We sit down with the Co-Director of Zeno Mountain Farm, Ila Halby, talking about the movie Best Summer Ever (2020) and Zeno’s Annual Summer play production. Best Summer Ever, showcases the largest ensemble cast of disabled actors since Freaks (1932). We also talk about the importance of family, equality, and acts of service as the baseline for peer-to-peer relationships.
News Feed – SSI Benefits Update / Morgan’s Wonderland
Content Round-Up – NEW SHOWS: HBO’s Hop / Hulu’s Dinosaur
Disability Spotlight – Shannon Devido, Actress/Writer/Director
Link to Zeno Mountain Farm’s 2023 play “Tomorrow”, filmed by local TV station NEAT (Northeast Addison Television)
https://videoplayer.telvue.com/player/6t4JFD38pkivJz72qlakWmYVbn6wB-u_/playlists/3413/media/815361?fullscreen=false
Transcript
Intro
ILA: Hey, my name is Ila Halby, and I’m one of the founding directors at Zeno Mountain Farm. And it is my pleasure to be in the studio with Acting Up With AJ and Crew.
AJ: Yes!
ILA: What a treat, AJ, live and in person.
AJ: On today’s episode of Acting Up With AJ and Crew, I would say that this is a, I would say that this is a backstage pass, behind-the-scenes look at Best Summer Ever and Zeno. We speak with a co-founder and co-director of Zeno Mountain Farm, Ila Halby. We’re gonna get into the philosophies of Zeno and some of the many programs that they run. We’re also gonna talk about the independent filmmaking style of Zeno as they made Best Summer Ever, their biggest challenge yet. We’re gonna talk about the historic casting of people with disabilities, not only in front of the camera, but behind it as well, from the writing to the producing to being a part of the crew. We’re gonna get into it. There’s a lot to cover. So, without further ado, let’s do it. This is Acting Up With AJ and Crew! [bouncy electronica music with recorded clips playing alongside conversation]
ILA: Zeno Mountain Farm can do a party like nobody can do a party. It’s like enchanted fairyland fucking magic.
AJ: This summer in particular will go down in the books.
LAWRENCE: What are they gonna do when they see something that’s a literal rock-and-roll musical with wheelchairs?
ILA: When you get to Zeno, everyone, the vibe there and the culture is that we need you. This place is counting on you and you and you and you.
SHAWNSY: Seeing the same thing, the camp is literally a 12-hour film production.
RACHAEL: 45. Take one. [slate claps]
DIRECTOR: Action.
AJ: You know that you need help and assistance. You’re always getting love, but oftentimes, you don’t feel needed.
ILA: And what we’re up against, again, is that cultural backdrop that says, “Yeah, I’m not sure you’re gonna hack it or what can you contribute.” You know what I mean?
CHRISTINE: It’s nice to come to a set and be in an environment where you don’t have to apologize for who you are as.
M.E.: As a SAG actress, I’m tired of being the same person. I wanna show them that I could do more characters.
ILA: Not only can this group contribute, this is an untapped resource for creativity and innovation and beauty and love and community, and y’all are missing out. [bouncy electronica fades out, and super upbeat musical movie soundtrack plays]
Introduction to the film, Best Summer Ever
AJ: Okay, guys, before we get this great conversation started, I’m just gonna do a quick summary of Best Summer Ever. A high school football player is shocked to learn that the new girl in school is the same girl he fell in love with at a summer dance camp. Best Summer Ever is available for streaming on Hulu. Closed captioning and audio description are available for your access needs. Now it’s time to talk about Best Summer Ever behind the scenes.
[upbeat music continues, with actors from the film singing]
LEADS: ♪ Feels like a dream, but it’s true. ♪
CHORUS: ♪ Best summer ever. Best summer ever. ♪
BEN: ♪ This camp turned my rockin’ world around. ♪
CHORUS: ♪ Best summer ever. Best summer ever. I don’t know which way is up or down. It was the best summer of my life. ♪ [music and singing fade]
SHAWNSY: Well, I think where we can start, should I go off and figure out what the box office was for Best Summer Ever? We’ve been doing some facts about each film as we go.
AJ: I don’t think we had a theatrical release, so we’re just gonna say that it’s streaming on Hulu.
ILA: Best Summer Ever was purchased by Hulu with a three-year licensing deal in 2021. So, to get a movie with this amount of integration, to have half of the cast and crew disabled talent, on such a mainstream platform is a huge success. To be able to tell people, “Hey, just check it out on Hulu” is an unbelievable joy every time.
SHAWNSY: Now was that based off how many downloads were done when it originally released? ‘Cause I remember it was just for purchase on iTunes and just for purchase on all the ways you can rent and purchase. And I know I did it. I have a digital copy somewhere on a computer someplace!
ILA: [laughs]
SHAWNSY: [chuckles] I wanted to support it as much as possible, so.
ILA: Yeah, you know, this Best Summer Ever coming out in 2020, we were all primed to go to South by Southwest. We had Airbnbs booked, car rents, outfits picked out for our big release in March of 2020 at South by Southwest.
AJ: We we’re gonna have the most epic party ever!
ILA: Oh, we were gonna throw down so hard in Austin. I mean Zeno Mountain Farm can do a party like nobody can do a party.
AJ: Yes.
ILA: The dancing and the joy and the community just vibrates off of our crew. And so, that was a big, that was a big letdown when South by Southwest got shut down. But we were just looking for all types of deals and all types of ways to get the movie out to the widest audience, and the Hulu deal was huge.
SHAWNSY: Now, I also wanted to, I don’t know if you know this either, but I’ve heard rumors that this film has the most disabled representation of any movie since Freaks from back in 1920s, 1930s. That was just a rumor, and I don’t know if that’s true or not. I don’t know if you know.
ILA: That is true. Yes, yes. I think it was 1935, maybe, Freaks?
AJ: Yeah, yeah.
ILA: And that was like a horror film, right? So, as our friend Lawrence Carter-Long says, “We can do better.” And that’s exactly what we’re doing in Best Summer Ever is integration in front of the camera and behind the camera that elevates the entire production, elevates the storyline, and creates a product. At Zeno, all of our art and film is more dynamic because of the diversity within our crew, because of the diversity within our actors.
AJ: The thing about it that’s astounding and amazing about that is Zeno is, like, so that was amazing to make such an historic film in front of and behind the camera, but also astounding because it took nearly 90 years for it to happen again!
ILA: Right. And I think what we’re saying, what we’re seeing culturally, is that the bar is set low in our media, right, for what the disabled community and disabled talent can contribute. And that’s exactly where Zeno comes in, which is to say, not only can this group contribute, this is an untapped resource for creativity and innovation and beauty and love and community, and y’all are missing out. So, come see our movie. Yeah, and we’ll show you how it’s done.
And I think it’s often people are saying, “Let’s get more representation in front of the camera,” which is a huge piece. That’s a huge piece for people like you, AJ, to see yourself represented. I remember, I always remember the story you told about being an actor in high school and growing up and wanting to be an actor and pursuing acting, but picturing yourself as an able-bodied actor because you didn’t have models on screen. That really struck me. I couldn’t, when you told me that story. But we’re not gonna see that representation jump in very meaningful ways until we have more representation behind the camera, until we have disabled talent in production, in writing, in editing, sound mixing, all of that.
Introduction to Zeno Mountain Farm and projects
AJ: Right, right. And as the community says, “Nothing about us without us.” But you guys, we as a community, at Zeno, not only do we talk diversity and we mean well—because a lot of people mean well, and diversity can have a very broad term—but we say not only is it gonna be represented in front of the camera, which is already historic. Like, we made history. But then to also say it’s not only just gonna be in front of the camera. Like I said at the top, people with disabilities are gonna be involved in every aspect of production. Can you talk about the process, how that decision was made, what it took to get crew members in place? ‘Cause I would imagine because I’m sure that it exists, but until Best Summer Ever, I didn’t even know that people with disabilities were on crews or had done it before.
ILA: Absolutely. So Zeno has been making films since around 2003. We started making small films once a year at what we called our film camp in Los Angeles. And the film camps were a two-week intensive camp, about 40 people, and we would write, shoot the whole thing, make the scenes, make the costumes. In two weeks we would do the entire movie, and we made 12 short films. So Zeno has an ensemble, which I know you joined when you came, when you came on board.
AJ: Yeah.
ILA: And so, we were kind of used to doing things as a community. You know, we do our dishes as a community. One of the foundational principles at Zeno is that everybody contributes. And we mean that. We mean that through all aspects of the day, 24/7: the dishes, the cooking, the care for each other, the art, the film. So we were in, that’s the rhythm of Zeno is that type of contribution.
AJ: Yes.
ILA: So that actually felt really natural. But we had been mostly focusing on in-front-of-the-camera representation with actors. And so, with Best Summer Ever—
AJ: Did you and the other directors have a meeting and say, “We’re gonna do one better?”
ILA: Well, it was like, we are gonna go for it this time. And so, we’re gonna put everything we have into this one and go for a feature and a musical, which was so ambitious for us. And that, when we decided, when we set the goal so high, it was just automatic that we were gonna have integration all the way through. And I think for people on crew, like people working in sound and at crafty and costumes and choreography, all of those places, folks just need opportunities and job coaches, just like people with disabilities in any workplace, right? And I think often the industry or other employers see kind of the barriers, like, oh, this is gonna be hard because of X, Y, and Z, or this individual would need adaptations in X, Y, and Z. And Zeno’s approach is always, “Let’s start with what this person can do. Let’s start with the strength. Let’s start with what they are bringing to the team and then find a way to support that.” And that was a natural process. And then we did really need to recruit, you know.
AJ: Yeah, I was gonna ask about that next. Yeah.
ILA: Producers, writers. Yeah, we had to really look to recruit some pros in the community. And there are. There are a lot of disabled people working in the industry that have been working for a very, very long time, and that was cool to kind of get to know them. It’s the first film, Best Summer Ever, where Zeno’s ensemble kind of meshed with pros out in LA and in the industry, and that was really exciting.
AJ: So, I wanna take a pause and speak to you for just a moment. I wanna go back to the beginning. Let’s take it back. Let’s take it way back, as they said on a Blackstreet album one time.
ILA: [laughs]
AJ: So, let’s take it way back. For those of the audience members who may not know, what is Zeno Mountain Farm, and how did you get involved, and what made you guys want to start Zeno?
ILA: Yes, let’s take it way back. And also, for those that might be listening for the first time, I am a non-disabled woman, and so I’ll never speak for the disabled community. But I have a ton of friends in this community, and I work at Zeno collaboratively, so.
AJ: Dope-ass ally.
ILA: I just wanted to—
AJ: Yeah, yeah.
ILA: —to let everyone know that, to state that right out the front. Zeno Mountain Farm is a group of friends with and without disabilities based in Lincoln, Vermont. And it’s a non-profit, and we run camps all year long. And we are committed to providing opportunities for lifelong friendship, community, and a sense of belonging. At Zeno, we really believe belonging and access to community are human rights and that we all are deserving of. And so, we do that at our residential camps that we run, about 12 a year, and each camp has a goal or a culminating project. And so, like we’ve been speaking about the film camp, the culminating project is to make a film. At our summer camp, we do an integrated musical theater production at the end of the month. And every single camp has this big creative project where we can leverage all the potential in this diverse community and all the talents of the disabled community and create something kind of bigger than ourselves.
AJ: Yes, yeah. Speaking of that, we just came out of our summer play. We had quite the adventure this summer.
ILA: Oh my gosh.
AJ: But we were able to pull this amazing play off. And like Ila said, we do a musical every summer. And this summer in particular will go down in the books ‘cause we were able to come together. Speaking of community and everybody being involved and everybody contributing, this was the summer of all summers. Let’s kind of talk about why I think, in my opinion, this summer will go down in the books.
ILA: 100%, 100%. And we, you know, before we started making the movies, we were doing these plays. And the plays are so fun and zany and dynamic and adventurous because it’s this group of 70 making a play, and we always do a complete mash-up. We pick, we start with the music. We need the dope tunes.
AJ: Yeah, yeah.
ILA: We have a sick band that’s also integrated, and then we build a story around that.
[recorded clip plays, starting with an audience applauding]
DADDY WARBUCKS: Thank you so much. Please, if you hear anything, anything at all, let me know.
POLICE OFFICER: Of course we will.
DADDY WARBUCKS: Those Hannigans sure are crafty. Keep your eyes peeled.
POLICE OFFICER: I will.
ANNIE: Daddy? Daddy? What was all of that about?
DADDY WARBUCKS: Honey, I think it’s time I told you something. Remember that locket I gave you 20 years ago? It wasn’t just any ordinary locket. In actuality, it’s one of three keys that helps me unlock my special lemon safe. [audience chuckles] That’s where I keep all the money I intend to give to the orphanage.
ANNIE: Aside from all that being very strange, I don’t think we need to worry. I never take my locket off. It’s right… here? [gasps] It must have been those boa salespeople. [audience laughs]
DADDY WARBUCKS: Wait! Those weren’t boa salespeople. Those were Hannigans!
ANNIE: Leaping lizards!!! [laughter]
DADDY WARBUCKS: Hey, Annie. We must stop them before they get their hands on the other two locket keys!
ANNIE: Ugh, you sure are and odd bird, Daddy.
DADDY WARBUCKS: That may be true, but right now, our one purpose is to find those other two keys. You must find Pepper. I entrusted them to her.
POLICE OFFICER: We will come with you, Your Eminence. Those sniveling Hannigans will not get away with this! [footsteps shuffle across the stage, audience chuckles, then applauds, then clip fades out]
ILA: People that come to the place, everybody…. I mean, to be in the play and to watch the play, it’s like this, it’s a moment of suspended belief. It’s a moment where you get to be just washed in this untapped potential, like we’re talking about. And people coming in, most people will say, “Hey, I didn’t expect your play to be that good.” And that’s because half of the cast has disabilities, and that’s just culturally where we’ve all been marinating. That’s just where we live. You know, it’s like disability is to be pitied, or disability is to be a tragedy, be overcome, or disability, you know, you would rather—
AJ: Wait. You know, it’s not?
ILA: Oh!
AJ: It’s not a, [cracks up] it’s not a tragedy. It’s….
ILA: I mean.
AJ: I’m supposed to be devastated!
SHAWNSY: What do you mean, I don’t need to hold your hand? [chuckles]
AJ: Yeah! Like, what?! I can have a life and have meaningful fulfillment and be a part of a community and contribute as well? [chuckles]
ILA: Exactly. I mean, that’s what we’re doing here, you know? So, I think when people come to the play, that is what they get to press up against, which is just like, we just need experiences, right? So, after that, but it was limited to whoever could come to the plays, you know?
SHAWNSY: Right.
ILA: And we can get about 200 people a night in there, but that’s just—
SHAWNSY: Which is up in Vermont. And a lot of people do come from all over.
ILA: Yeah.
SHAWNSY: But still, it’s traveling and expenses.
ILA: It’s traveling. And so, when we make movies, we can, at the speed of light, send this art out, this integrated art, showing exactly what you’re saying, AJ, that this is an experience that is, again, full of beauty and innovation and creativity and fun, and it’s super dynamic and boom. So, that’s how we really got into filmmaking was for the creative adventure. We just love it. It’s super hard. Making films is super challenging. It’s really, really interesting to have a diverse cast and to find out how each person in the cast can shine and dig in and share their talents, and then we could send it out at the speed of light. So it’s really morphed also into a passion. And our advocacy and education work is through our films, which we’ve been doing a lot together.
AJ: Yeah. And I just wanna say, full disclosure in case people are just like, what? Or if you haven’t got it by now, I am— So, me and Shawnsy—Shawnsy’s the producer—we met at Zeno. I met him during the making of Best Summer Ever.
SHAWNSY: Yeah, that was my first encounter.
ILA: Ah!
AJ: I had just come out of my 13th summer looking very much forward to the 14th summer. And this year in particular, we had the challenges of all challenges because we had to stop camp because of some challenges. And people had, you know, we had to depart camp because of that challenge. Is it okay to say or?
ILA: Yeah, yeah. So, we have a, yes. I got a little distracted on the last question about just what is Zeno? But it is, you know, it’s a non-profit, and it’s a camp. But it’s not just a camp like you would sign up anyone. It’s a…. Another foundational principle is that people come back year after year. So everyone that comes to Zeno comes back every year. And nobody gets paid, and no one’s paid. So that’s the other really unique thing about our model of community and our model of creating belonging, is that there’s no social hierarchy. So, Shawnsy comes to bring his talents, and AJ comes to bring his talents, and I come with my talents. And everyone gets the care that they need, which is a lot. And we all take care of each other as a community, and then we all contribute and make amazing art.
SHAWNSY: Right, we kind of mentioned that the care just brings us to the same level. And then from there, we’re all equal patrons. We’re all friends at that point.
ILA: Yes, exactly. So, this year, and it’s a four-week session every year up in Lincoln, Vermont. We have a beautiful facility with six handicapped-accessible treehouses. Two of them are yurts.
AJ: Yep!
ILA: It’s like enchanted fairyland fucking magic, you know what I mean?
SHAWNSY: [chuckles]
ILA: We got a view out to the West. We can see the sunset. Huge costume cabin, art cabin, a theater barn. You know, it’s really like our, what does Jake always call it? The Camelot. Like the Camelot for—
AJ: Oh, yeah.
ILA: And so, this year, we got through three weeks out of the four, and then we had to close down because we had a couple COVID cases. And in honor of that same philosophy which we’re talking about, which is like the community is really the highest level of need and respect in the group, is supporting our community always, that’s the highest standard. We had to shut down so that there’s people in our community would not get exposed to COVID ‘cause there’s some people that have immunocompromised. And COVID for the disabled community has been a big thing. There’s been a lot of, you know, you can speak more about it, AJ, but—
AJ: Yeah, and I know this happens in organic conversation. Wasn’t necessarily planning to go here, but I just wanted to mention how Zeno is about family and community and how we just really wanted to connect because, like…. So when COVID began, the world had just shut down. But we got together at Zeno, and we said, “We still wanna do camp.” So people put their heads together, and we had cyber camp for two years, and we got to see each other and check in. And that was really, really, really a lifesaver for a lot of us, you know?
ILA: Yeah, yeah. The week that the world kind of shut down, we got together in the Zeno office. And then we’re like, okay, let’s buy Zoom. That was like, what’s the order of business? And then by that Thursday, we opened up cyber camp, which was 4 PM to 5 PM five days a week.
AJ: Yeah.
ILA: You could get on Zoom and see your Zeno friends. And we did that for like two years and that—
SHAWNSY: We even did a play from Zoom!
ILA: Yeah.
AJ: Yeah, yeah! Like, that was—
SHAWNSY: Entirely on Zoom.
AJ: We did game days. And I mean, you guys, Emily packed up boxes and, like.
SHAWNSY: [chuckles]
AJ: And we all got these assignments. We even did prom. I mean, Zeno is dope.
ILA: Color wars. Yeah, I mean, and it’s all the fun stuff, but what’s under that, you know, AJ, is like, it’s that sense of belonging, right? It’s like, I have a place to show up where people want to see me, one, two, where I’m contributing, three, where people need me, that type of thing. And that, it was kind of amazing to see the power of that, even over Zoom. This is a place to give and receive love, and this is a place to be part of something, you know.
AJ: ‘Cause to be often, and I don’t mean to be over, like, too general, but just for me personally, and I know this could be met in a deeper way for families. So, I don’t wanna take that away. But oftentimes, personally as a person with a disability—and everybody has different needs and different challenges—but I have a significant disability, meaning I pretty much need help with every single thing. So, oftentimes—and it could be about ego or just about how to change your mind and open your mind—but oftentimes, as a disabled person, you know that you need help and assistance. You’re always getting love, but oftentimes, you don’t feel needed. At Zeno, you feel needed. Everybody counts. Everybody can contribute in their own ways that they can contribute. As a person, as a human being, it just gives me value.
ILA: Mmhmm.
AJ: Because like I said, and sometimes it’s difficult. And I don’t know. It’s hard to say ‘cause I don’t, I am needed in my family, and I do know that. But sometimes it’s like when there’s so much that you can’t do, and you feel like I’m the one being served, you know?
SHAWNSY: Yeah.
ILA: Mmhmm.
AJ: Like, I have to call somebody 24 hours a day. And there’s often times where I feel like I can’t contribute, even though my mom says that I do, and I believe her. But at Zeno, it’s more…. I don’t wanna say more. This is very hard to say, but it’s concrete.
[cheery music plays in a recorded clip]
TONY: I did meet a girl this summer, and guys…she’s pretty awesome.
SAGE: I played music, and he danced. It was cute. But he goes to a fancy dance academy on the Upper West Side.
FRIEND 1: Oh my gosh!
FRIEND 2: Well, he sounds unbelievable.
FRIEND 3: Yeah, as in, not believable. [recorded clip fades into music from the film playing while AJ talks]
Newsfeed
AJ: And now let’s go to Newsfeed with Cheryl Green. Cheryl has two great stories for us today. The first one involves something that Social Security should have been doing a long time ago. It’s still great news nonetheless. And the other story involves accessibility in theme parks. So, if you’re looking for something to do this spring or summer, Cheryl has a great story from her hometown. Cheryl, how are you doing today?
[epic theme music plays through this section]
CHERYL: Hey, AJ, I’ve got a great story for you about some changes to SSI benefits from the Disability Scoop site. Here’s just some of the highlights.
“The Social Security Administration is moving forward with a major change to the way it calculates monthly Supplemental Security Income benefits for those with disabilities.
The agency said that starting this fall it will no longer factor food when determining what’s known as ‘in-kind support and maintenance.’
Under current rules, SSI benefits can be reduced—in many cases by about a third—if someone else routinely provides meals or groceries to a beneficiary. Now, that’s set to change.
Starting September 30th, the Social Security Administration said it will stop considering food expenses in calculations of in-kind support and maintenance.
About 7.5 million Americans receive SSI each month, with a maximum federal benefit of $943 for individuals and $1,415 for couples.
The agency will continue to factor shelter expenses meaning that SSI benefits can be docked if a beneficiary does not contribute to rent, mortgage or utility costs for their residence.
But this change means that you won’t get docked if someone helps you with food and food expenses, and Social Security expects to see administrative savings since the agency will no longer have to spend time monitoring food provided in-kind.”
There are other updates in the works, and it’s about time!
My hometown of San Antonio, Texas has an update on their accessible park!
“Morgan’s Wonderland recently reopened after four months of improvements and upgrades. The park now offers a first-of-its-kind 4-seat zip line that can accommodate riders in wheelchairs as well as those who need extra restraints, respiratory equipment or other special gear. Another new offering is the wheelchair-accessible Jette’s Wonder Bikes which features glider-style cars that riders can make go up and down using pedals or hand cranks. There is also a lake cruise and a 4D cinema that offers riders in wheelchairs a roller-coaster experience using a video screen with motion effects.
Since it opened in 2010, officials said the park has welcomed over 3 million visitors from all 50 states and over 120 countries.
In addition to Morgan’s Wonderland, the Hartmans have also opened Morgan’s Inspiration Island, a fully-accessible water park, and Morgan’s Wonderland Camp, a fully-accessible camp, in recent years, all located in San Antonio.”
This place sounds amazing.
[news theme music fades out]
Getting to know more about Zeno and disability representation
SHAWNSY: This is what I was like, being a non-disabled man, coming up to Zeno, and being offered. I was at the local TV station here in Bristol when it was announced that this film project was happening, and I was just told that it was a film project. I knew a friend who has Down syndrome that was a part of the program, but that was my only friend, and he was just my friend. I didn’t really know anything about it. I just thought of this as being a feature-length film and being taught in film and knowing what a film production was, getting ready to do 12-hour days, and to see that the disabled were able to do these long work hours and put in effort and be able to be contributing to every aspect of this film project, it was like, it was just one of those things that I didn’t even think about it when I showed up. And then the way that it just operated, that it was just normal, like it was normal life. And then going to summer camp nearly two years after that for the first time and really just seeing, [laughs] seeing the same thing. The camp is literally a 12-hour day camp.
ILA: Yeah.
SHAWNSY: Like, we wake up at 8:30, we get done at 8:30. That’s the day. It’s pretty much summer camp is a film production as well.
ILA: Yeah! [laughs]
SHAWNSY: And it’s just ordinary life, and everybody’s contributing in their way and getting that fulfillment of being a part and being complementary to others.
ILA: Well, I love what you’re saying, AJ, and this is such an important thing. And I think if I can go macro and kind of philosophical, which I love to, I really believe as humans, service is our operating system. I think many things in our culture get us away from service. You know, capitalism, and we could go on and on. But I need to get what I need, which makes me separate than other people. You know, that’s kind of where we’re at. But I think if we could strip that away, if we get back to our base humanity, the things that make us the same, service, I think, is our operating system. When we have what we need, then we automatically, I think, wanna be of service to each other.
And so, at Zeno, going back to the micro, I always say service is the currency at Zeno. And this is just what you’re saying, is this contributing and this service in the care we provide for each other, in the way the dishes, and then all the way up to the art, to the movie, is really giving us a deeper, an experience of a deeper level of humanity that I think everyone responds to, just like Shawn’s saying. And when you get to be a part of that, it fundamentally shifts and changes that within you, you know? And I think people are also seeing that people with disabilities aren’t often given a chance to be of service. It’s not really considered, just like you’re saying. You need support and then sort of end of story, you know. And so, you’re getting support, which is what you need and what to eat and your shelter, you know, basic things. But then we’re talking about you as a soul and as a person and your spirit.
AJ: Yeah.
ILA: And to be of service is to engage those parts of you. And so, I think it’s really, really the base of what Zeno does. And zooming back to this summer, 2023, we closed with COVID. And then once we had some days to see how our community members with COVID were faring and how they were doing, we spoke with our medical team and realized that it would be possible to reopen in 11 days and kind of finish what we started with our play. That is what AJ was referring to.
AJ: An asterisk, because it was three days, by the way.
SHAWNSY: [chuckles]
ILA: So, everyone got there 5 PM on a Thursday, and the show was 8 PM on Saturday. And we kicked butt.
AJ: Yes!
ILA: We just worked each scene. The first day each scene got on stage once for like an hour and a half, and then we just did run throughs. And we…everyone had to contribute, like, at 1,000%.
AJ: We rose to the challenge.
ILA: We rose to the challenge.
AJ: And I was like, I was so nervous. I was like, I don’t know, because a lot of dialogue was, [laughing] a lot of dialogue was written for me. Either Jacob will give me some Aaron Sorkin-level dialogue.
ILA: Yeah. [big laugh]
AJ: And I was like, man! I don’t know if I can, I don’t know if I could do this, because really, Thursday was just the day to get settled. If you really wanna know, we only had one day, and then the show was Saturday.
ILA: Yes. One full day, yeah. So, how were you—
AJ: Twenty-four hours.
ILA: How were you able to memorize all those lines in that short amount of time?
AJ: Well, it was a lot, [laughs] it was a lot of meditation and prayer. But also, it’s like what helps me is blocking scenes. So if I know where I’m going on stage and I know what action I’m supposed to do, where I’m supposed to go. It also helps because we had rehearsal that first night, and so we just all went to different places. I went to the dining hall with Lindsay.
ILA: Yep.
AJ: And she helped me rewrite some dialogue. And we were just, we were rehearsing at night. Will was like, ‘cause everybody’s concerned about messing up. But for that, we had to, like, we were staying up at night ‘cause we gotta learn these lines, you know?!
ILA: Yeah.
AJ: And we pulled off something amazing, you know?
ILA: We’re still riding high from it. That’s why it’s actually so fun to record this podcast together now, because I think we’re still at that peak, that peak moment of sharing this, to work really, really hard and then to give it away. And to work together and to have this high level of collaboration and this high level of integration and then to just give it away to the audience and to the community, and it’s so satisfying. It’s such a creative adventure.
AJ: I wanna ask you something, Ila. And I think it’s one of those things where I already know the answer but just want you to explain. ‘Cause when we talk about how camp is 12 hours or maybe working on the films that long, is there, you know, and I know that you love us. And I also know that you have high standards. And you’ve been around this community for a long time, so you know what we can do. But in those moments, is there ever any moments where it’s like, maybe they can do this, or this is too many hours, or? ‘Cause I’m sure a lot of people out there—not everybody. I don’t wanna paint everybody with the same brush—but a lot of people out there, and the reason why some of us aren’t in the industry like we wanna be is because people think we can’t cut the mustard. They can’t think—
SHAWNSY: They think of the limitation first.
AJ: Yeah.
SHAWNSY: And not what can be reached. Like, what is the goal?
ILA: Yeah, absolutely. I think, I mean, every play I’ve ever been in—I’m kind of like a theater nerd. I love theater—and every play, you get to that moment, right? Every play I’ve ever been a part of as an actor or directing, you get to a moment where you’re like, holy moly! Holy shit! Like, is this gonna work? You get to the top of that bell curve and then you kind of go over. And so, it’s the same at Zeno, right? But we just have everyone contributing. And what we’re up against, again, is that cultural backdrop that says when you get to Zeno, everyone, the vibe there and the culture is that “we need you. This play’s counting on you and you and you and you.” But in real life outside of Zeno, the cultural backdrop is saying, “yeah, I’m not sure you’re gonna hack it or what can you contribute?” You know what I mean? So, I feel like once we all land there, everyone kind of can feel that frequency of like, yes, you have a place here. You have value. We want your talents. We need you. And let’s go. And so, we’re able to hold that kind of frequency, really.
SHAWNSY: Well, that’s so interesting with how the play is structured, too, and how non-formed that these scenes are when they are first brought up. And then it’s kind of like, this is the group that’s going to be on the stage for this scene, and it’s handed to you as a group. And then each individual is contributing in their way to morph and write their own line and how they’re going to be integrated into it. And then it starts to breathe life into it. And everybody on there.
ILA: Exactly. What’s the best way for Josh’s line to really land? And then we workshop together. And like AJ this year playing a villain, really stretched your acting.
AJ: Yeah, yeah. And I’ve been acting for over—not always professionally—but I’ve been acting for over 20 years, and I never, ever got to play the bad guy!
ILA: That’s ‘cause you’re so sweet.
AJ: Yeah, I’m very sweet. And I always, I’m comic relief. In a sense, I still was, but I got to be a bad guy. I got to get outside of my Boy Scout kind of self.
ILA: [laughs] Yeah, exactly. So, it is. It’s like a, I mean, creative adventure is the best way to describe it, and that’s how we build it. And we build the songs that way. And everyone that’s in that scene, you kind of, as Shawnsy said, you lock it in, and then you start to see how can everyone contribute to make this the best scene ever?
SHAWNSY: Well, this also brings up the topic of Best Summer Ever and that how we were discussing earlier kind of on how disability is typecasted. That we constantly have, like disabled or able-bodied actors are coming to play a disabled character in a very specific role, and that Best Summer Ever had so many characters that were just generic. They were just the characters, and then a disabled person was playing that generic character. It wasn’t them specifically playing because they were disabled.
ILA: Exactly. And AJ and I talk about this all the time. Usually if it’s a disabled character, right, the entire storyline is based around their disability.
AJ: Yeah. We grew up in the ‘90s, so we were very aware, like “Very Special Episode!”
ILA: Yes, exactly.
AJ: We are a part of a lot of [laughing] very special episodes.
ILA: [laughs] And as Shawnsy’s saying, to see disabled folks and talent in non-specific roles, exactly. The girlfriend, the convenience store attendant, the neighbor, the police person, you know, all those places. People with disabilities, it’s 25% of the population. It is the largest minority, and it is simply a part of life. And so, we just want the films and our media, as AJ says, to reflect more honestly what’s true, what’s true in our communities, and what’s true in our day-to-days.
SHAWNSY: And what should be. ‘Cause it’s kind of the way that movies are structured and how few disabled are in it. And then you get a movie with so many disabled grouped up in their pens, and that’s like how community has treated them with special needs and with schooling systems and putting people with disability into the same classroom and segregating them from other classmates, when really, it should be one in every four people sitting at a table, there should be somebody with a disability.
ILA: Yeah. So, if it’s 25% of the population, then 25% of your friends should have disabilities, 25% of your coworkers, right? I mean, that is the reality of our population, but that is not what we see in those spaces, so. And media and movies has such a powerful, the possibility of a powerful impact. ‘Cause I really believe we are a culture that understands and reflects on our humanity through our film and media. That new Apple commercial that has a lot of disabled—
AJ: Yeah.
ILA: Have you seen that one?
AJ: I was like, I flipped out, and then I was so excited to see. And then I was like, how come I didn’t get a call from my agent?
ILA: I was saying I was so excited, and I felt like there must be a disabled producer, or there must be someone on the backend. And I do feel like studios, and we are making strides. I feel like people are like, we need to have consultation with disabled advocates. I do feel like that’s a step.
AJ: Yeah.
ILA: But I hope that we can go quickly through that step into like, this is a group that has a lot to offer. I feel like we’re still in that step of, if I don’t make sure that I’ve had some input here and kind of check these boxes with disabled advocates, then I’m gonna be screwed.
[recorded clip from the film plays with upbeat music in the background]
SAGE: I just wanna try to stay in one place for once, try what it feels like to be…. I’m gonna say it.
MOM: No. Honey, no. Don’t you dare.
SAGE: Normal!!!
GILLIAN: [singing] ♪ Every day you grow a little more. One day you’ll roll out that door and be the change the world now needs. ♪
KATE: ♪ Maybe you’re the real McCoy. Now find whatever brings you joy. But beware of where the crowd might lead. ♪
GILLIAN and KATE: ♪ Don’t look back. Let your mystery unfold and question what you’re told…. ♪
[music fades out, and chill music plays]
Content Roundup
AJ: Cheryl is back with us for Content Roundup. Cheryl, what do you have for us today?
CHERYL: I’ve been seeing people posting a lot about this new show, Hop. “HBO’s Max just launched this first-of-its-kind animated kids’ show featuring characters who all have some type of disability. Hop is a half-hour show full of comedic adventures intended to teach preschoolers to embrace differences in themselves and others.
Max says, ‘Led by Hop, an enthusiastic, empathetic frog with one leg shorter than the other, he and his quirky friends address kid-relatable challenges with a healthy dose of laughter, silliness, and adventure.’
There’s a neurodivergent squirrel, an alligator with a lot of fears, and more. The character of Hop is voiced by David Connolly, a Broadway actor who is a double below-knee amputee, and Filipa is voiced by Charlotte Walker who has autism.
The show premiered April 4th on Max, and they expect to air 26 episodes this year.
And in other early-April 2024 premiere streaming news, the half-hour comedy Dinosaur was created by and stars an autistic comedian from Scotland, Ashley Storrie. The series will have six episodes and will show on Hulu in the US and BBC 3 in the UK.
“Dinosaur is a coming-of-age series exploring those moments of change we experience in the various relationships in our life including sisterhood, friendship and romance,” according to a synopsis.
Both shows, Dinosaur and Hop, have captions and audio description for your access needs. And that’s your content roundup. Back to you, AJ.
[chill music fades]
Backstory and process for making Best Summer Ever
AJ: Yeah, yeah. And I wanna make sure. ‘Cause I was thinking about it, and we’ve been having a great conversation. I wanna make sure that we definitely get into just the process of making Best Summer Ever. Because I was watching, I’ve seen it several times, and we were watching it the other night to get ready. And I was just like, wow. This was such a feat because, just to give a little bit of backstory for people. So, when we do the play, and that is a lot of hard work, but when we do the play, it’s, you know, we come together for the last two weeks of camp. And we really work hard within those two weeks. And it’s within our contained community or people that’ve been invited to camp. We have new people come in all the time, new community members.
But with this movie, this was a feature film because Zeno did movies. But up until that point, we had done 12 movies, but they had all been shorts, you know? And we did our last film before Best Summer Ever was our longest one. I think it was around 38 minutes, and it had the highest production value. But this movie, well, it took weeks. It took like outs—, it took people with disabilities but outside of the Zeno community. It took a lot of casting. ‘Cause I saw a lot of our Zeno family, but I also saw a lot of new faces. There were so many people everywhere: in the background, in the front. And so, just talking about the process of what did this take, and how big was this rock up the mountain to make a feature film? And in this way, this is, you know, I’m amazed by this.
ILA: Well, and usually people say Best Summer Ever was so hard, right? It must’ve been so hard to make that movie because you had half of the cast and crew with disabilities. But that actually is not true. That is not why it was hard at all. It was just hard because making a feature movie is so fricking hard. That is like, it is just a massive, massive, massive, massive project to make a feature-length film. So, the disabled talent in our movie was not at all the reason why making Best Summer Ever was hard. It was hard because it was, we didn’t have the right budget. And we had, we were filming in Vermont, and we had to fly everybody in. We had to fly all the gear in. It was hard to find local folks. So, it was just all…. Our friend Andrew Pilkington always says, “If you want an easy job, don’t go into filmmaking.” You know what I mean?
AJ: I remember one of the nights we were shooting, and it was an overnight. And I remember your husband just looked into one of the cameras, and he was just like, “What are we doing?”
ILA: And because it was a SAG film, we had to follow all those guidelines about when people need to eat. And so, we had to cater a meal at 3 AM because we’d been shooting for X amount of hours. I mean, all that was new for Zeno. But what Zeno does is creative problem solving. Because AJ, you, all the folks in our community that have disabilities, are the leaders in creative problem solving. Living with a disability in a world that is not set up for that is what y’all are doing every day, day in and day out. So, the crew with disabilities, in fact, are kind of a great match for the film set because they are used to that type of creative problem solving.
AJ: Right. And speaking of just a small, little anecdote about having to work the hours and making sure it was SAG. So, my first scene that I shot was 7 in the morning, 7 at night, and we were so close. We were so close to being over. And we’re like, “We have to be done at 7!” We couldn’t go past anything, [laughing] and we got it done at 7. But it was like, “Hurry up! We have to be done!”
ILA: You’re like, “And action!” Yeah.
AJ: Sorry for screaming.
ILA: But Best Summer Ever was the first movie or project that we also had a pre-production camp. We called it pre-pro camp. So, creative—
AJ: Yeah, it was out in LA.
ILA: Out in LA, yep. And so, we worked on writing that film for at least six months, and the integration started right there. We had disabled writers working on the film right out at pre-production camp.
SHAWNSY: Well, that was another huge hurdle was how long it took. It’s not a two-week play that was put on, and when it was done, it was done.
AJ: Yes!
SHAWNSY: It was three, four years?
ILA: Yeah. Three years. Yep, yep. And the, you know, we shot, principal photography was one full month in Vermont with 12-hour days every single day. I mean that calendar on the wall of everything that we needed to shoot was so daunting! And again, at Zeno, we’re not afraid of a freaking rally for a creative project. You know what I mean?
SHAWNSY: Yeah.
ILA: We just did a play in 72 hours. But that schedule for Best Summer Ever was huge. But we do, we took it just like we do everything else, which is one day at a time and keep the needs of the community high. And the difference also about Best Summer Ever compared with other films is that we had actors and people and crew members come in and out, so we timed it for when AJ’s, when your role was up, you came up for like five days at a time or a certain amount of days at a time so that we could get everybody in. It has a cast of around 200 people. And then, on the crew side, there was a lot of crew as well. And that way we were able to bring in a lot of new disabled talent to that movie, which was so exciting. But not everyone stayed for that full four weeks of principal photography.
AJ: And I just wanna say, because I’ve mentioned this, and I know it’s kind of, you know, I know today is one of the episodes. It’s like, of course you guys are talking about it. You were in it. But just ‘cause I know about filmmaking. And typically when you make a musical, we’re talking about a nine-month to a year shoot.
ILA: Right.
AJ: Six months at the least. But we got principal photography done in six weeks. That’s not done with musicals. And this was an independent film, too. That’s not done with musicals. So, I mean, I don’t know why I sound like I’m yelling, but I just wanna say we did this with all the challenges, and yes, we were disabled. So, like I said, musicals take about nine months, maybe, to shoot.
ILA: And we brought in a professional choreographer who, they were amazing. And they were like, usually, we have days of rehearsal—
SHAWNSY: Right.
ILA: —for one number, and they’re like, we had, like, one hour of rehearsal the day before—
SHAWNSY: Yeah, talk about the Main Street dance, closing down the street, dancing in Holly Hall, rehearsals for maybe an hour?
AJ: Yeah.
ILA: Yeah.
SHAWNSY: And then getting 40 people out on that street.
ILA: If you haven’t seen Best Summer Ever, this is a little bit of a spoiler alert.
[recorded clip plays with high-energy music]
TONY: [singing] ♪ Tonight I’m dancing free.
Gonna let the whole world come and dance with me.
I’ve got no reason to hold it all inside.
Sun’s going down on a westside swing.
Warming up a place that I’ve never been.
Take it or leave it, I’m making up by my mind. ♪
CHORUS: ♪ Tonight we’re dancing free.
Let the whole world turn around and see.
I’ve got no reason to hold it all inside.
Sun’s going down on a westside swing.
Warming up a place that I’ve never been.
Look around and see who’s on your side. I’m ready to ride. (Ready to ride, ready to ride!!!!). ♪
TONY: I’m ready to ride!
[music winds down with a flourish, clip ends]
Filming Best Summer Ever and more on representation
ILA: One of the pivotal scenes in Best Summer Ever is the Ready to Ride scene, and this is a big, huge community scene where we shut down the main street. Bristol, Vermont has like the most adorable Main Street ever, and it was the big dream to be able to dance through the street and have people pouring in out of the shops and an old lady walking across the street and somebody with the flower pots, you know. And then everyone joined in the middle of the street and danced with the lead, with Ricky. And we had 35 minutes to teach all the community volunteers the dance. And so, they all were at the local town hall, doing rehearsal with the playback and then—
AJ: See, I didn’t know that backstory. That looks freaking amazing. I didn’t know you had like 35 minutes to basically teach the choreography. And I know that weren’t you guys shooting until 2 AM? So was that like an 8-hour shoot or 12 hours?
ILA: No, it wasn’t—
AJ: It was nighttime, too, so.
ILA: That wasn’t an error at all. It was the only time that the local police would give, would shut down the Main Street for us to shoot there. So we got it at 10 AM, and we had it from like 10 till, yeah, 4 or 10 to 2 or something like that. We had like six hours. And so, starting before the shutdown at the Town Hall, we taught people to dance at like 8 or 9 or whatever and then as we were setting up. And then we did that shooting starting at 10, and we had to get the lights and the generator. I mean, it was this huge, exciting thing. But I also think in town, people know about Zeno from being in town, and people know about the play. And people understand that and wanna be a part of it, that that’s a place that they also can share their talents. So the community just rallied. Nobody, not one person complained about being late or too long or too many takes or anything. It was actually the opposite. People were like, it was a thrill to be making a movie in Bristol, in our town, small town in Vermont, and it was a thrill to be in it alongside this whole crew. You know, Zeno, it’s like these are the celebrities at Zeno. And that says a lot. And people around here are used to that, and it has, it’s part of the culture around here.
AJ: Now, I also— Shawnsy, I didn’t wanna step over you. You have a question?
SHAWNSY: No, I was gonna compare, that night shoot was kind of, in retrospect—‘cause I hadn’t done a play yet with Zeno at that point—but in retrospect, I see so much comparison on how the play operates and how short of time each scene kind of gets. And then it’s like, okay, the ball’s in your court. Take it and run with it. And it looks so good because everybody just gives their all. When the camera rolls and when the curtains open, everybody’s just [laughs] going balls to the wall to really make it the most beautiful thing you can. And I just, it’s just the play, really, at that point.
AJ: And I just wanted to say, so, Ila, you were involved in the casting.
ILA: Yep.
AJ: So, and like I said earlier, alluded to earlier, this was, like, so everybody at Zeno was involved. But this was a big undertaking, so it involved people outside of our intimate community. So, how did you find so many of those great extra actors and extra faces for the movie?
ILA: Yeah, I did the casting for Best Summer Ever, and it was so exciting to be able to try and recruit top, top pro disabled talent. We’ve never been able, we’ve never had a project to go out and recruit. And so, we also wanted to have a female lead, and a lot of people have spoken about that. After the movie was shown, we had Shannon DeVido, who’s the lead, is a disabled actress. And then the lead, Ricky, is a non-disabled actor who’s a man. And so, it was a disabled woman with a non-disabled man as the primary couple.
AJ: Yessss!
ILA: And within the first three seconds of the movie, they kiss. And a woman came up to me after and said, “When they kissed, I actually felt a little uncomfortable because I’ve never seen a disabled woman kiss a non-disabled man.” And for some reason, in our culture, we’re even a little more comfortable with a non-disabled woman kissing a disabled man, right? There’s a little bit of that…
AJ: Right.
ILA: You know, that caretaker kind of like, maybe that can fit. And so, she said, “But then as I watched the movie,” her words were, “I forgot that she was disabled.” And we kind of talked about that back and forth. I appreciated her honesty and her candid observation. What she really meant was that her disability just became integrated into her character and who she was. And she was like, “There were so many disabled people in the movie that it was washing over me, that I kind of forgot that everybody was disabled,” and nobody, you know, it just became integrated in. So the casting was really intentional. And Shannon’s a pro, and we really wanted someone who had a strong singing voice, which Shannon had, and then also had that comedic kind of timing. She’s also really funny. She does kind of comedy work and writing.
AJ: Oh, she knocks it out of the park.
ILA: She’s amazing.
AJ: And one of my favorites, I love every song in the movie, but my absolute favorite song is—if you know me, surprise, surprise ‘cause I’m so emotional—but my favorite song is Leave Behind.
ILA: My favorite song, too, hands down. I can’t not—
AJ: It’s incredible, you know? And I always get a lump in my throat. I was like, this should be a release song. If we were able to release it, Shannon would be a rock star.
[recorded clip of Leave Behind plays: a tender, rousing power ballad]
SAGE: [singing] ♪ Leave behind the way he felt like home.
The only love I’ve ever known.
Leave behind the memories we made.
The truth he wouldn’t say.
Oh, I roam these broken roads and read these twisted signs.
Yeah, I plant my seeds and hope the sun will one day shine.
The tears and dreams alone won’t make a garden grow.
So pack up all my shit. I’m better off alone!
Leave behind the way he felt like home.
The only love I’ve ever known.
Leave behind the memories we made.
The truth he wouldn’t say.
Leave behind. ♪
[music slowly fades]
ILA: I was wishing we could get it to the Oscars, have Shannon fucking sing it on the Oscars stage. And I also got asked at many screenings if she had a voice double. Many, many times people said, “Did she have a voice double for the song?” Which, again, just shows that people aren’t, people don’t have a model or an experience of someone with disability singing that kind of emotional power ballad that just brings you to your knees every time, even though you’ve heard it 100 times. I almost cry every single time she goes to the chorus, [sings] “Baby, huh.” You know?
AJ: Yeah.
ILA: And so, I get to say, “No, that is Shannon.” And actually, we recruited her because of that voice. We recruited her and paid her and hired her for her talent, you know? And that’s, so that’s the heart of the casting. Eileen Grubba was wonderful to work with. She played one of the moms. She’s been an actress in Hollywood for a long time and was referred to us.
AJ: And I also think people feel that way because if you just know a little bit of the basics about singing, most people will be like, you have to stand up. And I’ve been a part of lessons. They talk about standing up and breathing from the diaphragm, but it’s amazing what your talent can do and what you can do if you wanna do something. I came up in chorus and choirs, and people were, my chorus teacher was just like, he was taken aback that I had so much lung capacity ‘cause he’s like, “He’s sitting down.” And I was singing things that, my voice isn’t as strong as it was when I was younger, but I was singing things that most skilled, able-bodied singers could do. But I would run circles around that. And they were like, what? But I think that’s why people might’ve felt that way too, like a voice double. Because even if you know that much about singing, a lot of people know it probably involves standing up and breathing, and we’re sitting down, you know?
ILA: Right. And I think Andrew, also, our friend Andrew, who’s one of the producers on the film, always says just because someone does something in a different way doesn’t mean that they can’t do it, you know? And so, that’s when, as community members, we get to center the people with disabilities and say and observe and learn.
SHAWNSY: And this is why it’s such a important first step to normalization, is just showcasing talent where talent is.
ILA: Yeah, and I think also talking about it. I think also just getting people a chance to say like, hey, I didn’t think Shannon was gonna have, you know, to just normalize that that’s what I’ve been growing up with, is that just normalizing that people haven’t had models for what people with disabilities can contribute. You know, now they have AJ’s and Acting Up With AJ and Crew podcast.
SHAWNSY: Yeah.
ILA: I mean, you know, so I think that that’s speaking about that, that either there’s fear, you know, if there’s unknown there’s fear, or people don’t wanna mess up, so they—
SHAWNSY: Well, there’s always fear with the unknown.
ILA: Right.
SHAWNSY: And it’s always gonna be scary the first time you do anything. So, it’s like, but you gotta get over that hurdle. That’s stage fright. That’s like every time AJ’s like, “I’m not gonna remember my lines.”
AJ: [laughs]
SHAWNSY: But that’s just stage fright. And you gotta get through that first night. Even though this week, again, was [laughing] the only night that we got to do the play.
AJ: That was the extra like, you got one night! You know?
SHAWNSY: [laughs]
AJ: If you screw up, you screw up, you know.
ILA: Right, right. I also, I mean, I like to think about if someone has seen Best Summer Ever, and they saw Shannon as the lead, and they saw you, AJ as the brother, and then you see someone in your community with a disability, there is, you have taken one step closer to that person, as people to people, community member to community member.
AJ: The thing that I’m most pumped about is really, really just think about the future or the people that’s looking at the film now. Like, of course we want everybody to see it, able-bodied, disabled, and adults. But I think about the children. Because I think about when I was a kid, like, so I basically always wanted to be an actor, right? I would’ve loved to see myself in TGIF, you know?
ILA: Oh, yeah.
AJ: You know, but I just think about the kids now, and we need to make more and more film. But they’ll be able to say, even if they don’t wanna be an actor, either that’s cool, or that’s something I can do, or maybe I can get involved in musical theater in high school. But I just want them to be able to say, “I wanna be an actor.” Not only that, but see themselves.
SHAWNSY: Yeah.
AJ: Because like I said, when I was an actor, sometimes it was, I don’t know how to describe it, it was me, like my spirit. But I always imagined myself as an able-bodied actor, and I think because I never saw myself! And so, not to get too deep, but it’s like sometimes it’s like if you’re an African American, and you’re seeing pretty white women all the time or whatever, you might imagine yourself as that person because you don’t see yourself. That’s the thing that’s so beautiful about the new Little Mermaid, too. Not to go off on a tangent, but little girls of color will be able to say, “I can be Ariel, too.”
ILA: Super powerful. It’s super powerful. It’s like my potential is not limited by what I can see. You know, what’s being reflected to me on these big stages, it’s huge. It’s everything. It’s everything.
Post-Best Summer Ever and getting involved with Zeno
AJ: So I definitely wanted to talk about post-Best Summer Ever, because one of the things we’re able to do is, like you said, the movie is housed on Hulu. We were able to get the deal. But also, Zeno was able to acquire a grant to do this big educational piece and speak to colleges and local community groups and schools. And me and you have been doing that for a while, and I definitely wanted to talk about that, sort of the next step in inclusion and how Best Summer Ever is not only an incredible art piece as a film, but it’s gonna help in education as far as moving disability and inclusion and integration forward.
ILA: Yeah, that was, that’s been this unbelievable unfolding and beautiful surprise with Best Summer Ever is its power as an educational tool because it’s a known entity, right? A high school flick with the cheerleaders and the mean jock and the music and the hunky football star. You know, that, it’s a known thing. We love those types of movies: Grease, Mean Girls, all those. And then you add in the part that’s all the integration and all the disability. And so, it’s like this, it’s the philosophy of Zeno. It’s what we do up there in this poppy, candy beautiful…. It’s like cotton candy for medicine. Do you know what I mean? It’s like it’s so enjoyable to watch, and—
AJ: Spoonful of sugar.
ILA: Spoonful of sugar. That’s what I’m looking for. Exactly. And people can just be in the joy of it. People can just be in the expression of the music. And then that opens the hearts, and then this, the message of Zeno and the philosophy and what we do at our community is just getting poured right over that spot. And so, we’ve been going around, yes, just like AJ said, on an educational campaign at colleges and high schools and even some businesses. We showed the movie to Johnson & Johnson Corporation over in their, as like a DEI type segment. It also was kind of a COVID gift, you know. With all the Zoom, people were looking for sort of DEI content over Zoom. And we got a grant to hire disabled advocates like AJ and other people in our community to do these talks after the movie. And personally, it was just really super fun to work with you, AJ, and to be able to speak about it. But the film just, I really felt like the film just really teed us up to be able to have a short version of what we’re having here on Acting Up With AJ and Crew to all these different groups. And it’s kind of made me realize that Zeno belongs in every place, you know, belongs in every school, in every community, that philosophy of contribution, that philosophy of feeling to everybody’s potential.
AJ: Yeah. What’s DEI?
ILA: Diversity, equity, and inclusion.
AJ: That’s awesome.
ILA: Yeah. So, a lot of companies have diversity, equity, inclusion, like a whole office that, there was like a whole DEI wing of Johnson & Johnson, and I think they’re trying to bring more diversity to their company. That’s, you know, a lot of places do trainings and educational seminars, all that kind of stuff. And I think just now, disability is starting to surface as part of DEI, as part of diversity.
AJ: So, I wanted to ask, and I’m asking because I’m sure the audience wanna know, if I was out there, I would wanna know. Well, with the success of Best Summer Ever, and it took so much work to do, and there was a lot of sacrifice and residual sacrifices, and it was such a big mountain to climb, pardon the pun.
SHAWNSY: [laughs]
AJ: Shoutout to Turtle.
ILA: Yeah.
AJ: Would Zeno ever do another feature film again, or are there other projects that we’re trying to do maybe a little bit smaller? Because maybe we chewed off a lot, not saying that we can’t do it again, but that was a lot. So, what do you think about that?
ILA: Yes. My first answer is yes, 100%. If we had a funder, if there was a funding source for Zeno to make another film, we would say immediately. One of the biggest barriers was raising enough money to do the film. And we had to raise money in stages because we raised some, then we spent it all, then we raised some, we spent it all. And as we’ve talked before, it’s just a massive project, and it takes a lot of money to make a feature-length film. So, if we had funding, 100%, we would make another movie. And I have dreams of doing music videos or commercials or some of the smaller things at our summer camp. Or one of our recent camps, we did a morning film challenge where people had to film, like in an hour, film a little play, a little film around camp. And there was this hilarious scene with Lily on the bus in a trench coat. And, you know, it just was campy and that kind of style.
AJ: What about Zeno’s own channel with our own content? And we can put up things like that, you know?
ILA: Yeah!
AJ: I’m just shooting for the stars. I mean, I’m not saying—
ILA: I’m into all of it. I’m into, I also wanna see disabled talent in all areas. I think voiceovers is a huge area for untapped resource for. I’d love to hear our friend Bill James do the Budweiser voiceover.
AJ: Oh, yeah!
ILA: And I feel like you could do Frosted Flakes. I mean, I just think of things from the ‘90s. But I think that like having—
AJ: Or MANSCAPED. [conspiratorial chuckle]
ILA: Yes! Yes, yes, yes. Axe body spray. So, I think just there’s so much potential. Even commercials, you know, we had, one year we had, where you came up, AJ, we had a commercial camp where we just kind of brainstormed about disability, more representation in commercials. Because also, we’re saying that this group has a lot of talent, but also, this is a profitable part of the market share. This is, the disabled community is such a large population, like we spoke. There’s consumers, 25% of people also watching shows and media. And so, this is also, it’s a profitable strategy. It’s a profitable thing to have this level of inclusion. And I think that’s also really what’s gonna move the needle and move the industry.
AJ: Yes. This also comes up, and I always forget the number. And every time I say it, like, I’m gonna remember. But the disabled community does, we have our challenges with employment, and that’s for another discussion. But we do have disposable income. We are consumers, and especially because we’re looking to see ourselves reflected. If there’s anything out there, and if we knew about it, if there was enough behind it, we would be flocking to whatever. Because we wanna see ourselves.
ILA: Exactly and support that, yeah. We do get a lot of requests for casting. Since Best Summer Ever, other projects will reach out to Zeno about casting disabled talent. It’s interesting. Often, it’s for disabled kids. The majority of the casting calls that I’ve received in my inbox are for children, so not as much as adults, which again, is just reflecting where we’re at culturally. But that has increased significantly since Best Summer Ever. Also, modeling. People are requesting disabled models. That’s also, we’re getting requests all the time. And I know you’ve done some modeling work, AJ.
AJ: Yep.
ILA: So, we are taking strides. And I think what Best Summer Ever’s saying and Zeno’s saying is like, hey, not only is this possible, this is here now. We did this, and it’s beautiful, and it’s fun. And you probably wanna join the party too.
AJ: So, for anybody that would wanna get involved, because if I were just a person just listening to this podcast, I would be like, “Yo, I wanna get.” If there’s anybody that wants to get involved or contribute to. Or I know at Zeno, we fundraise because there are many different projects go throughout the year. As you said earlier, Zeno, as an organization runs several different camps, and we’re doing things throughout the year. We also have future projects. By the time this comes out, like so, I don’t know if it would help, but I know right now we’re in the midst of, we’re trying to raise money because we’re renovating camp.
ILA: Yes, exactly. Yeah, there’s many ways to get involved. I mean, as we said earlier in the conversation, one of the founding principles is that people are invited year after year to come back so that we have a chance to build lifelong friendship. So there is a waitlist to attend all the programs. We have a lot of people that would love to attend the program. So, you’re welcome to go to our website, ZenoMountainFarm.org—Z E N O Mountain Farm, no spaces—and learn about the website and the programs, I mean the waitlist and the programs. You also can, if you are interested in showing the movie, Best Summer Ever, as AJ said, we have a grant to show the movie in any and all spaces. If you think Best Summer Ever would be cool to show at your library, at your workplace, at your teen center, at your high school, anything, we would love to work with you on that. And that also can be found on the website. AJ and I will come. We will bring this podcast to your location and talk—
AJ: Yeah, yeah!
ILA: —and talk about inclusion and talk about disability theater and disability art and the contribution to society. And also, we are, yeah, a non-profit. So nobody pays to come, as we said, and no one gets paid. So all of our funding comes from donations. And we’re looking to, we’re getting some more grants, increasing our institutional funding as well through Best Summer Ever and through our more notoriety. But we are always also looking for, yeah, donations. And all that information is on the website, or if you know a funder or a grant or.
We also run programs for other groups that have barriers to community, and that includes people with chronic illness, we have a program, people living in sobriety, veterans, and people, young adults with cancer. Those are some of our affiliate, we call them kindred camps. So, it’s the same philosophy of contribution and belonging, and everyone contributes. But at those camps, people don’t need one-on-one care provided. So, those camps run at Zeno as well. So if you’re in any of those populations or you have loved ones or friends in those populations, there’s opportunity there too. We really started, Zeno started with this disabled group, people with and without disabilities collaborating. And it’s just grown from there to include, in my opinion, all of humanity, right? We all need places to contribute.
AJ: Yes, we do. And I could talk to you all day, but we can’t. And, you know, ‘cause I’ll just say the most—and I’ve gotten to do some really cool, amazing, life-changing things, at Zeno—but the most enduring thing to me at Zeno is, I think, at the core, right? We do a lot of amazing, cool things. But for me, the most enduring thing is that we have family. I have brothers and sisters that I’ve grown with, brothers and sisters and non-binary that I’ve grown up with. And we’ve been in each other’s weddings, and people are having babies. And that’s what it’s about, just growing and being a part of this community. That’s the most enduring part for me. And if you wanna find out that information and a whole lot more, check out ZenoMountainFarm.org.
ILA: Dot org. And if you wanna see any and all of our films on the ZenoMountainFarm.org, you can go to the tab that says, “Film Studio,” and you can see AJ and I in a time travel movie, a pirate musical, a sports documentary.
AJ: Yeah.
ILA: We’ve done a lot of films that are all for free on the website, and that’s exactly right, AJ, the core is that friendship. The core is like, what makes a life rich is to have connection and to have relationships. And one of my favorite things to do is to get in a van with you and blast hip hop.
AJ: Yeah.
ILA: And everyone in the back wants a different channel, and we just keep the ‘90s hip hop going.
AJ: [laughs]
ILA: And I just look over at you, and we can jam out.
AJ: ‘Cause we’re ‘80s babies!
ILA: That’s right!
AJ: You need to listen to— And we had the best generation of hip hop, by the way, by far. ‘90s was the best generation for hip hop.
ILA: It is the best generation of music. ‘90s hip hop is queen.
AJ: Yes, yes.
ILA: But when we’re jamming in the van, and I look over at you like, I know I have a place and you have a place, and we’re better together, and we’re in it together. And that’s really what Zeno is.
AJ: Yes. Shawnsy, do you have any questions? [laughing] ‘Cause I do not wanna leave you out, my brother. I felt like, you know.
SHAWNSY: In this hour-and-15-minute conversation, no, I think we’ve covered almost all the bases. But there’s certainly more in the future to be grown. And I think we kind of succinctly brought that to a point in that it’s gonna keep going, and more and more exciting things are gonna be happening.
ILA: Yeah. AJ, I’m so excited for your podcast and super inspired and would love to come back on any and all the time. You know me. We love to talk.
AJ: Yeah, because I was just about to say, this, you have an open-door policy, and the podcast is gonna be moving around. But if it was, you would have your special chair. You can come back at any time. I love you, and I hope it’s okay to say I consider—this is real to me—you are my homegirl. Like, you’re one of my homies, you know.
ILA: I feel the exact same way.
AJ: Yeah.
ILA: Maybe I need, I wanna cool podcast name. Maybe I could be a semi-regular contributor.
AJ: Yeah!
SHAWNSY: Please. You’re part of the crew.
AJ: Yeah! You’re definitely, you are a part of the crew. This is what this is about. In the meantime, guys, thank you so much for joining us. We hope you join us again. I had so much fun. Please come back. Peace. [upbeat rock number from Best Summer Ever fades in]
ILA: Peace. Thank you!
TONY: ♪ I didn’t know where lies could end and where I should begin.
I didn’t know that I was knocking till you let me in. ♪
SAGE: ♪ My bucket list is scattered dreams.
Wash me down the stream.
I’ve traveled far enough to see this is where I’m meant to be! ♪
CHORUS: ♪ Homecoming, finally I see.
Homecoming, home is all I need.
Come on, live your truth.
Love will find you.
Homecoming. Baby, I’m home. Coming home.
Baby, I’m home. Coming home.
Baby, I’m home, coming home. Baby, I’m home. ♪
[music fades into chill ambient music]
Disability Spotlight
AJ: And now let’s go with the man with the golden pipes for radio, Adam Grimes, with Disability Spotlight. Adam, welcome aboard!
ADAM: Ah, thank you, AJ. [chuckles] And I am so pumped to be part of the crew. Thank you, everybody, for having me. And on that, let’s just dive right into it.
Okay! Today we’re actually gonna spotlight actor, director, writer, producer, comedian Shannon DeVido, who actually portrayed Sage, one of the leads of Best Summer Ever. And as you can tell from that intro, Shannon really does it all. As a performer, Shannon has been busy. She’s appeared on the TV series Nightcap, three episodes of the Hulu series Difficult People starring Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner, Law and Order SVU, Manifest, Insatiable, and so much more. If you wanna catch up on Shannon’s latest work, you have got to check out AMC’s new drama series, Lucky Hank, starring Bob Odenkirk, where Shannon portrays the character Emma Weimer. And also, do yourself a favor and tune in to Apple TV’s High Desert, starring Patricia Arquette, where Shannon portrays the character of Wendy.
But Shannon has also been extremely busy behind the camera as well. In 2019, she co-founded her own production company with Aubrie Williams called King Friday Productions, where they created, among others, the Easterseals Disability Film Challenge short A Stupid Man, a submission, by the way, in which she was also a finalist for Best Actor. No surprise there.
Shannon DeVido is also an advocate for the representation of people with disabilities in entertainment. In an interview with the Cinemaholic.com she said, “There’s still able-bodied people being cast in disabled roles, which is very frustrating to watch. Everyone deserves to see themselves represented because it makes you feel like part of society. That’s why it’s so important to have disabled actors representing themselves.” And finally, if you get the chance, you need to check out Shannon’s YouTube channel: Stare at Shannon. It is an amazing array of comedic shorts which aim to, “break the conventional image of disability through comedy.” Amazing. Hilarious. Poignant. Just do yourself a favor and check it out. And that wraps up Disability Spotlight. AJ, thanks for having me aboard, and back to you.
Wrap-up
[chill music fades out and theme music returns]
AJ: Thanks for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today’s episode. As always, we really enjoy making it for you. So, for Shawnsy Billops, segment producer Cheryl Green, and myself Ajani AJ Murray, come and join the crew next time for another episode of Acting Up With AJ and Crew. Our next episode, Thomas Reid, crew member, is back in the house, and we’re gonna talk about audio description. I wanna send a special shoutout, a special thanks, to Jessica Marks for behind-the-scenes assistance, and Adam Grimes for helping us out with the Disability Spotlight. Adam is joining the cast!
