MEDIA ACCESS OFFICE NEWS – OCTOBER 2004
Disability Resource to the Entertainment Industry
Codes:
AL-Leg Amputee
B-Blind
CP-Cerebral Palsy
D-Deaf
DD-Developmental Disability
Ds-Down syndrome
HI-Hearing Impaired
ID-Invisible Disability
LP-Little Person
MI-Mobility Impaired
O-Other
PWD-Performers With Disabilities
VI-Visually Impaired
WU-Wheelchair User
M.A.O. MEMBER APPEARANCES
M.A.O. MEMBERS AND OTHER KNOWN PWD
WHO ARE SERIES REGULARS/RECURRING
Grant Albrecht (WU)
as Dr. Giles: "CSI: New York" - CBSMichael J. Anderson (LP) as Samson: "Carnivale" - HBO
Deanne Bray (D) as Sue Thomas: "Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye" - PAX
Robert David Hall (AL) as Coroner Dr. Robbins: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" - CBS
Anita Hollander (AL) as Shelley: "All My Children" - ABC
Geri Jewell (CP) as Jewel: "Deadwood" - HBO and
as Rose: "The Young & the Restless" - CBS
Mitch Longley (WU) as Barry "Bear" Caldwell: "Joan of Arcadia" - CBS
and as Surveillance Team Member Mitch: "Las Vegas" - NBC
REGULARS BIOS
Anita Hollander
has performed throughout Europe and America as an actress and singer. She has premiered works of composers and lyricists at Carnegie Hall, the Village Gate, the Original Improvisation, Playwrights Horizons and the O'Neill Center. At the New York Shakespeare Festival she sang new works by Phillip Glass in JoAnne Akalaitis' production of WOYZECK. In 1997 she received a prestigious Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical for her performance in the world premiere of THE FIFTH SEASON at the Olney Theatre in MD. Anita also originated the title role in the award-winning play GRETTY GOOD TIME at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC.Anita's own writing has garnered critical praise and awards from ASCAP, Billboard and Backstage Magazine. Her original one-woman musical STILL STANDING has been produced Off-Broadway as well as nationally at the White House, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Playhouse, Corcoran Gallery, the Kennedy Center and many others. Songs from the show have been on radio and MTV.
A member of AEA, SAG, AFTRA, ASCAP and Dramatists Guild, as well as the tri-union Performers with Disabilities committee, Anita has worked with other disabled performers in Boston's Next Move Unlimited Theatre, Joseph Chaikin's Disability Project at the Public Theatre, and Infinity Dance Theatre. She's also done workshops about disability with young people in Boston (with Urban Improv), the Poconos (with amputee skiers), and New Jersey. For Very Special Arts she appeared at the ADA Anniversary in DC and at the U.N. with Betty Buckley and Tom Brokaw. On television, Anita narrated the acclaimed PBS documentary series PEOPLE IN MOTION featuring Itzhak Perlman, Marlee Matlin and John Hockenberry. She's also appeared on ANOTHER WORLD and ALL MY CHILDREN (on which her husband and daughter, Paul and Holland Hamilton, also appeared). BBC/London recently featured Anita on their program FROM THE EDGE, and MTV featured her in their Celebration of Diversity. John S. Wilson of the New York Times has written: "Hollander is provocative, funny, moving, communicative and beautifully polished...She has a wide range of vocal colors which she uses with dramatic sensitivity as well as comic insight...All this plus a charming presence that flavors everything she does." Her CD "Still Standing" can be purchased on-line at either amazon.com or cdnow.com.
[Anita was also interviewed for the latest issue of Opening Stages, the Quarterly Newsletter from the Kennedy Center. To get a free subscription, and/or a reprint of that article, send your request to access@kennedy-center.org.]
[Note: ‘Regulars’ Bios is an ongoing feature spotlighting those PWDs who have recurring or regular roles on television. Material is either obtained from official web sites or the actors themselves.]
THEATRE APPEARANCES
®
‘Amadeus’Where: Mosaic Theatre, Plantation, FL.
Reservations/Info:
(954) 577-8243When:
9/30 - 10/17M.A.O. Member Steve Gladstone (B) is playing Joseph II in the award-winning drama.
®
‘Snakebit’Where: Lesher Center for the Arts, Walnut Creek, CA.
Reservations/Info: 925/943-7469 or online at http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase
When: 10/1-23
M.A.O. member Dale Albright (O) is producing and starring in this Act Now! production of David Marshall Grant’s comic drama, which also recently played a successful run in Mt. View in Sept.
®
‘Shocktoberfest: Welcome to the Hypnodrome’Where: 575 10th St. at Bryant, San Francisco
Reservations/Info: http://www.thrillpeddlers.com/
When: 10/7-11/20
M.A.O. Member Tristan Thunderbolt (D) is featured in three Grand Guignol classic plays from the 1920’s.
TELEVISION APPEARANCES
®
‘CSI: New York’Where: CBS-TV
When: Weds. Nov. 3 (tentative date; check listings), 10 PM.
M.A.O. Member Lawrence Kaldor (AL) plays "Frank Hertzberg", the murder victim investigated on the seventh episode of the premiere season, which is called "The Outside Man".
®
‘Boston Legal’Where: ABC-TV
When: Sun., Oct. 10, at 10 PM.
MAO Member David Connell (MI) makes a cameo appearance on the new David E. Kelly show.
CONGRATULATIONS TO M.A.O. MEMBERS…
Ray Salazar (D)
filmed a national Sprint commercial in San Francisco that will be airing shortly. Mary Ann Tidwell-Broussard (MI) performed a lead role with the Black Repertory Theatre of Oakland in the play CopyCat. Andrea Nixon (WU) was cast in an indie ‘mocumentary’ tentatively called What Are You Willing to Notice About Your World? 2003 M.A.O. Young Performer Scholarship award winner Alice Diehl (WU) was just cast in a lead role in her high school’s holiday play, Fruitcakes. Maia Scott (B) is performing and teaching at the Access Advisors’ Committee of The Fine Arts Museums’ Open House in San Francisco on Oct. 9. Arturo Gil (LP) filmed two commercials for BestBuy and is also doing motion-capture animation for Jim Henson Studios for their ‘Francis’ cartoon series. Jody Lee Olhava (MI) has had the film she produced, Mamochka, screened at several film festivals, including Berkeley’s, at which it won the award for best educational film. Lisa Zion (O-Polio) had her article on acting published in Latino LA online magazine [the article is at http://www.latinola.com/story.php?story =2028]. Sujeet Desai (Ds) is performing 10/3 & 23 in NY; check his website at www.sujeet.com and/or www.bestbuddies newyork.org for specifics. He also won awards at both the National and World Down syndrome Congresses recently.[Corrections: Darryl Evans (MI) name was misspelled in last month’s newsletter. We regret the error].
Reminder to M.A.O. Members – We would like to have your appearances in film, television & theatre mentioned in the newsletter in a timely fashion. Please email
DGordy@edd.ca.gov with your info by the third week of the month prior to the month in which you will appear
And the Winners are…
The 2004 Acting Scholarship Competition was held at the Media Access Office on Saturday, September 18. We congratulate this year's acting scholarship award winners:
Christopher Reeve Scholarship - $5,000
KEN RAMSEY
Ricardo Montalban/Nosotros Scholarship - $1,000
JOHN SICILIANO
KSA/DAY Scholarship - $1,000
TREV BROUDY
DSALA Scholarship - $1,000
CHRISTINE YOUNG
Very Sad News…
M.A.O. Member Barry Silcock (WU/O - spina bifida) passed away at Kaiser Lakeview Hospital in the early morning of Sunday, September 19th. Barry had been in ICU for over 100 days and was slated to be discharged home that afternoon. At approximately 2:15 am Barry complained of difficulty breathing. He was given an increase of oxygen to no avail. Extensive efforts to resuscitate Barry failed. Barry passed away at 2:45 am Sunday morning. He was 19 years old. Memorial services were held on Sept. 27 in Lake Forrest. Our sincerest sympathies go to his parents, Ann and James, and all of his family members. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests a donation be made to INTERNATIONAL CHRISTIAN ADOPTIONS for the "Barry Silcock Memorial Fund for Adoption of Children with Special Needs."
International Christian Adoptions
41745 Rider Way #2
Temecula, CA 92590
(909) 695-3336
4achild.com
Media Access Awards Postponed
Due to circumstances beyond our control, the 22nd Media Access Awards show has been postponed until the new year. The new date for the event is Friday, January 14, 2005. The venue will still be the same, The Highlands Club at Hollywood & Highland. More information will be forthcoming as to ticket prices, honorees, etc., as it becomes available. Stay tuned!
HOLLYWOOD NETWORKING BREAKFAST
SPECIAL GUEST SPEAKER is TBA. Date: Thursday, Oct. 28, 2004,
SAVE THE DATE!!!
The 22nd Media Access Awards
January 14, 2005
THE HIGHLANDS
(at Hollywood & Highland)
HOLLYWOOD, CA
For ticket information call (310) 388-4668
Looking for information about us?
Get more info about the work of the Friends of the California Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, Inc. and the Media Access Office at:
Do you have information for the Newsletter?
Write, phone or fax us at:
The Media Access Office
4640 Lankershim Blvd., Suite 305
N. Hollywood, CA 91602
(818) 752-1196 Voice (818) 753-3426 Fax
(818) 753-3427 TTY
Media Access Office – North
363 Civic Drive
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
(925) 602-1542 Voice (925)-602-1540 Fax
711 for CA Relay Service
REACH US VIA E-MAIL:
Gloria M. Castañeda –
GCastane@edd.ca.gov(Send Gloria an e-mail if you would like to receive last minute M.A.O. information or announcements via email.)
Dr. Douglas Gordy (M.A.O. North) –
DGordy@edd.ca.govThe Media Access Office is staffed by the Employment Development Department and the California Governor’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. Volunteers and in-kind donations through the Friends of the CGCEPD, Inc., support the office.
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
LABOR AND WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AGENCY
EMPLOYMENT DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
NORMAN M. OWEN, ESQ.
CHAIR
CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S COMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT
OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
CATHERINE KELLY BAIRD
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S COMMITTEE ON EMPLOYMENT
OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES