I originally posted this image in a comment to an Inquiry Starter Set album--Can a Woman Play Hamlet?--created by Mary Alice Anderson in The Arts & Primary Sources group. Not long after, Alison Noyes suggested to post it in this group as well.
The image comes from the cover of the program bill of a Winter 2024 production at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater that featured Tony Award nominee, Paralympic champion, and bilateral above-knee amputee Katy Sullivan in the title role.
After doing a little digging, I discovered a rich history of disabled actors in this role. Check out this article from American Theater.
Next, take a dive into the history of disability in the times of Richard III in this podcast with Jefferey R. Wilson: Disability, Deformity, and being handicapped in Shakespeare's lifetime. Wilson is the author of Richard III’s Bodies from Medieval England to Modernity: Shakespeare and Disability History.
Julie, thank you for extending this playbill cover to these other resources, including the many other images in Cripping Richard III: What Disabled Actors Bring to the Role. I notice that the website INDb, which appears to allow users to create lists that become publicly visible, has a list created in 2021 of close to 150 disabled actors with links to their best known work.
Here's the link to the IMDb list Alison Noyes referenced: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls086184694/.
I also thought members might be interested in perusing Richard III resources from the Library.