“He drew a circle to shut us out
– Edwin Markham
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout;
But love and I had the wit to win,
We drew a Circle that took him in.”
Open Circle Theatre (OCT) is Washington DC’s first professional theatre dedicated to producing professional productions that integrate the considerable talents of artists with disabilities. OCT was formed by a group of people with and without disabilities, who possess professional theater experience, love of the theater, and a commitment to full access for all persons in every opportunity our community has to offer.
Call for Submissions: Artists with Disabilities
(Multiple Disciplines)
In collaboration with the Kennedy Center’s Culture Caucus, Open Circle Theatre is accepting submissions for artisans, craftspersons, and performing artists who are deaf/HOH or live with disability for a two-day festival at the Kennedy Center. A stipend will be given to performing artists.
About the Open Doors Festival: The Open Doors Festival will be held August 20, 2022, and will include a variety of opportunities to celebrate and showcase the work of deaf and disabled artists, including:
- An arts market featuring the work of deaf and disabled artisans/craftspersons
- Cabaret and Millennium Stage Performances highlighting deaf and disabled performing artists
Specifically, we are looking for: artisans, singers, songwriters, playwrights, performers, musicians, comedians, spoken word artists, dancers, etc. Performances and artwork do not need to be centered on the disabled or deaf experience. We are celebrating artists with disabilities, so all work is welcome.
Artist Eligibility:
- Must have a disability: physical, mental health, deaf/hard of hearing, blind/visually impaired, developmental cognitive/neuro-divergent, learning/intellectual, chronically ill, temporarily disabled (e.g. cancer)
- Must live in the DMV (Washington DC, Maryland, or Virginia)
- Must be a professional artist, aspiring professional, OR student looking towards a career in the arts (college or high school).
Click here for the submission form.
Submissions are due June 15, confirmations will be sent out June 19 and we will need w-9 and marketing materials by June 23, 2022.
We had a wonderful event at the Kennedy Center in March and we want to keep the momentum going. If you are interested in continuing to grow a network of artists with disabilities and allies, please sign up!
Join our email list! Click here to subscribe to our email list.
Open Circle Theatre relies heavily on volunteers. As a growing organization, we have a lot of work to do. Please share your time and talents with us. We’ll guarantee a really great volunteer experience.
Contact Us
Open Circle Theatre
(Office) 500 King Farm Blvd., #102
Rockville, MD 20850
Voice: 240/683-8934
Email: info@opencircletheatre.org
for people with disabilities
and a more accessible community for all.
We stand, sit or crawl with Black Lives Matter
A STATEMENT FROM OPEN CIRCLE THEATRE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, ADVISORY COMPANY, AND ARTISTS
Open Circle Theatre acknowledges it has benefited from the historically centered focus of the disability rights community, the theater community, and the imbalance of influence accompanying that privilege. Here, and in all our work, we reaffirm our commitment to Anti-racist practices and policies. We join others around the world in strongly supporting the Black Lives Matter Movement and will strengthen our organization with members who bring lived experience of being, D/disabled, D/deaf, BIPOC, Women, and those who are LGBTQIAplus.
We at Open Circle are committed to Disability justice and to a vibrant, radically-inclusive inter-sectional space.
LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Open Circle acknowledges this theater and its theater spaces stand on occupied, unceded territory: the ancestral homeland of the NACOTCHTANK, whose descendants belong to the Piscataway peoples.
