Contributed by Vania Huang
Last week, Colin from Stage Door had the exciting opportunity to audition for an upcoming TV series on an American TV Network we have all heard of: ABC! This came at the perfect time, just weeks after Stage Door’s media and messaging retreat last month in Vermont, where the actors and colleagues explored the ways in which disability is portrayed in the mainstream media. Check out our blog post here.
In this series, the TV casting call was for two roles: a girl around the age of 15 and a man to play her father who is in his late 30s to 40s. While these two events are not directly related, they highlight the importance of (and we think a growing appetite for) for seeing people with developmental disabilities portrayed in roles onscreen.
Colin auditioned for the part of Danny Cheng, a prison inmate who was born with an intellectual disability and who has been on death row for the past 10 years. Now, with the moratorium on capital cases suspended by executive order, Danny faces imminent execution, despite his mother Grace’s frantic last-minute efforts to save him…
Naturally, Colin was very anxious prior to the audition day, but his nerves were soon calmed by the fact that his good friend Nick was also there to audition. Though the scene was set to be filmed in a jail, Colin was relieved to discover that the audition was not. The entire process was a smooth one; he performed his lines calmly and without mishap in front of two talent scouts who were filming his audition.
When asked about the kind of future roles or projects he would be interested in, Colin said that as long as the people and environment have a good, positive vibe, he would definitely like to attend more auditions and be able to represent people with Williams Syndrome in the media. Colin also loves music and is a keyboard player, and says he would enjoy the chance to star in a music video.
Overall, Colin’s audition experience was a positive one and a good learning experience. “I’m glad I went,” he said. “I was really nervous but I think I handled it really well. They told me I did awesome.”
Colin was one of eight Stage Door actors who responded to the casting call. Our team at posAbilities shares in their excitement and looks forward to hearing about the outcome of the casting call and many more in the future! For more stories like this, visit Shift the Script, a group on Facebook.