We present theater without barriers.

ALL IN: The Festival of Accessible Theater was launched in Fall 2024 by Short Center Repertory in collaboration with InnerVision Theater and Theater V58 as a new local cultural institution that presents and celebrates theater without barriers.

Aspiring theater practitioners who are neurodivergent, blind, low-vision, Deaf or hard-of-hearing rarely have the opportunity to create, perform or explore and develop their talents and skills.

Mainstream theater productions almost never cast a person who is neurodivergent, blind or Deaf, except as the (rare) character with one of those characteristics. (Until the past generation or so, people of color experienced similar casting barriers.)

Due to socioeconomics and the absence of American Sign Language and audio description for most theater productions, audiences from these communities also have limited access to theater and rarely see themselves or their perspectives reflected onstage. For audiences from mainstream society, accessible theater may be their first encounter with these people and their stories.

ALL IN puts these artists at the center of the creative process and centers their experiences and perspectives.

ALL IN is a project of Short Center Repertory, a theater company established in 1988 as a community outreach program of Developmental Disabilities Service Organization.

Click here to see the 2026 Festival schedule.

We welcome volunteers to help with promotions, cleaning, set-up and ushering. To volunteer or learn more, contact Jim at allintheaterfestival@gmail.com

Accessible theater envisions a community of shared expression that embraces the many ways we perceive the world.

A woman in a red skirt and white jacket looks down at a man in shorts and colorful shirt lying on his back at her feet. Behind them are two ASL interpreters dressed in black.
A man and woman wearing formal party clothes, glasses and colorful insect wings embrace each other.
Four actors, each holding a white cane, find seats in two rows of folding chairs.
Six actors standing side by side all point with outstretched arms to their right.
Taylor, a yellow lab guide dog wearing a harness, lies curled up on the floor next to his human's feet.
A female clown dressed in purple and pink and with her arms outstretched to the sides balances on an imaginary tightrope.