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They don't require licenses to operate, but contrary to popular belief, you can't just plop someone down into a wheelchair or an assisted-mobility scooter and expect them to go happily about their business, any more than you'd turn an untrained driver loose in traffic. This is especially true in situations when back-tracking is not feasible—in the midst of a tense dramatic moment onstage, say, during Timeline Theatre's production of The Normal Heart.
For the role of activist Dr. Emma Brookner, Mary Beth Fisher had to familiarize herself with wheelchair operation until its steel frame became as much a part of her silhouette as her own limbs. Consider a moment of contention where she suddenly advances upon the likewise hot-headed Ned for a short distance—about equivalent to a step or two—startling him into hasty retreat.
"The character of Emma Brookner is based on Dr. Linda Laubenstein, one of the first to investigate the baffling symptoms that would be identified as AIDS." Fisher explains, "She had contracted polio at the age of five—the play talks about this—and was known for navigating the streets in her motorized wheelchair in order to visit her patients at home. The playwright specifies all this in his stage directions, so anyone taking on the role must be ready to learn this skill."
A wheelchair may appear to impose physical limitations on its user, but Fisher insists that the woman dubbed a "holy terror" by her schoolmates was fiercely independent. "She graduated from both Barnard College and New York University first in her class. She was a clinical professor at NYU and had her own private practice. She arranged the first national medical conference on AIDS in 1983. These are great accomplishments for any woman!"
How does one begin to physically impersonate such an iconic personage? "Timeline had a wheelchair in its props collection left from 33 Variations. I started practicing with it almost immediately, coming early to rehearsals to work alone in the space. I had to adjust the chair's speed in timing entrances, exits and crosses. It's not easy, either, to examine a patient who's lying on a table when you're sitting beside him."
Did you have a coach? "No, I'm self-taught," Fisher admits, "Loads of trial and lots of error! Fortunately, nobody has been injured in the process. I haven't attempted to travel in the chair outside of the theater, but I've been hyper-alert to how people in wheelchairs negotiate sidewalks and public transit—as well as how others react to them."
How people view Dr. Brookner is an integral part of her personality, Fisher reminds us, "She does not suffer fools gladly. When somebody dares to feel sorry for her, she tells them, 'I scare people. It can be very useful'."
Just how useful is evidenced in every performance, when our fiery crusader faces the audience full-front, enthroned on what bears an uncanny resemblance to an armored tank, as she excoriates the Federal government for their negligence in sponsoring research into the epidemic scourge, her resounding accusations consistently drawing forth a spontaneous roar of endorsement from spectators.
The Normal Heart runs at Stage 773 through December 29.
Mary Shen Barnidge
Contributing Writer