Short Center Repertory

Developmental Disability Services Organization established Short Center Repertory in 1988 as a community outreach project to train actors and perform in mainstream theaters and theater festivals. Between 1996 and 2005, Short Center Rep began incorporating American Sign Language interpretation as an onstage theatrical element and as a means to reach audiences within the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. The company expanded its community outreach by including actors who are Deaf or blind in inclusive, cross-disability productions, including an original production of Gilgamesh in 2007.

Short Center Rep began to offer theatrical clown technique training in 2015 as a way to include adults on the autism spectrum. Clown technique proved successful in opening creative communication because of its predominantly physical and somatic approach, bypassing mental blocks and self-censorship.

In 2018, longtime Short Center Rep actress Regina Brink, who is blind, directed a group of blind and low vision actors in Short Center Rep’s production Inner Vision, an improvised clown performance that confronted misconceptions and misrepresentations about their community. During the pandemic, Short Center Rep shifted to online performances, presenting All Clowns Included and A Clown Odyssey on the Zoom platform. To date, Short Center Rep has presented more than 35 productions.

For its 2023-24 season, Short Center Rep collaborated with InnerVision Theater and Theater V58 on Climate Theater, a public outreach project that presented three original productions exploring the impacts of climate change on people who are neurodivergent, blind or low vision, and Deaf or hard of hearing. As part of the project, Short Center Rep joined InnerVision Theater and Theater V58 to launch ALL IN: The Festival of Accessible Theater in September 2024, where it presented Clowns to the Rescue. In 2025 Short Center Rep presented Disconnect/Connect at the 2025 ALL IN festival.