life sciences sector will see patients in the UK continue to benefit from world-leading research and pioneering medicines.

MSD’s Research Laboratories president Dr. Roger M. Perlmutter said of the investment:

Strong discovery capabilities and the pursuit of scientific excellence are foundational to MSD’s mission to save and improve lives around the world.

A new UK location will enable us to build on our proud legacy of invention and be an important contributor to the vibrant and rapidly growing UK life sciences community, while providing access for more collaborations within the European life science ecosystem.

MSD Managing Director in the UK and Ireland, Louise Houson said:

We believe the UK to be a unique bioscience centre of excellence and this investment presents a major opportunity for us to work in collaboration with the UK government to build on the forward thinking and ambitious Industrial Strategy white paper being published by the government today.

Chair of the Life Science Industrial Strategy Advisory Board, Sir John Bell said:

Today’s investment provides strong evidence that a coherent industrial strategy can have a real, tangible impact on economic activity in sectors that we need to strengthen and grow. It will drive this sector forward and simultaneously attract other investments into the UK.

Investments by world-renowned companies like MSD and QIAGEN demonstrate that the UK’s science base is truly world-leading and an exceptional national strength.

It is clear that the UK can, through a collaborative partnership between government, industry, academia, charities and the NHS, deliver the next wave of innovation that will benefit patients, transform the health care system, and generate economic growth and improved productivity.

The Sector Deal, confirmed in the white paper later today, will drive investment in the UK’s world-leading research infrastructure and boost productivity in the sector. It will be formally announced in the coming weeks, including a brand new partnership between leading diagnostics company, QIAGEN, and Health Innovation Manchester, that has the intention to develop a genomics and diagnostics campus in the city.

This new campus will generate new skilled jobs and attract companies from across the world to the north west, while the company has confirmed it is going to expand its current operations in Manchester, with the potential to create 800 skilled jobs.

CEO of QIAGEN, Peer M. Schatz said:

We are very excited about this partnership with Health Innovation Manchester, and the essential engagement of the University of Manchester, the NHS Trust and the UK government. Our success together can advance science and improve the lives of patients in the local region as well as worldwide.

Innovation at the heart of Industrial Strategy

Today’s investment builds on the announcement made by the Prime Minister last week that the government ambition is to deliver a step change in the level of investment in research and development (R&D), rising from 1.7% to 2.4% of GDP by 2027. This could mean around £80 billion of additional investment in advanced technology in the next decade, helping to transform whole sectors, create new industries, and support innovation across the country.

The uplift will help transform the UK economy and drive a long-term change in the use of R&D by industry, ensuring that the next generation of innovative technologies that create high-skilled jobs, revolutionise productivity and improve living standards, are produced in Britain. Government will be working with industry and academia to deliver this goal.

Grand Challenges

The white paper follows extensive engagement by government with industry, academia and business bodies who submitted almost 2,000 responses to the green paper consultation earlier in 2017.

In the strategy, the government identifies 4 Grand Challenges; global trends that will shape our rapidly changing future and which the UK must embrace and lead to ensure we harness all the economic and social opportunities they bring. The first 4 are:

artificial intelligence (AI): the rise of AI is changing the world we live in, the UK has to be at the forefront of this data-driven revolution and grasp the opportunities it presents through the AI Sector Deal

clean growth: the global shift to clean growth presents huge opportunities for innovation that government and industry must take advantage of by backing the development, manufacture and use of low carbon technologies

ageing society: to effectively meet the needs of an ageing population, the UK must harness innovations in medical care, technology and services

future mobility: from driverless cars to drone-delivered goods, the way we move people, goods and services is evolving rapidly and the UK needs to be a world leader in shaping what the future of mobility looks like

Each Grand Challenge represents an open invitation to business, academia and civil society to work and engage with the government to innovate, develop new technologies and develop strategies to seize these global opportunities.

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The Cultural Apartheid of Disability: A Conversation between Judith Smith and John Killacky with Resources and Tips

Americans for the Arts 2017 Annual Conference, Friday June 16, 2017 Universal Design and Embracing Disability within Equity

John Killacky: Judith Smith and I met in the early 1990s when I worked at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 had recently mandated equal access for people with disabilities and Judy’s company was at the forefront of a burgeoning disability arts movement, influenced by the earlier racial, women’s, and LGBT civil rights struggles. Identity and affirmation were politically infused into aesthetics.

At that time, there were few visible role models for artists with a disability and little access to training and professional development for them to grow. Initially, work emerged from a therapeutic medicalized model and audiences responded with the ablest “inspiration porn” trope that sanctifies and objectifies people with disabilities.

Judy Smith: In 1987, Founding Artistic Director Thais Mazur had the creative vision to gather a group of dancers with and without physical disabilities to explore dance and create a piece.

The piece was about a young dancer who becomes disabled, can no longer “dance” and then years later begins dancing again—in a wheelchair. It premiered at the 1988 “Furious Feet Dance Festival for Social Change” produced by the Dance Brigade. We were well received by both the dance community and the disability community. What first started as a one-off project quickly led to numerous requests for performances. Dance in the Bay Area was very experimental, so AXIS Dance Company fit in well. The disability community was thrilled to see themselves reflected on stage. At the time, we did not know that this dance form was actually springing up all over the world.

We started doing outreach early on with a monthly community dance jam because people requested a place where they too could do integrated dance, called “mixed ability dance” at that time. The term is still used, but AXIS uses the term “physically-integrated dance,” which came out of the UK in the  '90s.

Our artistic and engagement programs are inextricably linked. We realized that if we wanted trained disabled dancers, AXIS was going to have to be that training ground. Even today, it is virtually impossible for dancers with disabilities to get training the way nondisabled dancers do.

Audiences liked our work, but it confounded funders who considered it to be “therapy” and not dance. Critics did not know how to review it. One well-known critic said he would never bother to come see us because it was not “dance.” And, to be honest, our early works were mostly directly about disability and it was the start of a new dance form, so the work was rather sophomoric. If you look at what ice skaters and gymnasts are doing today, it is much more technically difficult than it was thirty years ago. This did change when we started commissioning well-known choreographers, composers, and designers.

John: Well-meaning early adopter presenters, myself included, were clueless as to what was needed to present the work of Judy’s company, AXIS. I invited them to be part of a series entitled OUT THERE, which happened in January. Judy suggested that this might not be the best time to bring the company to Minneapolis, as the weather and getting around might be an issue, but it fit my curatorial construct.

I had booked them in a hotel next to the theatre, and the theatre itself was an old vaudeville house, so no steps to an elevated stage. However, it was January and quite cold with lots of snow, so on the way over to the theatre, Judy hit some ice and her front wheel broke off. Having become disabled, myself, years later, I now understood why a different season might have been better from the company’s perspective.

Judy: Presenters are drawn to the work for several reasons and I hope the first and foremost is artistry. That said, an exciting aspect is that AXIS and others like us give presenters the opportunity to connect with their disabled communities—often for the first time. This work helps them look more broadly at diversity, equity, and inclusion. It can also be intimidating for presenters and we have had some interesting experiences, because while we will not perform in venues that are inaccessible to our audience, we often have less than accessible backstage areas.

However, disability is the mother of invention. We have been cattle truck lifted onto an outdoor stage. In Siberia, we had to charge my wheelchair batteries by driving them around in a Fiat and swapping them out daily. Feral dogs chased us on the tarmac in Moscow because we could not be driven to the plane like others. In Germany, we changed in a broom closet with a skeleton. Less entertaining is when our wheelchairs were destroyed by airlines or when we have had to roll around in sub-zero temperatures because there is no accessible transport.

One of our biggest early successes was planning and co-curating the first International Festival of Wheelchair Dance in Boston, in 1997 with Jeremy Alliger and Dance Umbrella. We brought fourteen companies from around the world together. It was eye-opening and really a turning point for me and for AXIS. Some of the work coming out of Europe and South America was so much aesthetically stronger than what was happening in the USA.

John: As the company progressed, Judy realized that they had to become better as dancers and improve the level of choreography and design. Up until then, they had gotten primarily sympathy reviews through the “inspirational porn” lens, peppered with such gratuitous praise as “overly courageous,” “brave,” “special,” or “superhuman.” Even today, I still read how truly brave these people with disabilities were to get up on stage; how remarkable and special they are to be making work against all odds. However, they work hard at being artists and deserve to be taken seriously.

Judy: In 1997, we stopped doing work directly about disability, started commissioning well known choreographers, and expanded and formalized our education program. The first choreographer we commissioned, with support from Dance Umbrella, was Bill T. Jones. Naïveté allows you to do things that you might not do otherwise! Bill was intrigued when approached because of Arlene Croce’s review of his work Still/Here. Without actually seeing the work, she had chastised it as “victim art” and went on to say there was no place for old, fat, sick, or disabled people on stage. Bill felt a lot of pressure because of that review and told me that we could not fail. We had to make a strong piece.

The great thing about commissioning was that AXIS got exposure to training, to other points of view, and our work was much stronger. It also gave critics context to talk about our work in a way that they did not have before. What is very rewarding to me is that the choreographers also got something out of working with AXIS and with a very different, more expansive palette of movement. To date, we have commissioned over thirty-five new works. Choreographers are interested in integrated dance, as evidenced when we had sixty-five choreographers apply to work with us in an R&D residency at the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography.

Our engagement programs also continue evolving. We added a summer intensive in 2005 and have had almost 500 dancers from a dozen countries attend. We added a Teacher Training Institute three years ago and are now doing several around the country annually. We started working with veterans with a piece about resilience, choreographed by Joe Goode.

Twenty Seven Years After Passing the ADA Legislation Architectural accommodations

Most arts groups, including the Flynn Center in Vermont, provide accessible parking spaces, accessible and companion seating, hearing assist systems, accessible restrooms, accessible elevators, and power-assist buttons at entries. The Flynn’s new box office features a shelf 33 inches from the floor to facilitate transactions from a wheelchair. However, architectural accommodation does not equate with full inclusion.

Programmatic accessibility Providing communication aids such as assistive listening devices, TTYs, and sign language interpreters, support staff, adapted equipment, and making registration available by phone, or providing services at an alternative accessible site are all methods of programmatic access.

What are programmatic barriers?

Communication barriers

Programs in inaccessible buildings

Registration not available by phone

Visiting field trip sites that are inaccessible

Activities that fail to utilize all senses

Information not available in different formats

Attitudinal barriers are defined as a way of thinking or feeling, resulting in behavior that limits the potential of people with disabilities. Often it is not the disability, but rather the attitudes of the public and those providing recreation services (public or private) that limit activities of people with disabilities.

What are attitudinal barriers?

Avoidance

Fear

Stereotyping

Discrimination

Insensitivity

Discomfort

Issues in Our Field that Need to be Improved John: Flynn Center patrons’ access needs can be requested online, in person, and through a voice/relay system. However, there is much work to be done with online access. An ADA audit found audio descriptions are needed for images so that people with visual impairments who use screen readers can “hear” an image. Further, ADA recommendations include adding captions to videos for people who are hard of hearing. When I see brochures and websites from presenters, they are too wordy, print size is too small, and reverse black ground against white print is not inclusive, although loved by designers. Few organizations offer open captioning for lec-dems.

Programmatically, the Flynn, like our peers, offers American Sign Language (ASL), when requested, as well as large-print and braille programs. The wonderful women’s acapella group Sweet Honey in the Rock has traveled with its own ASL interpreter for years. On their last visit to the Flynn, we had a request for audio description from patrons who were visually impaired. This was a first for the group, and they were thrilled.

Over the years, many visual artists and choreographers resisted having audio description of their work. I remind them that once they exhibit or perform, the work is not theirs any more. I have been told, “Well, those people don’t come anyway.” I always answer, “And why would they if they are not invited into the experience of your work.”

For a performance of Thodos’s Dance’s A Light in the Dark, about the lives of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan, we provided braille study guides and the company led touch tours on stage so audience members with a visual impairment could better access contextual elements of the production, such as costumes, props, and scenery. We also had a Flynn teaching artist collaborate with a VSA VT teaching artist, storyteller, and comedian René Pellerin, who is both deaf and blind, for pre-performance workshops in various classrooms. These in-classroom presentations made the performance richer for all students who came.

AXIS since 2014

Judy: In 2014, AXIS received a Doris Duke National Projects award to host the first ever National Convening and six Regional Convenings, The Future of Physically Integrated Dance in the USA. The National Convening attracted over fifty activators: dancers and choreographers; presenters and funders; educators and activists; service organization leaders; and policy makers. Another 250 activators were gathered at the Regional Convenings. Dance/USA was our media partner and has really embraced equity in dance for people with disabilities.

At the annual Dance/USA conference, AXIS hosted a pre-conference focus group supported by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a panel presentation on inclusive dance happenings around the country, a class and teacher training taught by AXIS Artistic Director Marc Brew, and a meeting to establish an affinity group of inclusive dance practitioners.

A lot of momentum has been generated over the last three years by AXIS, Dance/NYC, Dance/USA, and other dance service organizations.

Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Principles for Arts Instruction John: Just as architecture has embraced Universal Design concepts to make our facilities more accessible to older people, people without disabilities, and people with disabilities, we too must incorporate Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles into our arts instruction.

As part of our in-school arts education work, the Flynn partners with VSA VT and Burlington City Arts at the K-5 Integrated Arts Academy to provide professional development for teachers and teaching artists in UDL, a set of curriculum development principles that considers multiple learning styles. These are particularly relevant for students with physical and cognitive disabilities, but also assist kinesthetic learners, paving the way for rich learning experiences in the arts for all students, including English language learners.

Next season, we are expanding this multi-sensory work to accommodate gallery visits by people at varying stages of dementia to respond to art and participate in a shared experience with caregivers. Examples of multi-sensory ways to respond to art include using movement, voices to create sound other than language, notepads and markers to make shapes that represent ideas or feelings, and language, when available.

Even for programs, classes, and camps not specifically designed for individuals with disabilities, the Flynn uses UDL principles and works with our teaching artists so that accommodations and adaptations are a welcome and regular part of our practice for all.

Engaging Disability Communities

Judy: AXIS has had a great response from presenters who look to AXIS and other integrated companies to help them engage their disability communities, often for the first time. The most important thing presenters can do is to establish partnerships with existing disability organizations such as independent living centers, disabled sports/recreation organizations, and campus disabled students services. Many presenters have made great efforts by removing seats to accommodate more wheelchair accessible seating, hiring ASL interpreters, and providing audio description. I encourage these presenters to keep finding ways to engage the community and not let their effort be a one-time thing.

AXIS’s residencies have led to organizational shifts in approaching accessibility and inclusion—great models are the Flynn Center for the Performing Arts, in Burlington, and Tigertail Productions, in Miami. Most of our experience has been positive.

One negative experience was with a presenter that organizes international tours for American dance companies. AXIS was chosen, but it seemed that when the real logistics of access became apparent, the presenter backed out. This program has since engaged two other companies to work with disabled communities abroad; neither company has any disabled dancers and very limited exposure to inclusive dance. One artistic director in particular said that his company felt way over their head. They did their best, but it was really challenging. They did love the work and have since sent dancers to AXIS trainings.

Lessons Learned at the Flynn

John: To better understand the needs of individuals on the autism spectrum and their families, the Flynn worked with Theatre Development Fund’s Autism Theatre Initiative, colleagues from VSA VT, Howard Center, and an advisory committee. All staff learned to be more welcoming and not frown upon or curtail fidgeting and sounds. In this process, we had to challenge our own misconceptions, working with advisers to explore and learn about what we did not know.

We found visitors on the autism spectrum have different needs, so adaptations are not a one-size-fits-all solution. Our initial ideas were complex and varied and the community urged us to simplify and understand that the biggest barrier is feeling unwelcome and ashamed of behaviors that are atypical in an audience setting.

We worked with the Childsplay ensemble to implement a new audience approach with the presentation “Schoolhouse Rock Live!” in a sensory-friendly manner. Online, we posted social stories, giving those on the autism spectrum a preview of what to expect. No changes were made in the script, but light levels were increased in the house and sound was lowered. We created activity and quiet spaces in the lobby and gallery and made character cards, fidgets, and noise-canceling headphones available for use. After the show, the actors met excited kids in the lobby. Encouraged by this success, we decided to adapt all family matinee shows in this manner, a testament to how “special needs” benefit all patrons and enhance everyone’s experience.

For the gallery, we create social stories online for exhibitions and make headphones with soft music and fidgets available, simple augmentations to provide a more welcoming environment. Social stories are good for people of all ages and a variety of disabilities, including dementia.

On a more intimate scale, the Flynn has been working with Chicago Children’s Theatreand their multi-sensory works created specifically for young people on the autism spectrum. Their intimate production, for twelve students at a time, creates a safe and exciting theatrical environment for young people with autism and their families and educational support teams. The company’s artistic director, Jacqueline Russell, taught a workshop for twenty-five educators and caregivers from Vermont and New York, sharing her experiences and providing tools for us to better provide access and work with children on the autism spectrum.

Next season, we are commissioning Jacqueline to create a new work with local theatre artists designed specifically for young people on the autism spectrum, building out our own internal capacity to create multi-sensory, interactive theatre, music, and storytelling to engage children who rarely get access to theatrical experiences.

People with disabilities are excluded from cultural participation for most workshops and classes at arts organizations. Two Flynn programs help redress this exclusion. Movement for Parkinson’s, initially developed by the Mark Morris Dance Company, builds the participants’ range of motion, memory retention, strength, flexibility, and balance. Our Parkinson’s group, led by local choreographer Sara McMahon, began performing, surprising themselves, as well as challenging stereotypes. Breaking down the isolation for the participants and their caregivers has been an added benefit.

ASD Drumming, a partnership with VSA VT, is designed for children on the autism spectrum and their families. The workshops include hands-on music activities using special drums that filter out the most disturbing tones for people with sensory issues. Children create their own rhythms, individually and in collaboration with others, building social skills while they express themselves musically. This is a unique and powerful experience they do not have access to elsewhere.

Lessons Learned at AXIS

Judy: AXIS has always only held events at wheelchair accessible venues that can accommodate a large number of wheelchair users—which is no small feat! We also have performances ASL interpreted. We are delving more deeply into audio description of performances, videos, and photos. Audio describing contemporary dance is more challenging than describing theatre or still photos. AXIS dancers are adept at multi-modality teaching as well and we take advantage of professional development opportunities.

We recently released a report in print and PDF format with multiple modes of accessibility as a priority. We are making sure our website is accessible to people with many kinds of disabilities and access needs by following web design accessibility standards.

Marketing for Artists with Disabilities is Complicated

John: Many artists with disabilities not want to be defined by their disability. Jazz pianist Marcus Roberts was presented for his genius to a mainstream audience of jazz lovers, but since he is blind, we were able to do some incredible outreach with the Vermont Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Visual artist Larry Bissonnette, although a world traveled spokesperson for autism, did not want his exhibition framed entirely within a disability context. We reached out to art aficionados and critics, as well as to the autism community.

Judy: AXIS is a contemporary dance company doing physically-integrated dance, meaning we have dancers with and without physical disabilities.

I always say that when it comes to integrated dance, “Seeing in Believing.” It is not like ballet, where anyone can conjure up an image. I always like to show one dancer with a disability and one without. As a disabled person, when I see a poster with a disabled person on it, or an article with a photo, I am going to take a second look. This is a small way that we make sure we reach people with disabilities who rarely see images of disability in the media.

We also strive to make sure our nondisabled dancers are recognized, because they are equally important to the work. AXIS is not a disabled dance company or a wheelchair dance company. It is important that presenters learn how a company wants to be represented and how to represent people with disabilities.

Person-First Language

John: There is a fine line in promoting artists’ work appropriately. All too often, as I mentioned, artists with disabilities are given empathetic reviews replete with that “inspiration porn” trope of heroism overcoming tribulations, but ultimately they are not taken seriously as artists. Aesthetic validation is far more important than sympathy. After all, the Flynn is presenting them for their artistry, not their disability.

In disability circles, we are reminded to always lead with the person first. It is better to say “a person who uses a wheelchair” versus “a wheelchair user.” Never say “wheelchair-bound” or “confined to a wheelchair.” (The only exception is in the deaf community, where many want to be referred to as a “deaf person.”) With artists, I always lead with the person and art form, and then add an identifying contextual tag when and where appropriate.

While people-first language is a good policy for organizations, it is also important to recognize and respect that within disability communities and disability pride movements; there are individuals who prefer to call themselves a disabled artist, a blind person, etc. As staff or volunteers at a cultural organization, accepting a correction from an audience member or visiting artist about their preferred means of identification without the cultural organization’s staff member or volunteer answering with an explanation of the intent or defensiveness is also an important skill.

Along this journey, ongoing staff training has been important, and ongoing community input from people with disabilities essential.

Tips

Interacting with People with Disabilities

Relax and be yourself.

Do not make assumptions about what someone can and cannot do.

Speak directly to the person with whom you are interacting.

Do not avoid using common idioms like “see,” “walk,” or “hear.”

Do not let one bad experience set the standard for future interactions.

Treat adults as adults.

Do not mention the person’s disability, unless he or she talks about it.

More Common Courtesies

Speak to an adult with a disability as an adult, not like a child, or in a patronizing way.

Listen carefully to any instructions.

Each person's disability is unique; they know the best and safest way to assist themselves.

Allow the person to remain as independent as possible.

Be considerate of the extra time it might take them to get things done or said.

If you do not know the answer to an access inquiry, do not guess.

Relax and be yourself.

Treat the individual with dignity, respect, and courtesy.

Listen to the individual.

You likely have more in common than not.

Assisting People with Disabilities

Offer assistance if inclined, but wait for instructions.

Say, “Would you like assistance?” instead of “Do you need assistance?”

Do not ask someone to prove his or her disability.

If someone asks for an accommodation, trust they need it.

Kinds of Disabilities You or Your Staff May Encounter

Mobility Disabilities

Respect mobility equipment as a part of their body.

If talking to someone in a wheelchair for a long time, consider getting down to eye level.

Respect access.

People use wheelchairs for a variety of reasons.

Do not push, lean on, or hold onto a person’s wheelchair unless asked.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Get their attention.

Let the person take the lead in establishing communication modes (lip-reading, sign language, writing notes).

Speak in a normal tone.

Speak directly to the person, not to the interpreter.

Use gestures and body language.

Position yourself in good lighting.

Do not assume they can read lips.

If they indicate they do, do not enunciate and keep objects away from your face.

Rephrase rather than repeat a sentence someone does not understand.

Blind and Visually Impaired

Identify yourself upon approaching and leaving.

When giving instructions, be descriptive and concise: “It’s three short blocks on your left.”

Talk directly to the person.

Use clock to orient to objects.

Talk in a normal tone.

Offer your elbow to guide them.

Do not leave without excusing yourself first.

Speech Disabilities

Ask them to repeat something if you did not understand them.

Do not interrupt or finish their sentences, pay attention, be patient, and wait.

If you are not sure whether you understood them, repeat what you heard for verification.

A quiet environment makes for easier communication.

Do not assume they also have a cognitive disability.

Cognitive Disabilities

Be patient and give the person time to complete their task.

Give simple, literal instructions.

If in a public area with many distractions, consider moving to a quiet or private location.

Be prepared to repeat what you say, orally or in writing.

Do not “over-assist” or be patronizing.

Be flexible and supportive.

Take time to understand the individual and make sure the individual understands you.

Assistive technology may include:

Alphabet board or computer to communicate.

Facilitated communication with persons with ASD.

Service Dogs

There are only two questions staff may ask of a person with a service dog:

Is the dog a service animal required because of a disability?

What work or task has the dog been trained to do?

Staff cannot ask about the person’s disability, require medical documentation, require a special identification card or training documentation for the dog, or ask that that the dog demonstrate its ability to perform the work or task. Vests are not required on the animal.

Recommendation for Funding Agencies Federal, regional, state, and local government funding agencies ask for our disability plans as a criterion for receiving tax privileged funding, but then grandfather in and ignore lack of programmatic implementations, excusing real accommodation as putting too much of a financial burden on organizations. This perpetuates a cultural apartheid that exists for artists and audiences with disabilities. Funding agencies need to stop funding inaccessible programs.

This work is ongoing; there is much to do. Inclusion is a civil rights issue, but equally as important, it can be an organizational asset.

Resources

Design for Accessibility: A Cultural Administrator’s Handbook

The United Spinal Association’s Disability Etiquette Guide

Disability Etiquette: Engaging People with Disabilities

The Cultural Apartheid of Disability: A Conversation between Judith Smith and John Killacky was originally published on HowlRound, a knowledge commons by and for the theater community, on August 2, 1017.