“That Paradise Place” is an experimental, collaborative puppet musical about the love, sex, and fantasy lives of artists with disabilities. Every song in the show is adapted from a firsthand account of an erotic experience or reverie shared by an artist who identifies as having a disability. Writer Priscilla Frank will work with each artist to crystallize their unique testimonial and conceptualize a puppet alter ego to tell their story. These puppet alter egos provide artists a layer of protection and anonymity when sharing intimate stories, perhaps for the first time. Love, sex, and creativity are largely absent from conversations about justice and rights for people with disabilities. The omission reflects our society’s fear of sexuality outside capitalist patriarchal norms, and the deeply ingrained prejudice many hold toward people with disabilities. We reject the assumption that eroticism, pleasure, and play are superfluous characteristics of a flourishing human life. The show’s joyous celebration of making love in its many forms will inspire audience members to embrace pleasure as a human right. Viewers with disabilities will be represented in their fullness as people with complex desires and inner lives.

Photo by Mallory Perry, 2021