INSPIRATION
A Personal Connection
Producer Amity Hoffman was first introduced to the power of theater in the lives of people with developmental disabilities when she was asked to costume design a performance of The Wizard of Oz by the Loveland Players back in 2004. The Loveland Players is a theater troupe born from a partnership between The Loveland Center, a day program, and Venice Theatre, a local community theater in Venice, FL. Amity’s exposure to the troupe and the transformative work being done there, led her to become a volunteer actor for the troupe and eventually inspired her to take on her first full-length feature documentary The Best Show In Town. Through The Best Show In Town viewers witness first hand how theater brings about inclusion and visibility for an otherwise invisible population.
While working on The Best Show In Town, Amity connected with other special needs theater troupes from other states (Pink Umbrella, Phamaly Theater Company, Theater Exceptional) including one in Amity’s hometown of Wichita, KS, Laughing Feet Performers. The Executive Director of Laughing Feet turned out to be Jenny Mitchell, an old theater colleague and college friend of Amity’s. Realizing their shared passion for normalizing disabilities through theater, Jenny and Amity discussed the possibility of collaborating on a future film project. To gauge interest Amity returned to Wichita where Jenny facilitated a meet and greet event with the Laughing Feet actors and families along with separate meetings with the Laughing Feet board members and select actors with their parents. Through these meetings it was determined that there was genuine interest in collaboration on the part of both the Laughing Feet board and participating families.
The global pandemic forced those plans to the back burner. Meanwhile, while touring film festivals with The Best Show In Town, Amity met Lauren and Ida. The three hit it off with their shared passion for telling humanistic stories and raising the voices of underrepresented communities. A collaboration was born so that, when the theater reopened, the three were ready to take this new film project on together. Traveling to Wichita and spending time with Annabel gave the film its direction.
Laughing Feet
We met Annabel through The Laughing Feet Performers, a theater company of neurodiverse actors, singers, dancers and comedians in Wichita, KS. Annabel has been an active participant in The Laughing Feet Performers for 15 years and it continues to be a big part of her day-to-day activities.
