50 Nashville actors with disabilities will star in Backlight Productions’ ‘Beauty and the Beast’

On a Monday afternoon inside Backlight Productions in Brentwood, everyone is abuzz.

As executive director Melissa Smith makes her way down the hall to start rehearsal for “Beauty and the Beast,” a costume designer pulls her aside with their latest creation for Belle — or one Belle, anyway.

“We have four Belles, two Beasts, four Lumieres,” Smith says, laughing. “Everyone gets to feel like the star that way.”

Multicasting, or assigning multiple people to one role, relieves that pressure to be perfect and learn an entire part. That’s the goal at Backlight. And because of it, 50 Nashville actors with disabilities will star in Backlight’s rendition of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Nashville Children’s Theater May 27-28.

Listen to the full episode on This Is Nashville: Navigating into adulthood with disabilities

Smith first came up with the idea to start a theater company in 2011, when she was working at Our Thrift Store in downtown Franklin — a shop created to employ local young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

As she got to know her coworkers, she got to know their dreams. And a lot of those dreams? Were to be on Broadway.

“It always made me feel kind of sad knowing that if they came into typical theater setting, likely they were not going to be cast in those roles they dreamed of, through no fault of their own,” she says. “I thought it would be such an amazing experience to give someone to be able to play the lead role, and it didn’t matter if you were the ‘best,’ or (if you performed) perfectly all the time.”

So she went home and drafted a rendition of “Cinderella” and put it on with 11 of her coworkers for a small crowd. It was a hit.

She opened Backlight Productions a decade ago this year, and since then, they’ve put on 26 productions.

For each production, there’s a support staff with at least as many volunteers as actors, available to assist on and off stage. They’ve also got a few professional actors, like Ronnie Meek, who will play Belle’s dad, Maurice, in this show. This will be his third show.

“It’s a great group of people to be around. They’re always so full of life. It’s a lot of fun backstage because, as they’re getting ready to go on stage, or the excitement after … it’s infectious,” he says.

Ethan Harrell, who plays Beast, has been in a handful of plays for Backlight. He says there are lots of things he enjoys — like riding his scooter and watching cartoons. But getting to make friends and be part of these shows brings him something more.

“I don’t have to worry about hustling, working every single moment of my life,” he says.

He says he just gets to have fun.