Acting for expression

The actors at ArtStream Inclusive Theatre Company are brainstorming ideas for their annual original production. Should they set it in medieval days or on the moon? Should they be cowboys or doctors, students or pirates?

That’s the good thing about acting — you can be anything you want. For the men and women of this theater troupe, it is a great outlet to explore all those different personas and the possibilities that go with them.

ArtStream, founded by local drama teacher and director Patricia Woolsey, is a production company for adults with cognitive disabilities. The company meets in three locations — Arlington, Gaithersburg and Silver Spring — and culminates six months of meetings with an original production each spring.

Ms. Woolsey founded the nonprofit in 2006 to reach what she calls an underserved community.

“These are actors who did not have a chance to perform,” Ms. Woolsey says. “It helps their self-esteem, as well as challenges audiences to see what people with disabilities can do.”

Judging from a recent rehearsal, they can do a lot. Ms. Woolsey gives the group an improv assignment, and most come up with lines that are funny, surprising and insightful.

“I have been acting since I was 15,” says Zandra Martel, 31. “You can be as loud as you want.”

“I played a waitress in the show last spring,” says Sarah Miller, 26. “I really enjoyed it.”

Casey Hammeke, 31, says she loves to act.

“ArtStream is my favorite,” she says. “I have been in other shows, too. I have been in ‘Working,’ ‘Our Town’ and ‘Godspell.’ I played Tinkerbell and was in ‘Alice in Wonderland.’ Acting makes me realize anything is possible.”

Ms. Woolsey says it is important that ArtStream troupes develop their own scripts rather than making the actors fit into a story that might be too abstract.

“That’s what makes this program unique,” she says. “We’re not trying to fit them into ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ or something.”

Last spring, the Arlington troupe performed “Trouble at the No-Way Chalet,” a zany comedy set in a hotel, she says.

“It was very ‘Monty Python-ian,’ ” Ms. Woolsey says.

The 2007 production was titled “That Thing Called Love.” It featured scenes about relationships, a love doctor, a prom and a breakup.

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