By Helen Harlan

Stand-up comedian Nina G has found a way to work her stutter and dyslexia into her act as a source of jokes. But it’s not all about getting laughs — she’s also all about representation in arts and performance in general.

“It’s really nice to have that mix of advocacy and comedy at the same time,” said Nina G, who is based in Pleasanton. “Most of all, being funny. That is the most important thing.”

Nina G produces the Comedians with Disabilities Act, a group founded in 2010 by Sacramento comedian Michael O’Connell, who was known around town as “the wheelchair comedian.” O’Connell died in 2016 from complications of muscular dystrophy. A small monument to his memory can be seen locally at Sacramento Comedy Spot, where owner Brian Crall built a ramp onto the stage for O’Connell in 2012.

“I really loved Michael, and if we could build him a ramp for him to feel more comfortable in our space, it had to be done,” Crall said. “It’s the legacy he left behind for other comedians.”

The Comedians with Disabilities Act is a touring show with six core members and “an occasional newbie,” according to Nina G. In the last year, the troupe has performed all over Northern California, including in SF Sketchfest and the Oakland Comedy Festival, and traveled to the East Coast. The show has included comedians with stuttering, dyslexia, dwarfism, amputation, addiction recovery, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety, PTSD, autism, Tourette’s syndrome, spinal muscular atrophy, hearing loss, cerebral palsy, blindness, and other conditions and disabilities.

In early May, Nina G brought the group to Sacramento’s VFW Post 67 on Stockton Boulevard. Her set often slid into adult territory, incorporating her stutter into the setup for a punchline. “I don’t fake my stuttering, and I don’t fake my orgasms. No matter how long either one of those two things takes,” Nina G delivered to a packed house. “They have a lot in common, because if the other person would just shut up and stop interrupting me, I’d finish a lot faster.”

The Comedians with Disabilities Act is just one of many local groups providing inclusive, welcoming and accessible art spaces for neurodivergent people and people with disabilities. These groups have been particularly visible this spring and summer in Sacramento.

Send in the clowns

On a Tuesday afternoon in mid-May, the actors of InnerVision Theater gathered for rehearsal in the Wilkerson Theater at R25 Arts Complex in Midtown Sacramento. Director Regina Brink kept it light as she and nine actors explored the stage and warmed up.

“How long is practice? I am getting tired,” Brink joked.

“Are you lost?” asked Stephanie Jones, an InnerVision member and Brink’s childhood friend from Long Beach.

“No, I am just blind,” Brink said, sending the group into stitches.

The actors of InnerVision are all blind or low-vision. They took paratransit to rehearsal, and two brought service dogs — many used white canes as mobility aids to navigate the stage. 

The group spent the afternoon rehearsing a piece called “Kaleidoscope,” in which they play a game of goalball and then the team gathers at a bar to celebrate and tell stories. Goalball is a team sport played by people with sight impairments. Joe Hamilton, an InnerVision company member, competed twice in goalball at the Paralympics and won a silver medal at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro. 

Professional audio describer Ruthann Ziegler was also present at the rehearsal. Zielger and her colleague Monique Savasta accompany live performances and rehearsals for InnerVision. “We provide a service for the blind and low vision, which is equivalent to what sign language interpreters do for the deaf. I use my voice, and they use their hands,” said Ziegler, who also provides audio descriptions for Broadway Sacramento as one of many accessibility options the organization offers to audience members. 

At rehearsal that day, there was a lot of laughter, and no one was on their phones. “It’s a break from what we normally do,” said InnerVision actor Jeff Thom of spending time with the group, who are all friends who hang out outside of rehearsal. “It is enjoyable rather than, you know, tedious.”

Jones echoed Thom and said she intends to participate with the company for years to come. “I’m here until the wheels fall off,” she said. “But I don’t anticipate them falling off.”

InnerVision will perform “Kaleidoscope” at the 2nd Annual ALL IN: The Festival of Accessible Theater this June 27-29 at the R25 Arts Complex. The festival is a weekend of theater performances “by, for and about people who are neurodivergent, blind, low-vision, [d]eaf and hard-of-hearing,” according to its website. It is a project of Short Center Repertory, a Sacramento theater company founded in 1988 that is a community outreach program of the Developmental Disabilities Service Organization.

Over the years, Short Center Rep has worked with people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. More recently, they have incorporated blind and deaf performers, which has led to the founding of InnerVision and TheaterV58, a company comprising deaf and hard-of-hearing actors. ALL IN is a showcase and collaboration of all three companies.

This year, Short Center Rep is collaborating with StarPointe Consulting, a for-profit agency that provides life coaching skills to individuals with neurological and learning disabilities. Short Center Rep’s actors will be performing as clowns for ALL IN in a piece titled “Connect/Disconnect.”

Sean Pacca is one such clown. He goes by the clown name “El Capitan.” At a recent rehearsal, under the guidance of a clown technique instructor, Pacca expressed that clowning helps him let go of the rigidity he feels in everyday life and see common mistakes as “clown moments” that shouldn’t be dwelt on. 

“You could overcook a piece of steak or something, and it burns. That’s a clown moment,” Pacca said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, no, stuff happens. It’s not the end of the world. You can always just start fresh.’”

An event for the next generation

For many autistic and neurodiverse children and their families, art programs can serve as a valuable means of expression. They could also produce a future artist. Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Beethoven, Mozart and Andy Warhol are all thought to have exhibited traits of autistic individuals. Seven-year-old Arta Bigdeli may one day find himself in their company. 

Arta works with many mediums, but lately he has been into clay. He has created dozens of mini-sculptures of pop culture icons, including Sonic the Hedgehog, Nintendo’s Mario and Patrick Star from “SpongeBob SquarePants.” Arta was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder before he turned 3 years old.

In late April at Luther Burbank High School in South Sacramento, Arta showed his clay works to the public for the fourth annual ART-TISM: A Sensory-Friendly Interactive Art Exhibit. He was one of just over a dozen neurodivergent children who participated in the exhibit in the East Gym. Arta’s parents discovered the nonprofit ART-TISM after attending an “Art on the Spectrum” event at the Crocker Art Museum.

“We found out at age four that he has talents,” said Arta’s father, Ali Bigdeli. “He started with some drawings and paintings, and then we provided some Play-Doh, and he made beautiful stuff out of clay.” 

According to his mother, Haleh Khodaverdi, Arta can use simple sentences but sometimes prefers not to use spoken words. “It is still hard for him to request something or explain what bothers him,” Khodaverdi said, adding of some autistic children, “art gives them an opportunity to illustrate whatever they can’t talk about. They are not maybe fully verbal, but you can see in their artworks how they feel. I see that when [Arta] is drawing.”

Arta’s extended family turned up in support at ART-TISM, including an aunt who was the first family member to visit since the family’s immigration from Iran in 2011. During the event, Arta got a free haircut from local groomer D. Speed The Barber, who set up a chair in a room just down from the gym.

“The barber was very understanding,” Khodaverdi said. “Arta was watching his favorite shows from my cell phone, which he likes, so it worked.”

ART-TISM is driven by Valene Byrd, a teacher, writer, autism advocate, special needs parent and former case worker in Brooklyn. The free event was inspired by the artistic journey of Byrd’s son, Mateo, and was held at the end of April, during Autism Awareness Month. It was free and open to the public. 

“Everybody has someone in their family or friends who has an autistic child. Someone is a special needs parent, and we don’t talk about it. We just don’t,” Byrd said. “I have very hesitant parents who come in because they never experienced a safe space, and that’s what we want to provide.” 

In addition to the art exhibits, the six-hour event included four color-coded interactive art stations that attracted dozens of kids and featured arts and crafts, painting set-ups and a ton of Play-Doh. Jeremiah, 8, was especially drawn to the boxes of Legos at a green “Lego Land” station. 

“We’ve already done the Legos,” said Jeremiah’s mother Danielle Steele. “Play-Doh is definitely a thing. Anything sensory is also always really fun in a controlled environment where we don’t have to clean up.”

Jeremiah was diagnosed with ASD at the age of four. He goes to school with Byrd’s son and the families are friends. At one point during the day, Jeremiah took time to relax in the Calming Room, which was filled with books, fidgets, and sensory boxes in the library.

“Everybody is just very welcoming. There’s no judgment,” Steele said. “It’s a safe space where your kid can be themselves.”

Most of all, being funny 

At the Comedians with Disabilities Act at the VFW building in early May, headliner Adam Keys took the stage to close the show. Keys is a U.S. Army veteran and triple-amputee who relocated from the East Coast to Sacramento three years ago. His website states he is “99% dishwasher safe.” 

“Well, let’s just address this right away, folks. Yes, I am an amputee, OK?” Keys said at the top of his set. “No. I am not contagious.”

Throughout his act, Keys told jokes about various subjects like online dating, Luigi Mangione (arrested for allegedly killing the CEO of United Healthcare) and the military trauma that led to his disabled status. “This is the second worst day of my life,” he said, referencing when he stepped on an improvised explosive device. “The first, of course, being the day I met my ex-wife.”

Mean Dave, who is in addiction recovery, and Serena Gamboa, who has epilepsy, also performed at the show, as did Carmichael-based comedian Veronica Arent. Arent is deaf and calls herself a “fiery Latina.” Both traits made their way into her set. 

“I’m Mexican American. What that means is that I’m not Mexican, you know, for the Mexicans, and I’m not American, you know, for the Americans, right?” Arent said. “But coincidentally, I have moderate to severe hearing loss. And you know what that means? That means I’m not deaf enough for the deaf people, and I’m not hearing enough for the hearing people. I don’t belong anywhere.”

“You belong here!” an enthusiastic audience member shouted, without missing a beat.

This story was funded by the City of Sacramento’s Arts and Creative Economy Journalism Grant to Solving Sacramento. Following our journalism code of ethics and protocols, the city had no editorial influence over this story and no city official reviewed this story before it was published. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review, Sacramento Observer and Univision 19.