Stefanie Wiens is an occupational therapist with over 20 years of experience and since 2017 has been thrilled to have the opportunity to work with theatres and film production companies to make adaptations to practices, spaces, and otherwise enable hiring of actors with physical disabilities or movement differences.
As an accessibility choreographer/consultant, Stefanie Wiens helps film and theatre producers and creative teams identify and remove barriers and obstacles for actors and other workers who have movement differences, require mobility devices, or who identify as disabled, by bringing together my decades of experience as an occupational therapist (OT) with my film & theatre production and performance experience.
Stefanie loves figuring out how to turn problems into solutions and creative opportunities. To continue in the first person:
I am particularly keen on helping performers and creative teams come up with theatrical and practical solutions of all kinds, and in helping both professional theatres and post-secondary training facilities increase their capacity to be fully inclusive—not only in terms of physical infrastructure, but also by addressing knowledge, information or experience gaps.
In my first 3 gigs, we used the term “accessibility consultant”, however I am now trying out “accessibility choreographer”, as it more clearly encompasses the artistic and collaborative nature of the most specialized parts of what I do (which is—in the ecosystem of a rehearsal hall or production team—feels closest to that of a fight director or choreographer, of all the existing roles).
More detail coming to this page soon. In the meantime, please email Stefanie here for more information, or to start a conversation.
Stefanie’s (very occasional, so far) blog on related topics is currently under maintenance.