Sounds, Sights, and Silences: Disability in Musical Theater

FAIN: FT-255197-17

James S. Leve
Northern Arizona University (Flagstaff, AZ 86011-0001)

Preparation of a book-length study about the representation and impact of disability on American musical theater.

I request an NEH Summer Stipend to write two chapters of my book, "Sounds, Sights, and Silences: Disability in Musical Theater,” the first major study of disability as it is constructed and experienced in musical theater. The funding will support on-site visits to Theater by the Blind and Deaf West in Los Angeles. I will observe how the staff of these organizations interacts with and prepares the disabled performers. Following these visits, I will incorporate this material into the relevant chapters of my book. My study approaches disability in musical theater from three distinct perspectives: the narrative structure, the composition, and accommodation for performers and audience members. It also explores the impact of the ADA on the repertory. My book speaks to a diverse audience of scholars in the humanities by enlarging the scope of disability studies to include musical theater.