Decamping D.C.: Venus Theatre Moves To a Laurel 'Shack'

Venus Theatre's focus now includes children's musicals such as "Juanita the Walrus Goes on a Shopping Spree." (Venus Theatre)

The 45-minute piece will be presented over the next two weekends at Round House Theatre's Silver Spring space. (Visit http://www.art-stream.org.) ArtStream, a nonprofit founded by Patricia Woolsey, grew out of her experience directing shows for kids with special needs at Imagination Stage in Bethesda. The New Jersey native trained in theater at Catholic University and has a graduate degree in mythology and psychology.

For disabled kids who loved doing theater, there was no place to go after their teen years in Imagination Stage's program and, Woolsey notes, "the need was great." She took over two groups from Imagination Stage and formed two more. ArtStream operates one program in Silver Spring, one in Arlington and two in Gaithersburg.

Although people must audition, "we do our best to accept everyone, as long as they don't have any severe emotional disabilities and can get along in a group," says Woolsey. "Our mission is to bring art to as many people as we can."

Groups of 10 to 15 adults with disabilities can take drama classes or sign up for the longer-term theater projects. The ArtStream shows are based on the participants' improvisations, eventually scripted by a director and rehearsed. The whole process represents six months of weekly two-hour sessions. It costs $550 to attend.

In "Lost in a Dream," Russell Lefurgy, 23, plays the space visitor. Lefurgy has high-functioning autism and loves "furries" -- anthropomorphic animals. He invented the character of Corey, whom he calls a "fursona."

Audiences for ArtStream shows tend to be family and friends of the actors, but even then, says Woolsey, "I think it challenges the expectations the audience members have of people with disabilities."

Follow Spots

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· At the intimate theater space it owns at 14th and T streets NW, Arena Stage will hold a reading on Monday at 7 p.m. of a new play about Hurricane Katrina. "The Breach," by Catherine Filloux, Joe Sutton and Tarell McCraney and based on interviews they did in New Orleans and Mississippi, is having readings across the country and will get full productions in September at New Orleans's Southern Repertory Theater and in January at Seattle Repertory Theatre. Jennifer L. Nelson will direct Arena's reading. Visit http://www.arenastage.org or call 202-488-3300.

· Actors' Theatre of Washington has changed its name to Ganymede Arts. The company, which performs at Source Theatre, specializes in plays by or about people who are gay, bisexual or transgender. Ganymede (from Greek myth about a Trojan boy taken as a lover by Zeus) will also present dance, musical performances, poetry readings and art shows. Visit http://www.ganymedearts.org.

· The Liz Lerman Dance Exchange will present "Farthest Earth From Thee: A Suite of Sonnets" (the title borrows from Shakespeare's Sonnet 44), Saturday and Sunday at American University's Greenberg Theatre, 4200 Wisconsin Ave. NW. Commissioned by VSA Arts and developed with the help of Suzanne Richard of Open Circle Theatre as part of the Shakespeare in Washington fest, the piece will feature performers with and without disabilities. Call 202-885-2587 or visit http://www.american.edu/academic.depts/cas/greenberg.