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Alethea Shirilan-Howlett wrote “Viewer Discretion Advised” — the closing performance at Sunday night’s Access Arts SU show — as a junior in high school.

With the help of the audience at the inaugural Access Arts show, which showcased art of all mediums made by disabled members of the SU community, Shirilan-Howlett stylized the play as a sitcom, inviting viewers to laugh, cheer and gush at various moments during the performance. For her, seeing the play performed on stage during her junior year of college was a full circle moment.

“I feel like this play doesn’t correspond with one disability as much as it encompasses a lot of them as a whole,” Shirilan-Howlett said. “I was thinking about my high school self — I felt really out of place, and … four years later, being on a college stage and doing this, it feels like I’ve resolved some things and let go of some things from high school.”

Shirilan-Howlett’s play was one of the many works on display at the Access Arts show. From slam poetry to singing and a traditional art gallery, the event brought the Underground at the Schine Student Center to life, encouraging an evening of creativity and community.

Access Arts SU was a collaboration between Black Box Players and Syracuse University’s Disability Access and Inclusion Council to feature artistic work from disabled SU students, staff and faculty. Alexis Wilner, the artistic director of the event, has been working with the Disability Access and Inclusion Council on the event planning subcommittee since last April, when she helped organize the university’s first Disability Pride Week.

To acknowledge the month of October as National Disability Employment Awareness Month, Wilner and the council developed a series of programming to bring awareness to the disabled community at SU, including the Access Arts show.

“One of the biggest intentions (of the event) is to create more of a bond amongst the disabled artists on campus, and honestly, just the entire disability community,” Wilner said. “The council as a whole, its initiative is to increase inclusion and accessibility on campus.”

From first-year students to SU staff members, the evening’s show invited disabled artists of all mediums to share their work on stage.

Before the event began, audience members mingled and viewed the art on display at the show’s gallery, which featured traditional paintings and object art, like a handmade dress made by fashion design and disability studies student Cassia Soodak.

The show featured a packed program of art from students of all majors and ages. Madeline Carter, a senior film student, submitted a stop-motion animated short film titled “Just Keep GrOwING” about a caterpillar who struggles to turn into a butterfly. Kennedy Campbell, a senior musical theater student, sent in a slam poem performance titled “Discrimination,” which traced her experience as a Black, disabled student facing exclusion in the theater community.

EJ Figueroa, a first-year television, radio and film student, took to the stage to perform “Prom Queen” by Beach Bunny. Figueroa said she picked the song because of how straightforward it is — and because he listens to the track all the time.

Having the opportunity to perform in a room of people who understand what it’s like to have a disability was comforting for Figueroa, he said. Prior to the performance, Figueroa and the other performers had access to a low-stimulation room if needed, which Figueroa said was helpful to have.

“I definitely feel like disabilities aren’t talked enough (about). I always get that thing of like, ‘Oh, you don’t look disabled,’ or ‘you shouldn’t call yourself disabled,’” Figueroa said. “It’s nice being in a community where all of that is not even thought of. You don’t even have to ask for it. It’s already there. It’s so comforting.”

At the end of the night, three actors, a narrator and Shirilan-Howlett, took to the stage to perform “Viewer Discretion Advised.” The play centers on a high school student named Jason who struggles with depression that goes unnoticed by his mother, uncle and the world around him.

Shirilan-Howlett wrote the show after noticing students at her school were struggling with many of the mental health issues she experienced after a student at her high school died by suicide. Shirilan-Howlett said her school didn’t acknowledge the tragedy, and that she wrote the work at a time when her classmates experienced “unspoken cry for help.”

“I wrote this play when I was in high school, before I knew I was on the spectrum, but I had been struggling,” Shirilan-Howlett said. “A lot of students were struggling with mental health, depression, mostly. … I appreciated having that outlet to say something without really outright saying it.”

Ultimately for Wilner, providing resources and a space for disabled artists to express what their art means to them was at the heart of the Access Arts event — and why she hopes the council will do another one in the future.

“We really wanted to focus on not creating this to become a showcase of … like, bury it down in your art or enacting your trauma to create your art,” Wilner said. “We really want this to be an opportunity for disabled students, staff and faculty to speak for themselves and what art means to them.”

Published on October 9, 2022 at 11:24 pm