DISABLED ACTORS HELP PERFORM 'CAROL'.

Byline: DENNIS McCARTHY 

You could feel the ghosts of Christmases past in the back of the Valley College rehearsal hall Wednesday night, watching over some proud parents as their Down's syndrome children rehearsed their roles in ``A Christmas Carol.''

The ghost of Charles Dickens himself with Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley. Young Bob Cratchit and his son, Tiny Tim, sitting next to a couple of starving children named Ignorance and Want.

The word was out that something special was going on in this rehearsal hall. And even though Dickens has seen his Christmas story of greed and redemption played out on the greatest stages of the world for more than 150 years, he's never seen it like this.

This is the way it's meant to be, Dickens is telling Marley. Like a sharp slap in the face of society. A wake-up call to look beyond our own ignorance and greed to the needs and wants of others.

In this rehearsal hall, that means looking at talented young adults like Marcia Landeros, Kristine Johnson, Blair Williamson, Craig Jaffe, and Casey Rings Powell, who happen to have a disability - just like Tiny Tim did.

But it doesn't stop them from acting, from holding their own with veteran Equity actors who welcome them with open arms. Because when you get right to the heart of ``A Christmas Carol,'' this is what it's really all about.

Acceptance and second chances. Just like Dickens meant it to be more than 150 years ago.

The rent was too high and there was no wheelchair access, but it was the only studio Mary Rings could find three years ago that would rent to her and the Born to Act Players - a group of 16 young adults with developmental disabilities whose only audiences had been relatives and one another.

None of the other acting groups around were willing to open their theaters to them, or provide roles for people with disabilities like her son, Casey, who has Down's syndrome.

So unless she started something herself, these teenagers and young adults she was teaching at Leichman Special Education School in Reseda would never get the chance to show their talent to the world.

Then one day, fate stepped in. Mary ran into Stephanie Shayne, a former high school classmate. She and her husband, director Peter Parkin, had started Shoreditch, a theater group using the Valley College theater as home.

``Mary asked us to come by to see her group's annual recital, and we were so moved that on the way home Pete and I knew we had to find a way to help them move into the mainstream so they could show the general public their talent,'' Stephanie said.

``We took the Born to Act Players under our production umbrella and they came on campus,'' she said. ``The rest is history.''

The five roles that Mary's players have landed in ``A Christmas Carol,'' opening next month in Valley College's Horseshoe Theater, are not a handout or a favor to an old friend.

These talented young adults auditioned and earned those parts.

``The bottom line is, they are very good and very creative,'' Mary says. ``They move people, and open their hearts.''

Just like Tiny Tim did with old Scrooge in the 1834 play.

This production will help open doors for actors with disabilities, but it's only a start, says Gail Williamson, whose son, Blair, who has Down's syndrome, plays the role of Ignorance.

Gail is a spokeswoman for the Media Access Office of the Governor's Committee for Employment of Disabled Persons. She's out every day, knocking on the doors of all media outlets and looking for opportunities for people with disabilities.

``What we're saying is, give them a shot, an audition, at least,'' says Gail. ``Don't just deny them employment because they've got a disability.

``If the studios can't find anyone with a disability who meets their needs for a role, fine, hire an able-bodied actor to play a person with a disability.

``But there are a lot of qualified, talented actors with disabilities who can do the job if given the chance.''

They're all pretty excited about showing people other than friends and relatives they can act, says Kristine Johnson, speaking for the other young actors with disabilities.

When the curtain goes up on the first performance of ``A Christmas Carol'' in a few weeks, Ignorance and Want and the Cratchit kids will be ready, she promises.

When they look out into the audience, they hope to see packed houses because this Christmas story of acceptance and second chances is as fresh and important today as it was when Dickens wrote it back in 1834.

``A Christmas Carol'' will run at 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 7:30 p.m. Sundays, Dec. 5-22, at Horseshoe Theater on the Los Angeles Valley College campus, 5800 Fulton Ave., Van Nuys. The theater complex is wheelchair-accessible.

Tickets are $15 general admission and $12 for students and seniors. For reservations and ticket information, call [phone].

And actors with disabilities who want to get in touch with Gail Williamson should call [phone].

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Photo:

Appearing in ``A Christmas Carol'' are, clockwise from top, Blair Williamson, 23, of North Hills; Craig Jaffe, 22, of Northridge; Casey Powell, 22, of Reseda; Marcia Landeros, 23, of Los Angeles; and Kristine Johnson, 34, of Woodland Hills.

Joel P. Lugavere/Special to the Daily News